“Most of the jobs are going overseas,” said Russ Choma at the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He analyzed which foreign firms had accepted the most stimulus money. “According to our estimates, about 6,000 jobs have been created overseas, and maybe a couple hundred have been created in the U.S.”
It is estimated that about 85,000 people work in the wind power industry in the United States… that’s 85k when you add up direct investment and related supply chain employment. (will find the link reference but it’s from the American Wind Energy Association).
Even if we quadruple the size of wind power in the U.S. it will not result in meaningful employment, or even treading water for that matter. A dramatic expansion of the wind power industry would also come at the expense of existing power segments so the employment effect would be further muted.
I am not singling out wind power for the purpose of criticizing wind power but rather to point out that when people who responsible for doling out billions of your dollars start lecturing you on how green energy will reinvigorate the U.S. economy you should simply call bullshit on them.