Millions and millions of green jobs

Because green jobs are what we decide them to be

Forecasts of many millions of new jobs in low-carbon energy industries have been making the rounds in news media for years but recently the flood has intensified thanks to the intensification of government support plans for those industries. And so have my doubts about these forecasts.

The origins of these doubts date back to the time when I began accumulating some — surface — knowledge of how wind and solar installations are, well, installed. The fact that once installed these do not require round-the-clock maintenance I found to be particularly fascinating.

Where, I wondered, would all these new jobs in green energy come from if once installed, a solar farm only needs checks that all panels are working (if the owner sounds the alarm), the occasional cleanup and that’s about it.

Where would all these jobs come from if after its construction, a wind turbine is pretty much on its own, with some regularly scheduled maintenance (involving oil products but let’s not be petty) needed and carried out by small teams of, like, a couple of people.

Construction times for both wind and solar installations are not particularly long. A 10 MW wind farm, according to the European wind energy association, recently rebranded to WindEurope, could be completed in two months. A 50 MW facility could take six months.

What about solar? Again, it’s a matter of a few months, as described by this solar system developer. The company notes that in addition to the mounting of the system itself, there’s some land clearing and levelling involved, so that should ensure some employment, too.

The problem with all this is that this sort of employment is temporary and likely not very highly paid. But, of course, green jobs are not just mounting panels and putting up turbines. Green jobs are what green job growth forecasters want them to be.