---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alice McKeown < Alice.McKeown@sierraclub.org>
Date: Jan 10, 2008 3:24 PM
Subject: Environment Colorado's report on Green Jobs
To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-FORUM@lists.sierraclub.org

Below please find the report on jobs that Nancy LaPlaca mentioned on last
night's coal activist call.

Best wishes,
Alice
________________________________
Alice McKeown
Sierra Club
National Coal Campaign
tel: 202.675.6271
fax: 202.547.6009

----- Forwarded by Alice McKeown/Sierraclub on 01/10/2008 03:17 PM -----

Here's the study I mentioned re: green jobs. Link below will take you
to page where PDF can be downloaded. I believe EC (Environment Colorado)
is doing similar studies in its "sister" states, i.e. Enviro Ohio,
Enviro California etc.

Report available for download:
http://www.environmentcolorado.org/reports/energy/energy-program-reports/energy-for-colorados-economy-creating-jobs-and-economic-growth-with-renewable-energy
Executive Summary
Developing Colorado's renewable energy resources will yield better
results for Coloradans than building more coal- or gas-fired power
plants. By investing in renewable energy to meet our electricity needs,
we can create jobs, stabilize energy prices, and reduce the long-term
economic and environmental risk from global warming pollution.

In this report, we use an economic model to evaluate the net impacts of
expanding Colorado's commitment to clean and renewable energy by
extending the renewable energy standard established under Amendment 37
to 20 percent by 2020 for investor-owned utilities, plus expanding it to
include Colorado's cooperative electricity companies and eligible
municipal utilities with a target of 10 percent by 2020.

Renewable energy improves Colorado's economy and environment, and should
form a central part of Colorado's electricity system.

Renewable energy creates jobs.
Expanding Colorado's renewable energy standard would create a net
increase of 4,100 person-years of employment through 2020. It
would also increase total wages paid to workers in the state by a
net cumulative total of $570 million. That's approximately four
times the positive employment impact and twice the wage impact of
Amendment 37.

Renewable energy creates economic growth.
Expanding Colorado's renewable energy standard would increase
Colorado's share of gross domestic product (GDP) by a net of $1.9
billion through 2020. The increase in GDP under an expanded
standard would be almost twice as large as under Amendment 37.

Renewable energy benefits Colorado's rural areas.
Landowners can lease land for wind farms, creating an additional
income stream. An expanded renewable energy standard would
supplement landowner income with cumulative total lease payments
of $50 million through 2020 (60 percent more than under Amendment
37).
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, wind energy
provides 10 times more local tax revenue than a coal-fired power
plant in Colorado (on an energy-equivalent basis). Expanding
Colorado's renewable energy standard would generate $400 million
in property taxes (total through 2020) to fund education and other
local government services, mainly in rural areas of the state (70
percent more than under Amendment 37).

Renewable energy prevents pollution and conserves water.
An expanded renewable energy standard would reduce soot, smog,
mercury and global warming pollution from Colorado's electricity
sector in the year 2020 by approximately 11 percent (compared to
business as usual). In that year, the expanded renewable energy
program would be 2.3 times as effective at preventing pollution as
Amendment 37 alone.
An expanded renewable energy standard would save a cumulative
total of 18 billion gallons of water through 2020, water that
otherwise would be used for steam and cooling in coal- or
gas-fired plants. That amount of water (almost twice as large as
under Amendment 37) could completely fill Cherry Creek Reservoir
more than twice.

Renewable energy keeps more of Colorado's energy dollars in the local
economy compared to coal- and gas-fired power plants.
The National Renewable Energy Lab estimates that a Colorado wind
farm has more than three times the direct economic impact of an
equivalent coalfired power plant, and more than twice the impact
of a gas-fired plant.
The NREL study calculates that wind farms keep more than twice as
much money in Colorado for construction and operation and
maintenance as a coal plant, and more than three times as much as
a gas plant.

Colorado has more than enough renewable energy resources to make a new
energy future a reality.
Colorado has excellent wind energy resources, with an estimated
technical potential more than 10 times greater than the state's
entire electricity needs in 2006.
Solar photovoltaic panels occupying just 0.15 percent of
Colorado's land area could generate nearly twice as much
electricity as the state used in 2006.
Colorado also has the potential to use agricultural wastes and
switchgrass for energy, with the potential to generate up to 8
percent of the state's electricity needs.

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