Although coal remains the largest source of electricity in the U.S., a combination of factors is driving a decrease in profitability and employment in the coal-sector. Meanwhile, the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing rapidly in the U.S. and generating many jobs that represent employment opportunities for laid off coal workers. In order to determine the viability of a smooth transition from coal to PV-related employment, this paper provides an analysis of the cost to retrain current coal workers for solar photovoltaic industry employment in the U.S. The current coal industry positions are determined, the skill set evaluated and the salaries tabulated. For each type of coal position, the closest equivalent PV position is determined and then the re-training time and investment are quantified. These values are applied on a state-by-state basis for coal producing states employing the bulk of coal workers as a function of time using a reverse seniority retirement program for the current American fleet of coal-powered plants. The results show that a relatively minor investment in retraining would allow the vast majority of coal workers to switch to PV-related positions even in the event of the elimination of the coal industry.
Highlights[edit | edit source]
- Many factors driving decrease in profitability and employment in coal industry
- Solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing rapidly in U.S. creating many jobs
- PV represents employment opportunities for laid off coal workers.
- An analysis presented on cost to retrain current coal workers for solar PV industry.
- To cover these costs four policy scenarios are considered and their impacts discussed
Keywords[edit | edit source]
employment; energy industry; solar photovoltaic; coal; jobs; green jobs
See also[edit | edit source]
- Retraining investment for Alberta’s oil and gas workers for green jobs in the solar industry
- Pearce publications in energy policy and sustainability policy
- Pearce publications in education for sustainability and green pedagogy
- Educational Pathways to Remote Employment in Isolated Communities
- Renewable Energy Training Opportunities for Vets and Displaced Fossil Energy Workers
- ---
- Forbes 2019 update
Jobs[edit | edit source]
The Solar Jobs Census 2016 found that solar employment increased by over 51,000 workers, a 25 percent increase over 2015. Overall, the Solar Jobs Census found there were 260,077 solar workers in 2016. Solar industry employment has nearly tripled since the first National Solar Jobs Census was released in 2010.[1]
- See Jobs
Solar Photovoltaic Specific jobs[edit | edit source]
- Solar Today Jobs Board
- SEI jobs board
- Indeed, and solar jobs
- PVTech jobs
- Solar City
- SunPower
Look for top companies by category at http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/
Other resources[edit | edit source]
- http://www.pvlighthouse.com.au/index.aspx
- http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/07/us-solar-production-is-being-vastly-underreported.html
- http://www.solarodo.com/en/index.htm - used PV marketplace
- https://www.bls.gov/green/solar_power/
- https://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/solar-energy-careers
- http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/careers.html
- http://www.gridalternatives.org/what-we-do/workforce-development
In the News[edit | edit source]
Third round[edit | edit source]
- An alternative to propping up coal power plants: Retrain workers for solar -
SF Gate 1039 Phys.org 5.7k San Francisco Chronicle 7.3k, Houston Chronicle 20.5k Connecticut Post 65.3k Idaho Press 183k MENAFN 186k Midland Reporter Telegram 202k Long Room News 206k Los Angeles Post 218k Beaumont Enterprise 218k DeSmog Blog 234k Plain View 243k Industrial Equipment News 243k Edwardsville Intelligencer 282k Resilience Today The Daily Reporter Brewminate Daily Yonder Vincennes Sun-Commercial Skeptical Science
- reddit, reddit2
- Retrain Coal Workers for Solar Green Building Advisor 85k
