Solar Power: Lots of Jobs per KWH Is Bad, Not Good

https://www.econlib.org/archives/2017/05/solar_power_lot.html

by jeffreyrogers • 8 years ago

15 17 8 years ago

aplummer• 8 years ago

Wouldn’t installing PV on people’s homes be more similar to building the power poles/ infrastructure that already exists for coal, and not just running a plant?

This chart doesn’t break down solar maintenance and solar construction.

jdblair• 8 years ago

Most workers in solar are needed to install new systems. Once a system is installed it will require only minimal scheduled maintenance for the next 25 years. After installation the system is wealth.

Further, building lots of small generation systems (e.g., rooftop solar) will inherently require more labor than building a few large generation systems (e.g., traditional power plants). One can argue that distributed power generation is a benefit, as it reduces the need for increased distribution capacity.

joshhart• 8 years ago

Completely agreed. If we assume the lifetime of a system is ~30 years, then the amount of labor per coal worker is between 2x and 3x, not 79x. I also note they used the terminology "coal worker" which probably does not include all of the people who work in the plants themselves, nor those involved in shipping coal.

bwanab• 8 years ago

Yep. That article was spouting disingenuous nonsense in the best possible interpretation I could read into it.

ska2• 8 years ago

I suspect (but don't know) that you can replace "article" with "site" comfortably there...

danmaz74• 8 years ago

One can argue that distributed power generation is a benefit, as it reduces the need for increased distribution capacity

Unfortunately, that's only true if the power is generated at the time when it's needed, which isn't the case with solar. Distributed power storage could help, but in many cases it will never be enough to actually disconnect from the grid.

chr4004• 8 years ago

Plus, how much does it cost in man-hours to clean up negative external effects of traditional power plants vs solar? Need to include that as well.

scotty79• 8 years ago

If two ways of achieving same thing cost the same then the way with more employment ahould be preferred at least until we grow out of the notion that you need excuse of work to not let someone die of hunger or lack of shelter.

saas_co_de• 8 years ago

This is a blog post based on a slide from the American Enterprise Institute with no supporting documentation - not exactly a highly credible source.

hknust• 8 years ago

I hate to use the term but this is fake news. There is no analysis or breakdown of the numbers. Just quoting raw numbers and then drawing comparisons is misleading at best.

geggam• 8 years ago

Frankly more jobs is a good thing. Where I live there are many people looking for work / barely scraping by.

howard941• 8 years ago

[2017]

why do sound economic analysis when you can parrot a junk study that supports your political view?

Quoted from a comment on the OP and getting it right.

cestith• 8 years ago

Building out new infrastructure is more labor intensive than operating existing infrastructure, more on this story at 11.

andor• 8 years ago

Lots of jobs per kWh are only bad if you're a large energy provider looking for maximum profitability. It doesn't mean that solar power is going to be more expensive for consumers. Consumers buy a bunch of panels and pay for installation and maintenance. Given that there is enough sun around, those panels will eventually pay themselves off.

Creating those jobs is also great because it spreads the wealth way more evenly, leading to a healthier economy.

jacknews• 8 years ago

He needs to go back and do econ 101 again, he's conflating two different things.

If coal, gas, and solar workers all quite tomorrow, the "power" from coal and gas would go out, but most solar installations would keep on producing regardless.

ie, the majority of solar workers are building capacity, not operating the system.

Solar Power: Lots of Jobs per KWH Is Bad, Not Good

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