A study released Tuesday says 35,133 new jobs could be brought to Wisconsin if the United States develops a national policy to invest in renewable energy.
The Sierra Club, the United Steelworkers and the Milwaukee development group Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods commissioned the study, which was prepared by the Renewable Energy Policy Project think tank.
The study said 25,179 wind turbine manufacturing jobs and 4,943 solar energy jobs could be created in the state if a certain portion of the energy produced in the United States was from renewable sources.
A national policy on renewable energy, called a renewable energy standard, would generate the 35,133 jobs over ten years, according to Sierra Club Midwest Associate Rep. Rosemary Wehnes.
Wisconsin would be the third -ranked state in terms of amount of jobs created, according to the study, with Milwaukee, Waukesha and Racine Counties likely to generate the most jobs.
Wehnes said more jobs related to wind energy would be created in the state because solar energy requires larger initial investments than wind projects.
She said solar energy projects could also be more difficult for companies to install in Wisconsin, as most solar projects would be constructed on top of buildings.
Wisconsin used renewable sources for 4.5 percent of its energy needs in 2005, according to the Wisconsin Division of Energy. Coal produced 30 percent and oil produced 29 percent of the state's energy during that same period, the WDE said.
Richard Shaten, UW-Madison faculty associate at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, said Wisconsin could take advantage of a possible renewable energy standard, but that the state is not a leader in renewable energy.
Shaten said producing more renewable energy in the state would mean less money spent on importing fossil fuels, which he said would mean more money spent by residents in the state's economy.
Wind resources, according to Shaten, are moderate in Wisconsin. He said it might make more economic sense for Wisconsin to focus on biofuels or building transmission lines to possible wind projects in North Dakota.