- What If We Just Buy Off Big Fossil Fuel? A Novel Plan to Mitigate the Climate Calamity Counter Punch 43.9k
Second round[edit | edit source]
- What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar? - Harvard Business Review, La energía solar, el posible refugio para los trabajadores del carbón- Harvard Business Review (en espanol)
- Solar Industry Welcomes Coal Workers With Open Arms - Huffington Post Business, Real Clean Energy
- One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every US Miner to Work in the Solar Industry- Greentech Media, North Carolina Review
- Fossil Fuel Companies Don't Understand That They No Longer Have Free Reign - Seeking Alpha
- Relatively Minor Retraining Investment Could Transition All Coal Workers To Solar Jobs - Clean Technica
- How do we turn coal jobs into solar jobs? Wizards, perhaps? - Grist
- New study: it would be cheap to retrain coal workers for solar jobs - Vox, Follow News
- Can We Really Retrain Coal Workers for Jobs in Solar? - MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review (Spanish), MIT Technology Review (Portugal), MIT Technology Review (Pakistan),شمسی توانائی کے شعبہ میں روزگار کے وسیع مواقع,Climate Change News Blog, EIN News
- Mining layoffs could ‘easily’ turn into solar hires — study - Governors Wind and Energy Coalition
- Indiana Coal Works Could Be Retrained To Work In Solar Industry For $8 Million - WBIO Public Radio ,WFYI
- Study calculates retraining Hoosier coal workers for solar energy jobs - Indiana Public Radio
- Retrain struggling US coal workers for jobs in thriving solar industry, say researchers - Business Green
- Open thread for night owls: Study ponders how to turn coal jobs into solar jobs - Daily Kos
- Solar Energy Is Powering New Careers And It Could Be Absorbing Coal Sector Job Losses - Forbes,Digital News Magazine, Check the Science, Business News World, News Nation Times, Nebraskans for Solar, RegularPR,BreakingNews ,Newshotspot, imagazine
- Why Trump’s Promise to Save the Coal Industry Does More Damage Than Good - Time
- One Year of a Coal CEO's Salary Could Transition U.S. Coal Miners to Work in Solar Industry -EcoWatch, Reader Supported News,Buzz Flash at Truth Out, Nation of Change,Reader Supported News
- US solar industry hailed as ‘light at end of tunnel’ for jobless coal miners - Mining.com, Nxt Wire
- Coal country jobs can go solar with modest retraining — study - Environment & Energy Publishing Climate Wire, Climate Change Psychology
- Quick Takes: Clinton Tells GOP Defectors “You Get Nothing” - Washington Monthly
- How Clean Energy’s Rising Tide Can Lift All Boats - Breaking Energy
- From Coal-Country to the Sunbelt - Medium
- Retraining Coal Workers for Solar Jobs Is Surprisingly Realistic and Cheap - Care2
- How Clean Energy's Rising Tide Can Lift All Boats - Energy Central
- A CEO’s pay is enough to train all the company’s laid-off coal miners for jobs in sustainable energy - ZME Science
- Retraining Coal Workers for Solar Jobs Is Surprisingly Realistic and Cheap - Green Energy Investing
- The new renewable energy careers could absorb the job losses of the fossil fuel sector - Alternative Energies
- Jobs and Just Transition Links - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus
- New jobs for coal miners - The Telegraph (19.5k circ)
- Study: coal jobs could transition to solar - Energy Trend Tracker
- One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every U.S. Miner to Work in the Solar Industry - Palmetto solar
- OPED: Coal country hit by a changing climate - York Dispatch
- Out of Energy - National Affairs
- Solar Training To Cost $1.8B - The Intelligencer - Wheeling News/Register
- For former coal workers, renewable energy means renewed job market - Share America is the U.S. Department of State’s platform for sharing compelling stories and images that spark discussion and debate on important topics
- Study estimates cost of coal-to-solar retraining West Virginia Press
- Study: Renewable Industry Could Absorb Coal Layoffs - Wyoming News Service
- Study: Renewable Industry Could Absorb Coal Layoffs - Public News Service
