renewable energy

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 10, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Register now for the Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conferences: Richmond, California (March 14, 2015) and Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• An Oil Worker & a Union Staffer Explain Why 1,000s of Oil Workers Across the Country Are On Strike - By David Bacon, In These Times, February 12, 2015 [related] USW Web Petition: Safe Refineries Save Lives!

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• Climate activists have to stand with the strikers - By Ragina Johnson, Socialist Worker, February 12, 2015
• Labor talks to resume Tuesday - By L.M. Sixel, FuelFix, February 9, 2015 [related] Oil Union Says Shell Talks to Resume in a Week Amid Strike - By Lynn Doan, Bloomberg, February 11, 2015
• Nurses Stand in Solidarity with Steelworkers Amid Safety Concerns - National Nurses United, February 9, 2015
• Oil Workers Are Striking Because They're Underpaid and Overworked—and It's Killing Them - By Rebecca Leber, New Republic, February 10, 2015
• Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the USW Oil Workers’ Unfair Labor Practice Strike - By Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO, February 11, 2015
• Striking Oil Workers Say They’re Fighting Deadly Working Conditions - By Rebecca Burns, In These Times, February 11, 2015
• Tesoro Refinery strike moves into second week - By Laura Anthony, KGO ABC 7 News, February 10, 2015
• USW Building International Solidarity; Steelworkers President Seeks Meeting with Shell CEO - United Steelworkers, February 9, 2015

Rail Safety:

• Teamsters give CP Rail 72-hour strike notice; 3,330 locomotive engineers and conductors could walk off the job this weekend - By Tracy Johnson, CBC News, February 10, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Abandon ship! Riggers flee the collapsing shale oil industry - By Giles Parkinson, ReNew Economy, February 11, 2015
• FMC Technologies to cut about 2,000 jobs - By Collin Eaton, Fuel Fix, February 11, 2015
• Fracking Industry in “Severe Crisis” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 11, 2015
• Global oil layoffs exceed 100,000 - Bloomberg, February 12, 2015
• Halliburton to cut 5,000 to 6,500 jobs - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, February 10, 2015
• Oil budgets slashed to protect shareholder dividends - By Joshua Cain, Fuel Fix, February 9, 2015
• Oil layoffs could come back to haunt the industry - By Tom DiChristopher, CNBC, February 10, 2015
• Why Public Banks Outperform Private Banks: Unfair Competition or a Better Mousetrap? - By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt Blog, February 10, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• Solar Jobs Boom Makes Keystone XL Pipeline Look Like A Tinker Toy - By Tina Casey, Clean Technica, February 12, 2015
• Texas solar jobs increasing - By Ryan Honeywell, FuelFix, February 12, 2015

Global Anti-Capitalism:

• Can Bolivia Chart a Sustainable Path Away From Capitalism? - By Chris Williams and Marcela Olivera, Truthout, January 28, 2015
• Naomi Klein on how to build a more kick-ass climate movement - By Staff, Grist, February 10, 2015
• Photos: Coal strike in Poland intensifies - Al Jazeera, February 9, 2015
• Polish Farmers Blockade Motorways Across Country - La Via Campesina, February 10, 2015
• Syria’s Kurdish Revolution; the Anarchist Element & the Challenge of Solidarity - By Bill Weinberg, Fifth Estate, Spring 2015 [related] The No State Solution: Institutionalizing Libertarian Socialism in Kurdistan - By Alexander Kolokotronis, New Politics, November 2, 2014

An Injury to One is an Injury to All!:

• Rising Tide North America Statement of Solidarity with Anti-Fossil Fuel Activists in the Northwest - By Rising Tide North America, February 9, 2015

Other News:

