Topic: Economic Opportunity

External News

The State of Global Renewable Energy Employment

Source: Forbes
In 2018, 11 million people were directly and indirectly employed in the renewable energy sector around the world, an increase on 10.3 million the year before, according to data published by the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Point Stonington, CT

Point Stonington in Connecticut / JJBers / CC BY 2.0

Connecticut Looks before It Leaps on Offshore Wind

Katie Siegner
A new player is entering the fold in New England’s burgeoning offshore wind sector. After years of testing the waters, Connecticut has finally jumped into the offshore wind game with a recently passed target of 2,000 megawatts by 2030. On June 4, the state legislature approved a bill establishing the offshore wind mandate, and Governor Ned Lamont signed the legislation later that same week.
Commentary

Opportunity Zones Can Drive Development Of US Renewable Energy

Source: Forbes
"In the United States, Opportunity Zones have provided developers with new possibilities. The race is now on to determine whether renewable energy developers can catch up to their real estate counterparts in utilizing this new tool."
Reports

Powering Jobs Census 2019: The Energy Access Workforce

Source: Power for All
"The distributed renewable energy sector has emerged as a significant employer in emerging markets. Although nascent and just beginning to scale, it has already grown a workforce comparative to traditional utility-scale power sectors, and is expected to more than double by 2022–23, according to our early estimates."
External News

Massachusetts Plan Could Double Demand For Offshore Wind Power

Source: WBUR
The Department of Energy Resources released its report on "the necessity, benefits and costs" of pursuing an additional 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power, which the Legislature last year authorized but did not mandate, and concluded that it would be a good bet for ratepayers, the environment and the economy.
Commentary

Why Low-Income Households Need to Be Part of the Clean Energy Revolution

Source: Yale Environment 360
Nearly a third of U.S. households struggle to afford their energy bills, with one in five cutting back on or forgoing necessities such as food or medicine to pay for electricity and heat, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
External News

North Dakota's New Boom: Wind Energy

Source: Minnesota Public Radio
Wind accounts for just over 3,000 megawatts of energy annually in North Dakota. That's about a quarter of the state's electricity needs.
Electric vehicle charging

Electric vehicle charging / Automotive Rhythms / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Is California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Incentivizing Electric Vehicle Deployment?

Sola Zheng
Research on California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard program suggests the LCFS program design of capacity-based credits has the potential to increase EV deployment, but that some unanswered questions need to be addressed before the point-of-sale rebate program can do the same.