- Report: Lost Coal Jobs Can Be Absorbed By Renewable Sector - Duke FM
- The Numbers Behind Our Clean Power Plan Video (Or Lightning Bolts And The Saturn V Rocket!) Inside Energy
- COAL MINERS BECOME SOLAR TECHNICIANS?- World Watch Institute , Greenbiz
- Trump victory puts the chill on international climate talks - Think Progress
- Coal Workers Find Work in Solar Power-Solar Reviews
- The Solar Revolution - Science Museum of Virginia
- Despite Trump's Claims, Coal Isn't Coming Back - Seeker
- Are Sustainable Energy Jobs Sustainable - for Epoch Times (circulation 1.3million) pg2 online
- Increased automation guarantees a bleak outlook for Trump’s promises to coal miners - The Avenue at Brookings Institute
- The future of American jobs lies with the tech industry- TechCrunch
- Clean Energy Is Seeing Monumental Job Growth - US News
- Why Donald Trump Can't Save the Coal Industry - Newsweek, AARP, Mad Mikes America, UK Yahoo! News, National Memo, Bitcoin warrior
- Michael Meeropol: A Proposal To Retrain Coal Miners - North East Public Radio
- Pathways to a Just Energy Transition - Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania
- Coal Miners’ Futures in Renewable Energy - Consortium news
- Another Perspective-Press Argus Courier
- Can We Put Coal Miners Back to Work in Clean Energy? - Gizmodo
- Coal Country Joins the Solar Shift- SolarDigest
- The Paris Climate Agreement and the Jobs Misunderstanding - The Milken Review
First round[edit | edit source]
- Coal to solar: Retraining the energy workforce - Phys.org, Science Daily,Science Newsline Technology, Libertan, Real Clear Energy, Product Design and Development, Science Codex, Nebraskans for Solar, Revolution Green, Iconics Science, Solar Daily, Science 2.0
- Retraining the energy workforce:Coal to solar - Planet Save, Clean Technica
- Coal workers could have a sunny future in renewables - The Fifth State (Australia), Environment Guru
- Michigan Tech, OSU Show Coal Workers Can Find Placement in Solar - Solar Reviews
- Report: Lost Coal Jobs Can Be Absorbed By Renewable Sector - Eagle Country 99.3 FM
- Report: Lost Coal Jobs Can Be Absorbed By Renewable Sector - 1230 AM Terre Haute, IN 1440 AM Paris, IL
- The Paris Climate Agreement and the Jobs Misunderstanding - Milken Review
- Can We Put Coal Miners Back to Work in Clean Energy? - Gears of Biz
- The Labor Market, The Energy Market, and America’s Future - Solar Tribune
International Press[edit | edit source]
- Dal carbone al solare, come può spostarsi la forza lavoro - Qual Energia (Italy)
- What to do with coal workers? Retrain them for solar, says study - Renew Economy (Australia)
- Het kost niks om mijnwerkers om te scholen tot installateurs van zonnepanelen - Groene Courant (Dutch)
- Mindenkinek megérné, ha átképzés után napelemekkel dolgoznának az amerikai szénipari munkások. Állásaik már amúgy sem biztosak. - Hirado(Hungarian) -- main news program of MTVA, the Hungarian public broadcaster.
- Will 150,000 Coal Workers Be Left Behind in the Move to Solar? - Epoch Times
- Mijnwerkers kunnen het dak op- RTL Z is a Dutch business and financial news television channel
- Visualization by Graphiq The coal industry has been devastated by efforts to curb climate change Ad Hoc News (Germany)
- USA Nenákladné rekvalifikace zajistí lidem v uhelném sektoru novou práci v solárním odvětví Více na - oenergetice.cz (Czech)
- Még jobban is keresnének a napenergiával a szénbányászok - MNNSZ (Hungary)
- OZE: Sektor, który wyjdzie naprzeciw górnikom Czytaj więcej na - Polska 2041 (Poland)
- テクノロジーによって職を失った人をどうするか? - Gizmodo (Japan), Livedoor, Yomerumo
- テクノロジーの発展により失業した人々を救うためには? - Life Hacker (Japan)
- For former coal workers, renewable energy means renewed job market - U.S Embassy and Consulates in South Africa.
- Os empregos de energia sustentável são sustentáveis? - Epoch Times (Brazil)
- Trump’s Apprenticeship Program Should Help Train Coal Miners For Solar Jobs and Facebook video, Weekend Roundup: U.S. Media Mirrors Trump’s ‘America First’ Myopia On North Korea