canyonwalker | Green Power is Not a "Jobs Killer"

Recently an acquaintance challenged me with the argument, "Green power is a massive jobs killer. You're going to put everyone in coal and oil out of work." I'm not sure why he put that challenge in front of me as we weren't discussing power generation technology, or green power, or electric utilities, or the employment rate. I can only imagine he sprung that on me because he knows I'm politically liberal, and that was the latest "destroy the libs" talking point implanted in his mind by the TV charlatans he's outsourced his critical thinking to.

I didn't engage the argument with this person as there wasn't time, but if there was I would have responded like I did to my father in law when he raised the same concern several years ago. FIL is politically liberal but lives in an area where most people he knows are aligned to the alternate-reality right. He hears their talking points repeated frequently enough without effective counterpoint that he worries they might be right. In addition, he lives in a state where coal mining has been a big industry in the past, and as a lifelong Democrat he has a lot of sympathy for the plight of blue-collar workers.

"What's going to happen to all the blue collar jobs like coal mining?" he asked me, earnestly. "Not everyone can earn advanced degrees and do white-collar work like you."

Here's how I responded then, same as I'd respond now if I thought my acquaintance actually wanted to listen and consider my argument as opposed to merely repeat a soundbite and gloat about how he "owned" me.

"First of all, coal mining jobs have been on the decline for a long time. Much of that is due to automation. Coal mining was always dirty, dangerous work, so that's a good thing. And most of the rest of the decline is due to natural gas, another fossil fuel, becoming cheaper to produce than coal.

"Second, just because solar farms and wind turbines don't need coal miners, doesn't mean there's no skilled-labor jobs there. After white-collar engineers design the systems, it takes skilled factory workers to manufacture them, truck drivers to deliver them, and electricians and welders and crane operators and other trades to install them. Then, once green power generators are switched on, keeping them maintained and operating well for the next 30 years takes an army of field service workers. These are all good paying, hard-hat jobs."

When I shared this with FIL he was already smiling before I got to the last sentence. He practically said it along with me.

The simple fact is green power doesn't mean energy now pops into existence so we can fire all the blue collar workers. Building, erecting, and maintaining green power infrastructure, like wind turbines, means plenty of skilled-labor jobs.