Green energy: renewables offers jobs bonanza
THE renewable energy sector has the capacity to generate as many as 400,000 jobs by 2020, experts believe.
Such exciting growth prospects will come as the UK dramatically reduces its use of carbon-producing energy and turns to renewables.
According to the Renewable Energy Association, 600 companies involved in wind, tidal and solar energy already employ nearly 10,000 people in this region alone. The North West has the largest wind power workforce outside London and South East, and is also a leader in the heat pump sector, according to research by the REA.
Opportunities loom in a number of areas, not just in power generation, but in energy efficiency too.
Liverpool-based Eco Environments is a good example of one such business carrying the green energy baton.
It designs, installs and commissions technologies including solar PV, wind turbines, solar thermal, air source heat pumps and energy efficient lighting. In the last 12 months turnover has soared from £1.3m to £6m.
It is finding that with energy costs continuing to rise that businesees are realising that energy efficiency is not just about saving the planet – it’s
about saving money.
Director David Hunt said his business had been able to cut one client’s lighting costs from £48,000 a year to £21,000 – just by switching to energy-efficient lighting.
The implementation cost for the new system was £40,000 meaning that in less than two years the client, a manufacturing company, recouped its outlay.
Mr Hunt said:“Harnessing the right energy efficiency solutions could actually be about saving a business, particularly during these tough economic times.”
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