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The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#41

Post by daveguy »

blauditore wrote: post #35
xutopia wrote: post #30

I worry many of these jobs will be temporary. We're just ramping up production of turbines and other equipment. Installations will peak within the next (maybe) 10 years and from then there will be less and less demain as maintenance will be the only thing we will require.

That's what people thought about software 20 years ago.

*40 years ago. I was getting my CS degree 20 years ago (1997). At that point there was no doubt that software was going to be a long, sustained and growing field. 40 years ago ~1977 you would have had to be a very forward thinker to imagine the state of personal computing and software needs.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#42

Post by noonespecial »

jMyles wrote: post #6

I live in a school bus, traveling the country. I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful; I always marvel at them when we drive by. Does anybody here know how to break into this industry, working on a mobile, on-site basis? Maybe with embedded tech?

>I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful

They are. Like living sculptures. There's just something extremely dignified about them. Like finally growing up after the childishness of strip-mining. The adults are here.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#43

Post by ZoeZoeBee »

lucasmullens wrote: post #31
xutopia wrote: post #30

I worry many of these jobs will be temporary. We're just ramping up production of turbines and other equipment. Installations will peak within the next (maybe) 10 years and from then there will be less and less demain as maintenance will be the only thing we will require.

Won't our energy requirement keep increasing, requiring new turbines?

US energy requirements peaked in 2007 and have been on the decline, we use less energy in 2016 than we did in 2000, thanks to gains in efficiency.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30652

https://www.statista.com/statistics/189723/us-energy-consump...

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#44

Post by tormeh »

ThomPete wrote: post #20
jMyles wrote: post #6

I live in a school bus, traveling the country. I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful; I always marvel at them when we drive by. Does anybody here know how to break into this industry, working on a mobile, on-site basis? Maybe with embedded tech?

Windmill technology is fairly low tech. there are a few things around the wings but besides that it's not really a "tech" business IMO.

How did you reach that conclusion? Those things scream "advanced material tech" to me. Almost as much as space rockets.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#45

Post by [deleted] »

lucasmullens wrote: post #31
xutopia wrote: post #30

I worry many of these jobs will be temporary. We're just ramping up production of turbines and other equipment. Installations will peak within the next (maybe) 10 years and from then there will be less and less demain as maintenance will be the only thing we will require.

Won't our energy requirement keep increasing, requiring new turbines?

[deleted]

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#46

Post by chris_va »

ZoeZoeBee wrote: post #43
lucasmullens wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't our energy requirement keep increasing, requiring new turbines?

US energy requirements peaked in 2007 and have been on the decline, we use less energy in 2016 than we did in 2000, thanks to gains in efficiency. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30652 https://www.statista.com/statistics/189723/us-energy-consump...

Worldwide energy demand, though, is consistently going up Y/Y.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#47

Post by neolefty »

tim333 wrote: post #28

For comparison a recent Vox article had coal mining jobs at 50,000 employees. Another reason to favour renewables. http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/2/21/14671932...

For a real comparison, I think it would be better to include jobs at coal power plants as well.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#48

Post by sly010 »

lucasmullens wrote: post #31
xutopia wrote: post #30

I worry many of these jobs will be temporary. We're just ramping up production of turbines and other equipment. Installations will peak within the next (maybe) 10 years and from then there will be less and less demain as maintenance will be the only thing we will require.

Won't our energy requirement keep increasing, requiring new turbines?

I don't have the link, but I remember reading that in the US energy requirements peaked somewhere 5-10 years ago.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#49

Post by akhilcacharya »

noonespecial wrote: post #42
jMyles wrote: post #6

I live in a school bus, traveling the country. I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful; I always marvel at them when we drive by. Does anybody here know how to break into this industry, working on a mobile, on-site basis? Maybe with embedded tech?

>I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful They are. Like living sculptures. There's just something extremely dignified about them. Like finally growing up after the childishness of strip-mining. The adults are here.

I never thought about it that way, but that's a neat perspective.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#50

Post by ZoeZoeBee »

chris_va wrote: post #46
ZoeZoeBee wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US energy requirements peaked in 2007 and have been on the decline, we use less energy in 2016 than we did in 2000, thanks to gains in efficiency. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30652 https://www.statista.com/statistics/189723/us-energy-consump...

Worldwide energy demand, though, is consistently going up Y/Y.

But this article is about the _US_ wind industry, and US installers won't be installing worldwide
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