Renewable Energy Standards boost jobs.

Are jobs in renewable energy risky?
Not if your state has high renewable energy requirements.

For states like California that can muster the political oomph to mandate Renewable Portfolio Standards, the employment payoff appears to be even better than expected. Not only does the quantity of jobs go up, but the quality of those jobs does too. Surprisingly high-wage, skilled jobs, many of them unionized, have been the result according to this Berkeley study.

Originally conceived to help limit carbon emissions, stronger standards have helped to stabilize and up-skill jobs in the renewables industry, leading to true middle-class careers in many places.

Maybe we should start valuing this industry for its impact on the local economy even more than its impact on the planet.