• A City Where Everyone Works, There is No Police, and the Salary is 1200 Euros - Live Travel Enjoy, February 6, 2015
• Court denies appeal by worker who claimed fracking chemicals blinded him - By Matt Miller, The Patriot News, February 11, 2015
• The looming climate catastrophe - By Chris Williams, Socialist Worker, February 4, 2015
• Making occupational illness visible: a call for a coalition between scientists and workers - European Trade Union Institute, February 10, 2015
• Market no solution to climate catastrophe - By James Plested, Red Flag, January 29, 2015
• It May Not Be Making Headlines But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Over….Update on EBOLA [audio] - By Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio, February 10, 2015
• Oil ship explosion in Brazil kills three, union says - Associated Press, February 11, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

By Béla Galgóczi - European Trade Union Institute, 2015

Our planetary limits demand a radical transition from the energy-intensive economic model based on the extraction of finite resources, which has been dominant since the first industrial revolution, to a model that is both sustainable and equitable.

Unfortunately however, energy transformation in Europe has, after a promising start, fallen hostage to austerity and to the main philosophy underpinning the crisis management policies in which overall competitiveness is reduced to the much narrower concept of cost-competitiveness. Regulatory uncertainty, design failures built into incentive systems, and unjust distribution of the costs, have also contributed to the reversal of progress in energy transformation currently observable across Europe.

In this book three country case studies highlight the different facets of these conflicts, while additional light is thrown on the situation by an account of the lack of progress in achieving energy efficiency.

By way of conclusion, a mapping of the main conflicts and obstacles to progress will be of help in formulating policy recommendations. Ambitious climate and energy policy targets should be regarded not as a burden on the economy but rather as investment targets able to pave the way to higher employment and sustainable growth. It is high time for this perception to be recognised and implemented in the context of Europe’s new Investment Plan, thereby enabling clean energy investment to come to form its central pillar. A shift in this direction will require an overhaul of the regulatory and incentive systems to ensure that the need for just burden-sharing is adequately taken into account.

Read the report (Link).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 18, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• We must fight for clean energy the same way we fight for healthcare for all - By Erin Carrera, National Nurses United, December 12, 2014

Dispatches from Lima COP20:

• 'A Roadmap to Global Burning': COP20 Closes With Even Weaker Climate Pact: Climate campaigners lament: "It sucks. It is taking us backwards." - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, December 15, 2014
• Burning the Planet, One Climate COP at a time - By Mary Louise Malig, Global Forest Coalition, December 13, 2014
• Emissions-Cutting Deal Reached at COP 20 Lima, But Will It Help Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change? - Suzanne Goldenberg, U.S. environment correspondent for The Guardian; in London, Asad Rehman, head of international climate for Friends of the Earth; and in New Delhi, Nitin Sethi, associate editor at Business Standard interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 15, 2014
• “If the energy source requires a smoke stack, then it isn’t clean.” - By Lara Norkus-Crampton, National Nurses United, December 12, 2014
• Lima agreement fails humanity and the earth - Climate and Capitalism, December 14, 2014
• Lima Climate COP Fails (of course) - By Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project, December 15, 2014
• The UN climate talks just failed: now for the real battle - By Assaad W. Razzouk, The Ecologist, December 15, 2014

Other News of Interest:

• 'The Alarm Bells are Ringing': From Athletes to Environmentalists, a Universal Call for Racial Justice Emerges - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, December 9, 2014
• California communities fight back against crude by rail - By Tara Lohan, Faces of Fracking, December 13, 2014
• Gold Miners Join Class Action Suit in South Africa Over Lung Disease - By Emilie Iob, Voice of America, December 11, 2014
• Update: Three contractors dead, two hospitalized in workover rig fire - By Jennifer Hiller, Jennifer Hiller, December 12, 2014

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

By Staff - New York Energy Policy Institute and Stony Brook University, November 25, 2014

This study assesses the offshore wind energy and its potential economic impacts on Long Island. The study consists of four parts. It first reviews the literature on economic development benefits associated with wind energy development. We also assess the resource and market potentials of offshore wind based on four factors:

• (a) prior estimates of offshore wind potential;
• (b) federal leasing of submerged lands;
• (c) state policies in support of offshore wind; and
• (d) proposed offshore wind projects.

