Coal news and updates

Coal is currently the largest source of electricity in the United States, employing some 150,000 people. That’s a lot of people to leave behind in the shift to other energy resources as mandated in state and federal legislation.

 

But the solar power industry currently employs about 210,000 and it is creating jobs 12 times more quickly than employment is growing in the overall economy, according to a study led by Edward P. Louie at the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University that was published this summer in the journal Energy Economics.

 

It doesn’t work, however, to just plop a coal worker onto a solar array. Some skills are transferrable, others require retraining.

 

In the best case scenario, Louie said, the need for retraining would be diminished by the number of coal workers retiring between now and 2030. Fortunately, the average age of the coal workforce is 48, so retirement could help ease the shift.

Source:theepochtimes