Green economy: Concrete projects and media temptations

Online, October 2, 2009 (Newswire.com) - "Notizie tra le linee" - a webzine run by the Italian energy company Terna - aims to collect the most interesting and inspiring news related to environment and ecology. This ranges from announcing "concrete" projects that can be implemented to abstract theories with enormous costs and hardly reliable with regard to employment.

After having learned that with the wind power produced only in the United States, the entire planet could be lit, the Report "Working For the Climate: Green Job Revolution" drafted by Greenpeace, informed us that with green energy, namely a "virtuous" mix of the intensive use of renewable sources and energy efficiency policies, 11 million and 300 thousand jobs could be created in the world in the next 20 years, over 100 thousand of these in Italy. The Report firmly hopes an actual "energy revolution" will take place that - explained the head of Greenpeace's Transportation and Climate Campaign, Andrea Lepore - "is based on increasing green energy production and on global measures for increasing energy efficiency ". In terms of employment, green policies that will protect the planet's climate, "could lead to - added Lepore - an increase of 2.7 million jobs in the next 20 years with respect to the reference trend outlined by the 'World Energy Outlook 2007' and prepared by the International Energy Association (Iea)". This reference trend outlined by the Iea -explained Lepore- also considered 'business-as-usual', basing the outlook on the trend of present energy policies". According to the Iea, on the basis of the present energy policies, employment in the energy sector would drop to 8.6 million at the global level within 2030. For us, on the contrary, with an Energy Revolution, in 20 years, we could reach 11.3 million jobs with a net global improvement, compared to the reference outlook, of 2.7 million new jobs". To reach this objective, "it is enough - assured Lepore - to aim at renewable sources and energy efficiency".

In Italy, always according to this positive outlook, total employment in the energy sector would equal 102 thousand jobs by 2030 within the Energy Revolution context, 82% more compared to the 56 thousand jobs in the event "nothing would change within the Italian energy policy". Greenpeace is not the only one to have made this forecast. Other specific research and studies on Italy conducted by the Bocconi University or by associations belonging to this category, indicated that strong increases in employment could be reached in our country through green energy. A recent study conducted by the Bocconi University, for example, showed how by investing in renewable energy and reaching the European targets as established by the Climate and Energy Policy, the potential for creating new jobs in Italy exists, and that within 2020 at least 100 thousand jobs to a maximum of 250 thousand would be created. Research conducted by Anev, carried out together with the Uil, based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed in January 2008, confirmed the employment potential in the wind power sector. Within 2020, Anev-Uil estimated that by implementing the 16 GW potential, over 66 thousand jobs could be created in the wind power sector, one third of which -approximately 22 thousand- in direct employment and two thirds in related activities.