‘Green policies helping California in generating jobs’
Are the green policies proving to be an asset for California? Yes, they actually are. California is the state with the nation’s toughest environmental laws and regulations. It is leading in developing environmental solutions and testing them out. The green policies are proving to be a positive feature for California, as it is helping in generating jobs. The energy-efficiency policies have produced over 1.5 million jobs in California from 1997 to 2007.
A study conducted by David Roland-Holst, at the University of California says:
While the state’s policies lowered employee compensation in the electric power industry by an estimated $1.6 billion over that period, it improved compensation in the state over all by $44.6 billion.
As a result of the eco-friendly policies, the consumers were able to trim down their energy spending; the savings in turn were diverted to other demands. When the demand from electricity was shifted towards other grocery products, the consumers created jobs amongst retailers, wholesalers, food processors and other businesses.
Almost half the country’s electric power is produced by burning coal, the fuel which is top most polluter of the environment. The question which arises here is that how much will it cost the economy, to lower down its green house gas emissions? As we all are familiar with the fact that climate change is the major reason for global warming, therefore for the success of the green policies, California first needs to safely overcome the problem of climate change.
Image Source
Source: The New York Times