5 ms·
I see nothing in the article about helping workers who would be out of jobs when coal plants shut down. The headlines will read "Billionaire causes thousands of
by itg 7y ago
I see nothing in the article about helping workers who would be out of jobs when coal plants shut down. The headlines will read "Billionaire causes thousands of blue-collar workers to lose their jobs".
- ggm 7y agoThousands of future people won't die of asthma related illnesses. Most of the older workers will fail to find work but most of the younger workers will succeed. Non-coal energy industries seem to create jobs, your pessimism is possibly overrated. You do know that PV and solar is understood to be net job creating? Do you actually want us to be drowning in the horse manure, literally tonnes a day, from still depending on horses, because horseless carriages will under employ postboys and farriers?
- itg 7y agoNot arguing that we should avoid clean energy, but if one person with so many resources can effect the coal industry, the least they can do is also help the people who would be affected by it through job retraining, etc.
- ben_w 7y ago£1 billion is a lot for one person; yet very little for 3 million people, even when most of them are on Chinese wages.
- mariushn 7y agoPlease separate the issues. 2 different problems, need 2 different solutions for each. Similar problems is with state workers in bureaucracies. In my country, citizens spend hours in queues, filling forms etc. when it could all be done online and have simpler laws. If the purpose is for the state worker to have a job, let her stay at home and get paid, rather than causing more harm just to have a job.
- rypskar 7y agoHow many do actually work in coal industry compared to how many works in the renewable energy industry?
- sjwalter 7y agoHow many jobs for people with only high school diplomas does renewable energy support? How many does coal mining?
- rypskar 7y agoAt least in my part of the world electrician and other crafts are learned at high school level and not at university, so probably not that much difference. Most of construction, installation, and maintenance don't require higher education
- sjwalter 7y agofrom a capex perspective maybe you’re right, but coal needs miners forever and allow any man with a strong back to put microwaveable food on the TV tray. Don’t need nearly as many people to maintain a wind farm as you do to feed a coal plant or ten. (I’m not pro coal or anything, but I just don’t share the view that transitioning to higher tech solutions doesn’t have negative externalities—it does but they are borne by people largely outside the conversation, much like global heating).
- smt1 7y agoExcept that mining became largely mechanized, especially in the first world, reducing the labor intensity required to mine it: https://wvpolicy.org/blog-series-the-impact-and-future-of-the-w-va-coal-economy/ https://wvpolicy.org/blog-series-the-impact-and-future-of-th...
- Gravityloss 7y agoThe amount of pollution per work hour is staggering. I don't think it's relevant. Other sectors can actually even employ more.
- _ph_ 7y agoRenewables tend to to be more labor-intensive than coal. So switching to renewables rather creates jobs. Besides the usual benefits of saving the climate, keeping the air clean...
- smt1 7y agoEspecially with how mechanized coal mining has become.
- philipkglass 7y agoRenewables presently look more labor-intensive because they are still being built at a rapid clip, whereas there are no coal plants under construction in the US. "Coal power jobs" presently include only the permanent employment for operating and maintaining plants that were built in the past, plus associated mining jobs for fuel. Most wind and solar jobs are temporary construction/installation jobs. It takes a year or two for hundreds of workers to build a solar farm. Then the site can operate for 20 years or more with just a handful of permanent employees. Jobs in manufacturing the equipment used for renewable generation are steadier but also less plentiful. Factories for making batteries, turbines, inverters, and solar modules are already thrifty with human labor and becoming more so over time. I actually think that these characteristics of renewable generation are benefits, overall. Aging populations benefit from technological developments that enable the same material standard of living with fewer prime-age workers. Low labor intensity also means that renewable electricity prices can fall further until hitting a price floor set by the wages of plant workers. See a previous analysis here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13750787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13750787