Energy Blue Print
Archive 2010

Moving from principles to action for energy supply that mitigates against climate change requires a long-term perspective. Energy infrastructure takes time to build up; new energy technologies take time to develop. Policy shifts often also need many years to take effect. In most world regions the transformation from fossil to renewable energies will require additional investment and higher supply costs over about twenty years

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employment effects

The Energy [R]evolution scenarios lead to more energy sector jobs in OECD North America at every stage of the projection.

  • • There are 1.59 million power sector jobs in the Energy [R]evolution scenario and 2.01 million in the advanced version by 2015, compared to 660,000 in the Reference scenario.
  • • By 2020 job numbers reach over 1.6 million in the Energy [R]evolution scenario (1.85 million in the advanced version), one million more than in the Reference scenario.
  • • By 2030 job numbers remain roughly on 2020 levels in the Energy [R]evolution scenario to 1.4 million (1.7 million in the advanced version) and reach nearly 0.7 million in the Reference scenario.

Table 6.4 shows the increase in job numbers under both Energy [R]evolution scenarios for each technology up to 2020 and up to 2030. Both scenarios show losses in coal generation, but these are outweighed by employment growth in renewable technologies and gas. Wind shows particularly strong growth in both Energy [R]evolution scenarios by 2020, but by 2030 there is significant employment across a range of renewable technologies.

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