Existing research on the offshore wind supply chain is reviewed. These reviews are followed with an assessment of potential impacts on employment and economic activity in Long Island. This study employs JEDI model developed by National Renewable Energy Lab to determine the job creation and economic output associated with offshore wind development under two scenarios. This study reaches four major conclusions on the economic impacts of offshore wind energy on Long Island.

First, offshore wind energy can bring significant job and economic benefits to local economies. Previous studies provide varying estimates. Job creation associated with offshore wind development ranges from 7 to 42 jobs for each megawatt. It is reasonable, however, to conclude that offshore wind can generate about 20 jobs in a region with well-developed supply chain and approximately $3.3 million of new local economic development activity.

Second, states in the mid-Atlantic and northeast are rich in offshore wind resources, and have also established policies to support renewable energies, in certain cases including offshore wind.Our review of wind resources, siting and permitting restrictions, federal leasing, state policies, and market demand for offshore wind energy suggests that a Long Island-based offshore-wind industry can have a near-term addressable market of approximately 8,850 MW.

Third, the near-term local economic development opportunities are likely in foundations, blades and marine operations. Long Island is competitive in these areas because of its large, skilled labor base, experience in the aerospace industry and maritime industries.

This analysis finds that each offshore wind farm can produce hundreds of Long Island-based jobs and millions of dollars for the local economy. A single offshore wind farm (250 MW) built off Long Island coast can create 2,864 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs on Long Island or about 11 per MW, as well as approximately $645 million in local economic output, under a scenario assuming that the first offshore wind projects will have to use more service providers and equipment manufacturers outside Long Island as the Long Island supply-chain is built out. Under another scenario that assume Long Island offshore wind industry can achieve a scale of supporting 2,500 MW, more than 58 thousand FTE jobs and approximately $12.9 billion in local economic output can be expected. Our analysis suggests that offshore wind constitutes a significant opportunity for job creation and economic development on Long Island.

Read the report (PDF).

By Mike Gaworecki - DeSmog Blog, November 16, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

A recent trend has seen utilities deciding that since they haven't been able to beat back the rise of rooftop solar companies, they might as well join them (or at least steal their business model). But the Walton Family, owners of Walmart as well as a stake in a manufacturer of solar arrays for utilties, aren't ready to give up the fight.

A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has found that, through their Walton Family Foundation, the Waltons have given $4.5 million dollars to groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and Americans for Prosperity—groups that are attacking renewable energy policies at the state level and, specifically, pushing for fees on rooftop solar installations. The head of ALEC has even gone so far as to denigrate owners of rooftop solar installations as “freeriders.”

But support for groups seeking to halt the rise of clean energy is only half the story. According to Vice News, the Waltons own a 30% stake in First Solar, a company that makes solar arrays for power plants as “an economically attractive alternative or complement to fossil fuel electricity generation,” per its 2013 annual report, which also identifies “competitors who may gain in profitability and financial strength over time by successfully participating in the global rooftop PV solar market” as a threat to First Solar's future profitability.

By Anastasia Pantsios - EcoWatch, November 11, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

A new study by the UK’s Energy Research Centre (UKERC) took a deep dive into job creation claims made by proponents of renewable energy and energy efficiency, looking at the figures and projected figures for the EU from a number of angles. It came to the conclusion that in the short run, moving to renewables and ramping up energy conservation would create more jobs than the fossil fuel sector, at a rate of about one job per gigawatt hour of electricity saved or generated by a clean energy source, with the long-term picture murkier because of factors in the economy and government policy that are hard to predict.

The report, Low Carbon Jobs: The evidence for net job creation from policy support for energy efficiency and renewable energy, said, “‘Green’ sectors account for as many as 3.4 million jobs in the EU, or 1.7 percent of all paid employment, more than car manufacturing or pharmaceuticals. Given the size of the green jobs market, and the expectation of rapid change and growth, there is a pressing need to independently analyse labour market dynamics and skills requirements in these sectors. What is more controversial is the question of whether policy-driven expansion of specific green sectors actually creates jobs, particularly when the policies in question require subsidies that are paid for through bills or taxes. Politicians often cite employment benefits as part of the justification for investing in clean energy projects such as renewables and energy efficiency. However, other literature is more sceptical, claiming that any intervention that raises costs in the energy sector will have an adverse impact on the economy as a whole.”

