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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
McKinsey: Green jobs have little direct effect on unemployment
The report I got from McKinsey this morning had this interesting snippet:
There is a lot of talk these days about green businesses, biotechnology, and other emerging industries that will create the jobs of the future. While they are obviously part of the solution, these industries are too small to create the millions of jobs that are needed right away. The semiconductor and biotech industries, for instance, each employ less than one-half of 1 percent of US workers; clean-technology workers, such as those who design and make wind turbines and solar panels, account for 0.6 percent of the workforce.
We’ll be able to generate significant numbers of new jobs only by spurring broad-based job growth across the economy, particularly in big sectors such as retail, wholesale, business services, and health care. High-tech innovations will help employment grow over the long term, as new technology spreads throughout the economy and transforms other, larger sectors. For example, while the semiconductor industry alone doesn’t account for much US employment, the computer revolution has fueled the growth of other industries such as retail and finance; similarly, the clean-technology business by itself doesn’t employ many people, but its developments could transform a big sector such as energy, creating new business models and new jobs.
There is a lot of talk these days about green businesses, biotechnology, and other emerging industries that will create the jobs of the future. While they are obviously part of the solution, these industries are too small to create the millions of jobs that are needed right away. The semiconductor and biotech industries, for instance, each employ less than one-half of 1 percent of US workers; clean-technology workers, such as those who design and make wind turbines and solar panels, account for 0.6 percent of the workforce.
We’ll be able to generate significant numbers of new jobs only by spurring broad-based job growth across the economy, particularly in big sectors such as retail, wholesale, business services, and health care. High-tech innovations will help employment grow over the long term, as new technology spreads throughout the economy and transforms other, larger sectors. For example, while the semiconductor industry alone doesn’t account for much US employment, the computer revolution has fueled the growth of other industries such as retail and finance; similarly, the clean-technology business by itself doesn’t employ many people, but its developments could transform a big sector such as energy, creating new business models and new jobs.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Smart Grid Might Save 12% of Carbon Emissions
Though the percentage of Americans that believe in man made climate change is declining, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that it is. A hot button item in the current political climate is cap and trade, seen by some as a new tax that will crush our economy. It might not politically viable to sell the smart grid's environmental impact. This paper, The Smart Grid: An Estimate of the Energy and CO2 Benefits, gives an overview of both Energy and environmental benefits,
One point that I noticed was:
One point that I noticed was:
... renewables themselves are not generally envisioned as a controllable smart grid asset.1
The carbon-free energy they supply is critical to achieving the nation’s carbon-management goals,
however. One of the functions of a smart grid is the ability to manage the assets under its control to help
integrate renewables, such as mitigating the need for additional costly ancillary services to manage their
intermittency, and reducing costs for improved voltage control schemes and short-circuit protection. (2.4)
The carbon-free energy they supply is critical to achieving the nation’s carbon-management goals,
however. One of the functions of a smart grid is the ability to manage the assets under its control to help
integrate renewables, such as mitigating the need for additional costly ancillary services to manage their
intermittency, and reducing costs for improved voltage control schemes and short-circuit protection. (2.4)
It is worthwhile to look at the EPRI Prism Study to see that they predict only 15% of energy can come from renewables. Could isolated generation work or has the demand for electricity exceeded the ability of local generation facilities?
More on that later.
A definition of the Smart Grid
“The smart grid isn’t a thing but rather a vision… It must be more reliable...more secure...more economic…more efficient…more environmentally friendly…(and) It must be safer. A “smart grid” can be (characterized as) a “transactive” agent…(that) will:
Enable active participation by consumers…
Accommodate all generation and storage options...
Enable new products, services, and markets…
Provide power quality for the digital economy...
Optimize asset utilization and operate efficiently…
Anticipate and respond to system disturbances (self-heal).
Operate resiliently against attack and natural disaster.
Achieving the vision is dependent upon participant circumstances and involves:
Empowering consumers by giving them the information and education they need to effectively
utilize the new options provided by the smart grid…
Improved reliability and “self-healing” of the distribution system…
Integration of the transmission and distribution systems to enable improved overall grid operations
and reduced transmission congestion…
Integration of the grid intelligence acquired to achieving with new and existing asset management
applications…
Source: Smart Grid News, April 22, 2009. What is the smart grid?
Enable active participation by consumers…
Accommodate all generation and storage options...
Enable new products, services, and markets…
Provide power quality for the digital economy...
Optimize asset utilization and operate efficiently…
Anticipate and respond to system disturbances (self-heal).
Operate resiliently against attack and natural disaster.
Achieving the vision is dependent upon participant circumstances and involves:
Empowering consumers by giving them the information and education they need to effectively
utilize the new options provided by the smart grid…
Improved reliability and “self-healing” of the distribution system…
Integration of the transmission and distribution systems to enable improved overall grid operations
and reduced transmission congestion…
Integration of the grid intelligence acquired to achieving with new and existing asset management
applications…
Source: Smart Grid News, April 22, 2009. What is the smart grid?
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