#WOW: It's the (renewable) economy, stupid!

As we enter a time of uncertainty in the economy, due to the many unknowns about how national policy might affect the different industries in the country, it might help to have a bit of a sense as to where the renewable energy/clean energy economy sit relative to other aspects of the economy.

To provide a baseline for comparison, according to the BLS, approximately 2,000,000 people work in the fossil fuel industry with almost half of those employed at gas stations.

DOE estimates that 2,500,000 work in renewable energy, nuclear, or energy efficiency, which they break down into 600,000 in renewable/nuclear, and 1,900,000 in energy efficiency.

The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that there actually are 769,000 people employed in renewable energy in the US.

The Solar Energy Foundation census identifies 260,077 jobs in the solar industry alone (the largest employer of renewable energy).

Noting that the gas station employees will still have work regardless as to whether vehicles receive their energy from fossil fuel or renewable needs, the 1,200,000 people in fossil fuels compare with 800,000 in renewable energy supply with another 1,000,000 to 1,900,000 in energy efficiency. (Those gas station jobs may get slashed dramatically if we move to a driverless vehicle economy, but that's far enough down the road to not worry about just yet.)

If the goal of national policy is to protect and expand jobs, then renewable energy and energy efficiency provides the stronger, more enticing part of the economy to support. It might help to remind your congresspeople and state representatives about that.