Canada is infamous in environmental circles for the Alberta tar sands, a destructive and polluting oil development that’s widely seen within the country as the nation’s main economic generator. However, according to a new report from Canadian think tank Clean Energy Canada, the country’s clean energy sector now employs more people than tar sands. The Huffington Post reports jobs in Canada’s green energy sector have increased by 37 percent over the past five years, bringing employment numbers in that sector up to 23,700 jobs. This just sneaks past the 22,340 jobs provided by the tar sands industry.
Where are these green jobs? The Huffington Post says they’re largely in the areas of clean power production, energy efficiency, biofuels, and manufacturing of clean energy technologies. The report notes that the jobs are the result of $25 billion in new investment over the last five years, most notably in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Clean Energy Canada notes that the country has also boosted its pollution-free electricity capacity by eight gigawatts in the past five years – enough to power 2.7 million homes.
While the U.S. government is investing widely in renewable energy and has even created the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the new report notes that clean energy in Canada has flourished despite not getting much in the way of help from the federal government. The report notes Ottawa has helped lay the ground work for green energy, “but has done very little to build on it.”
Source: http://inhabitat.com/canadian-clean-energy-jobs-eclipse-oil-sands-employment-this-year/
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