Jobs Still Gone, with or Without the Wind

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Although millions of dollars in tax credits for renewable energy projects were set aside in the stimulus plan, and although the United States leads the world in terms of total wind power installations (with wind energy continuing to grow like gangbusters), The Seattle Times reports that American wind energy firms still aren't hiring. In fact, they actually cut some 2,000 jobs last year. Why?

According to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, the drop in U.S. jobs is due, in part, to the lack of a long-term national policy that would require a certain percentage of American electricity to come from renewable sources. About half the wind turbines installed in the U.S. were made overseas.A check with some companies that want to get into the wind-manufacturing business found that even some qualifying for clean-energy-manufacturing tax credits aren't able to create jobs quickly because they don't see enough demand for wind energy.

It makes sense that without a long-term policy guaranteeing a market share for wind energy, investors might be skeptical. But if we are on our way out of the recession, and if climate legislation does come to pass, then maybe these firms will start hiring.Photo (cc) by Flickr user the russians are here.Thanks, Andrew!