The report focused not simply on job creation, but on net job creation, subtracting the number of fossil fuel-based jobs that could potentially be displaced by spending on green infrastructure projects. It also employs “counterfactuals”: what other power generation sources would have been built instead without green policies. It says that over-optimistic green jobs figures don’t take this into account. But it also says that jobs skeptics tend to be overly broad in their application of counterfactuals.

By Judee Burr and Lindsey Hallock, Frontier Group and Rob Sargent, Environment America Research & Policy Center, Environment America - Publication, November 2014

America could meet its energy needs by capturing just a sliver of the virtually limit-less and pollution-free energy that strikes the nation every day in the form of sunlight. With solar installation costs falling, the efficiency of solar cells rising, and the threats of air pollution and global warming ever-looming, solar power is becoming a more attractive and widespread source of energy everyday.

Solar energy is on the rise across the country.The amount of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the United States has tripled in the past two years. More than half of all new U.S. electricity generating capac-ity came from solar installations in the first half of 2014, and the United States now has enough solar electric capacity installed to power more than 3.2 million homes.

Read the report (Link).

By Will Blyth, Rob Gross, Jamie Speirs, Steve Sorrell, Jack Nicholls, Alex Dorgan, and Nick Hughes - UK Energy Research Center, November 2014

‘Green’ sectors account for as many as 3.4 million jobs in the EU, or 1.7% of all paid employment, more than car manufacturing or pharmaceuticals. Given the size of the green jobs market, and the expectation of rapid change and growth, there is a pressing need to independently analyse labour market dynamics and skills requirements in these sectors. What is more controversial is the question of whether policy driven expansion of specific green sectors actually creates jobs, particularly when the policies in question require subsidies that are paid for through bills or taxes. There are strong views on both sides of this debate. Politicians often cite employment benefits as part of the justification for investing in clean energy projects such as renewables and energy efficiency. Such claims are often backed up by project or sector-specific analyses. However, other literature is more sceptical, claiming that any intervention that raises costs in the energy sector will have an adverse impact on the economy as a whole.

The UKERC Technology and Policy Assessment (TPA) theme was set up to address such controversies through comprehensive assessment of the current evidence. This report aims to answer the following question:

“What is the evidence that policy support for investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency leads to net job creation in the implementing regions?”

The focus on net jobs here is important: whilst it is clear that jobs can be created at a local scale by spending money on new infrastructure projects, other jobs may be displaced if the new project provides activities or services that would otherwise have been provided elsewhere in the economy. Analysis of net jobs therefore needs to take account of both jobs created and jobs displaced.

Read the report (PDF).

By Jon Queally - Common Dreams, October 9, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

In order to build an adequate low-carbon 21st century energy system that scientists have said is necessary to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, a new report argues that the world must look beyond large-scale, centralized renewable projects—such as industrial solar and wind farms—and take up efforts to build more democratically-controlled and decentralized power grids.

Contained as a chapter in the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2014: Governing for Sustainability, the research compiled by professor Sean Sweeney, who co-directs of the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University, says the world's energy systems must be "reclaimed to serve public interests, rather than focus on maximizing sales and profits" for the large corporations who now benefit from the burning of fossil fuels and the centralized grids that distribute most of the world's electricity.

"A timely and equitable energy transition can occur only with greater energy democracy, which requires that workers, communities, and the public at large have a real voice in decision making, and that the anarchy of liberalized energy markets is replaced with a comprehensive and planned approach," writes Sweeney.

According to a 2010 report (pdf) by the Center for Social Inclusion, true "energy democracy" is exemplifed by renewable energy projects that are "small-scale, locally owned or controlled" and  "structured to allow local investment, sweat equity, and a transparent process for setting fair [market] prices."