Climate crisis creates new green jobs

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=7435&lang=6

30-11-2007

Climate crisis creates new green jobs

Without changes to the world's energy system, climate change will get completely out of control. Utilising renewable energy sources requires greater effort than using fossil fuels, and the skill requirements are higher too. In the Nordic Region alone, there is the potential for half a million new jobs to be created.

In Denmark, the number employees in the wind-power industry has increased from 2,900 to 21,000 in a decade. A Norwegian company leads the way in solar energy. Sweden and Finland are investing in bio-fuels, while Iceland possesses expertise in geo-thermal energy.

The skills and the technology exist, but can the labour market keep up? The latest edition of the magazine Working Life in the Nordic Countries looks at these issues. Sweden alone will have a shortage of 50,000 engineers by 2010.

New types of will also emerge. Jonas Ternström is Sweden's first certified energy auditor, for example. Under new legislation, 600,000 Swedish properties are to have their energy consumption checked by 2008.

"Environmental issues are often presented as a battle between renewable energy sources and fossil fuels. However, in the future, the question will to an increasing degree be how the knowledge and skills of those who currently work with fossil-based energy might be honed for use with renewable energy sources," Björn Lindahl writes.

One example is the need of the wind-power industry to learn from and adapt the oil industry's offshore technology for use in offshore wind farms.