Comparison of employment potential of the coal and wind power industries

International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment

Volumn 1, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 82-90

  Diesendorf, Mark ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

Author keywords

coal power; employment; job years; location of manufacturing industries; mandatory renewable energy target; policies; wind power

Indexed keywords

EID: 33845615554     PISSN: 17418437     EISSN: 17418445     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJEWE.2004.005605     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Diesendorf, M. (2003) Australia’s Polluting Power: Coal-fired Electricity and It Impact on Global Warming, WWF Australia, Sydney, see www.wwf.org.au
2. However, in this context ‘the economy’ is widely interpreted by commentators to be the coal and electricity-intensive industries, such as aluminium smelting. Many other industries have expressed concern about being excluded from carbon trading by the Australian government’s refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
3. As used in Vindmoellenindustrien Danish Wind Turbine Manufacturers’ Association (1996) ‘Employment in the wind power industry’, Wind Power Note, March, No. 2, see www.windpower.dk
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2000) Electricity, Gas, Water and Sewerage Operation, Australia, Canberra, Cat. No. 8226.0.
5. Productivity Commission (1999) The Australian Black Coal Industry.
6. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004) Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Table 06.
7. However, there is an inconsistency between the two data sets, which appear to show that at some years there was more employment in the NSW and Queensland coal industry than in the whole of Australia’s coal industry. Such inconsistencies are common when slightly different definitions of ‘jobs’ are utilised. However, both data sets show a consistent declining trend in coal employment.
8. See www.wsws.org/category/workers/au-mines.shtml
9. MacGill, I., Watt, M. and Passey, R. (2002) ‘The economic development potential and job creation potential of renewable energy: Australian case studies’, Commissioned by Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy Policy Group, Australian Ecogeneration Association and Renewable Energy Generators Association.
10. Source: 1992–2001 data from BP, www.bp.com/, 2002 and 2003 data from American Wind Energy Association website, www.awea.org
11. European Wind Energy Association (c.2004) Wind Energy: The Facts, Industry and Employment, Vol. 3, see http://www.ewea.org/06projects_events/proj_WEfacts.htm
12. Vestas opened a components manufacturing plant in Launceston in 2003 and a Victorian Minister announced in March 2004 that another wind turbine manufacturer would open one with 2300 jobs in rural Victoria.
13. Saddler, H., Diesendorf, M. and Denniss, R. (2004) A Clean Energy Future for Australia, Clean Energy Future Group, Sydney, p.164, available on www.bcse.org.au
14. McLennan Magasanik Associates (2002) Incremental Electricity Supply Costs from Additional Renewable and Gas-Fired Generation in Australia, McLennan Magasanik Associates.
15. Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy (2003) Driving Energy Efficiency, Melbourne, see www.bcse.org.au
16. Currently about 75,000 households and businesses belong to Green Power schemes in Australia - see www.greenpower.com.au. This constitutes about 1% of electricity consumers and is expanding very slowly.
17. Riedy, C. and Diesendorf, M. (2003) ‘Financial subsidies to the Australian fossil fuel industry’, Energy Policy, Vol. 31, pp.125–137. Riedy, C. (2003) ‘Subsidies that encourage fossil fuel use in Australia’, Working Paper CR2003/01, www.isf.uts.edu.au