Here 'tis: Green Job Creation in the Emerging Economy (I found one mistake as I reviewed them through the plenary talks (EPA air quality initiatives and NC air quality trends)). I included a "winner" on the "loser" slide. I beg your forgiveness). Note that the title was given to me (i.e., I was asked to speak on this topic). You'll notice some familiar themes in the first half:
- A summary of the local economy -- yikes: not good.
- What is a green jobs?
- Environmental policy doesn't create net positive jobs.
In the second half I review a study of a local 1 megawatt solar project. Since the breakout session is on green jobs and that is what I'm supposed to focus on, I go through an economic impact analysis (EIA). In an EIA costs are a good thing because they generate jobs. Then, I talk about what I think is the most important part of the study, the benefit-cost analysis (BCA). The BCA considers the economic efficiency of the project and considers the same costs in the EIA as a bad thing. The benefits of the project include averted costs (coal-fired electricity not paid for) and non-market benefits (the value of air quality improvements). Using some pretest data with a convenience sample and making some conservation assumptions, the net present value of the project is about $7 million (over 30 years) and the benefit-cost ratio is about 1.5. In other words, this is a good project.
*I'm not sure what the term "Unifour" is all about.
