The recent swings in the spot price for crude oil — especially in light of the currently rapid rising spot prices are cause for alarm. Noting that the current run up of prices looks a lot like period leading up to the sudden price spike that occurred in the summer of 2008. It goes on to argues that the global economy needs a better market regulating mechanism that can help manage these swings and reduce their amplitude so they become less damaging to the world’s economies. The energy business — whether it is alternative energy or oil, gas or coal exploration and development — has huge up front capital needs. This needed capital is much harder to raise in a climate of such extreme near term price uncertainty.
In this a rebuttal post to The Green Building Adoption Rate is Slow, Find Out The Practical Reasons Why, Richard argues that in fact the growth rate has been very high, citing for example that in late 2010, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) celebrated its first billion square feet of LEED certified green buildings. He makes the argument that the growth rate in the green building space is actually quite high especially considering the background of economic recession and tight capital in which it has occurred.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) jobs appear to have been another casualty of the global economic recession. But, the good news is that, like other economic indicators, this one appears to be on the upswing.
The world stands to gain 6.9 million jobs by 2030 in the clean energy sector if a strong deal is reached in Copenhagen, according to a report released recently by Greenpeace International and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of CO2 emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual. Conversely, the global coal industry – which currently supports about 4.7 million employees worldwide – is likely to contract by more than 1.4 million jobs by 2030, due to rationalization measures in existing coal mines.
