Job Jolt: The Economic Impacts of Repowering the Midwest:

Oct 01, 2002
  • Description

Implementing the Repowering the Midwest Clean Energy Development Plan would create more than 200,000 new jobs across the 10-state Midwest region by 2020, up to $5.5 billion in additional worker income, and up to $20 billion in increased economic activity. Repowering the Midwest's Clean Energy Development Plan promotes modern, energy efficient technologies and development of renewable energy resources, especially wind power and biomass energy. This plan contrasts with a business-as-usual scenario, which relies almost entirely on polluting coal and nuclear power plants for electricty generation. This huge resulting Job Jolt is the central finding of a comprehensive study of the economic impacts of phasing in more clean energy efficient technologies and renewable energy development across the Midwest and Great Plains. The Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL), a nationally renowned research center of the University of Illinois, used its modeling techniques to determine the economic impacts of implementing the clean energy development plan proposed by the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) and its Midwest partners.