President Barack Obama recently proposed a $2 billion investment into alternative energy resources over the next 10 years. The fund, called the Energy Security Trust, is intended to provide a boost for energy innovation — and along with it, energy-related careers.
In Obama’s Weekly Address, delivered at Argonne National Laboratory, he highlighted the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, and proposed to use oil and gas revenue dollars for research into alternative energies that will fuel cars and trucks.
This way, he said, research and innovation get a financial boost without drawing from the United States budget. The plan, Obama noted, is based on a proposal put forward by a coalition of CEOs and retired military personnel.
Obama spoke about his support for scientists working on these programs, saying that those scientists are “designing new engines that are more energy efficient; developing cheaper batteries that go farther on a single charge; and devising new ways to fuel our cars and trucks with new sources of clean energy — like advanced biofuels and natural gas.” Those efforts mean that, one day, drivers will go coast to coast without using a drop of oil.
Jobs in alternative energy are poised to grow, and with electric cars becoming increasingly common, related manufacturing and industrial careers are set to increase.
A recent report by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), stated that 2012 came with a boom in green jobs: Companies and communities announced more than 300 clean-energy projects last year, leading to a projected 110,000 jobs in the energy sector.
Most of the job creation was focused in the southeast, but California, North Carolina and Florida led the charge in energy jobs, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2012 report indicates the U.S. was gaining on China — the world’s renewable-energy investment leader — in terms of dollars spent on energy research, with $51 billion spent in 2011. The report notes that much of these investments came from the private sector, not government, as economic concerns in Europe and a deadlocked U.S. Congress inhibited forward movement on public energy investment.
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