Recently in Economic Development Category
From Worldwatch Institute:
The Sierra Club and Worldwatch Institute today released a report, Smart Choices for Biofuels, highlighting the need for important policy reforms at this critical juncture in America's effort to increase the use of biofuels. The report outlines the economic and environmental impacts of first-generation biofuels such as corn ethanol, proposes strategies to make the biofuels industry more sustainable, and offers specific policy recommendations in four broad categories:
- Developing sustainability standards
- Advancing biofuels production and new technologies
- Creating green jobs through biofuels
- Promoting policy coherence across energy sectors
A new analysis by North Dakota State University finds that the economic impact of a cellulosic ethanol plant in North Dakota would have a larger economic impact than a corn ethanol plant. While a corn ethanol plant would have $17 million of annual economic impact and create 40 direct jobs, a cellulosic plant was projected to have an annual economic impact of $53 million and create 77 jobs. The authors suggest the additional impact from a cellulosic plant is due to (1) the creation of new revenue streams from agricultural residues that previously had little or no existing market and (2) additional costs in feedstock collection and transportation. The full analysis can be found here.
A new report by the
American Solar Energy Society and Management Information Services quantifies the
revenue dollars and jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency
industries in 2007. According to the report, these industries saw over a
trillion dollars in revenues and constituted nearly 4 million jobs. The full
report can be found here.
EESI has released an updated fact sheet listing reports that studied job growth potential in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry. The listed reports include studies focused on international, national, and state developments, as well as potential job growth from specific energy sources (i.e. biofuels, wind, solar). The full fact sheet can be found here.
