Up to 280,000 new jobs can be created directly from the deployment of smart grid technologies in the U.S., according to a smart grid jobs report released last week by the GridWise Alliance.
The report projects that a $16 billion Federal investment in smart
incentives over the next four years would drive $64 billion in smart
grid related projects resulting in approximately 280,000 new direct
positions across various categories.
In addition, the report notes that a smart grid will drive a substantial number of indirect jobs as it enables the deployment of new technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy resources such as solar, smart appliances, home automation software and hardware, and wind energy generation.
"Increasingly a smart grid is seen as a key enabler for the new energy economy and as such, is foundational for the millions of ‘green collar jobs’ President-Elect Obama is aiming for," says Guido Bartels, Chairman of the GridWise Alliance and General Manager Global Energy & Utilities Industry at IBM (NYSE: IBM).
President-Elect Obama and key Senate and House leaders have frequently
mentioned a smart grid as an economic and infrastructure booster. The
GridWise Alliance, with 70 members from all across the energy chain,
believes that a smart grid is essential to achieving goals for
integrating energy from renewable resources and energy efficiency
technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
The Smart Grid Jobs Report was written by GridWise member company, KEMA, Inc. The GridWise Alliance was founded in 2003. The Alliance advocates a
vision of an electric system that integrates the infrastructure,
processes, devices, information and market structure so that energy can
be generated, distributed, and consumed more efficiently and cost
effectively..
The full report can be viewed at the link below.
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