BHP posts second straight year of record iron ore production, beats estimates
The world's largest listed miner said iron ore output from Western Australia on a 100% basis was 76.8 million tonnes in the three months to June 30.
For quite some time now the global coal industry has been suffering from nose-diving prices and coordinated efforts by governments to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. But perhaps the most affected so far has been the US coal sector, where competition from other fuels such as natural gas and tougher proposed regulation have pushed a number of producers to seek bankruptcy protection, leaving at least 50,000 people out of work in the last six years.
According to a recent study, however, the solution may be just around the corner as all those unemployed coal miners could be easily and cheaply retrained to work in the solar industry.
Less than 5% of yearly coal sector revenue would pay to retrain workers in the solar industry, says the study.
In a paper recently published in the journal of Energy Economics, Michigan University associate professor Joshua Pearce and Oregon State University’s Ph.D student Edward Louie, argue that the booming US solar market could easily absorb the job losses that have occurred in the domestic coal business over the next 15 years.
While it is a somewhat idealized scenario, Louie and Pearce explore three questions: How closely do the skills in the coal industry match those needed in the solar industry? What would it cost to retrain coal miners? And where could those funds come from?
The answers are all quite optimistic: The skills match pretty well, it wouldn’t cost that much, and there are a number of possible sources of funding.
As Pearce himself summarizes in a piece written for the Harvard Business Review:
“…We looked at all current coal industry positions (from engineers to mining and power plant operators to administrative workers), the skill sets required for each (for example, specific degrees and amount of work experience), and their respective average salaries. For each type of coal position, we determined the closest equivalent solar position and salary.
For example, an operations engineer in the coal industry could retrain to be a manufacturing technician in solar and expect about a 10% salary increase. Similarly, explosive workers, ordinance handlers, and blasters in the coal industry could use their sophisticated safety experience and obtain additional training to become commercial solar technicians and earn about 11% more on average.”
According to the academic, those retrained coal workers would have much better salaries in the solar industry than in the coal sector, but the big losers would be managers and top executives, who would make a lot less. (Though coal industry executives may not attract much sympathy for this considering some bad publicity fuelled by recent news).
Taken from “Downsizing the U.S. coal industry: Can a slow-motion train wreck be avoided?” | November 2015 report from McKinsey and Co.
In terms of costs, the study shows a relatively minor investment ($180 million to $1.8 billion, based on best and worst case scenarios) would be necessary to retrain the vast majority of US coal workers, depending on type of job and prior experience.
Despite the rosy picture, some analysts such as energy and environmental consultant Winston Porter, a former EPA assistant administrator in Washington, D.C., believe the pitiable state of the US coal industry may be very hard to reverse. As he wrote for the Casper Star Tribune:
“Consider that it was just 10 years ago that coal generated 50 percent of the nation’s electricity. Today, coal generates about 32 percent of our power and that percentage is likely to decline further…
Some 350 U.S. coal plants have been shuttered in just the past five years. These are plants that have either been closed for good or have been converted to burn natural gas.
New coal power plants, which would increase demand for U.S.-mined coal, aren’t coming to the rescue. Anti-coal environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, have made it all but impossible to build a new coal plant in the U.S. Utilities have more or less given up – not a single new coal plant is planned.”
Pearce and Louie’s paper is not the first to highlight the potential benefits of retraining coal workers to be absorbed by the growing renewables industry. A report released in July by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents the majority of the UK’s trade unions, urged for more programs to ensure the country’s workforce is prepared for the low-carbon transition.
Currently, there are about 150,000 people working in the US coal sector. By comparison, the local solar industry already employs 209,000. Not bad, considering that the US, as a whole, added only 255,000 new jobs in July.
7 Comments
Restless Boomers
Just what the world needs, more academic eggheads producing expensive, but worthless studies that point out the obvious… If we throw more taxpayer money down the rat hole it will some how do some good somewhere, maybe.
How about letting the free market do some magic for once? Get rid of the welfare, phony disability payments and other freebies so folks can do what they have throughout history… migrate to where the jobs are and apprentice, if necessary to learn new skills.
Mike Failla
This article is full of what ifs and blue sky…Miners to solar installers really? You dont need that many installers first off and after they are done installing God knows what, then what?
Secondly i dont know of any domestic miner who doesnt make a good salary. Solar pays more? Since when?
Yeah i know your argument is going to be “well its better than being un-employed right? Yeah sure if it comes to that . But i think this article is full of a lot of hot air and blue sky. Author seems to think miners are louts and neanderthals who all have to be retrained. Not true. They are tradesmen of the highest order and do a fine job as mechanics, electricians, equipment operators,etc…so dont sell the miners short, they are very resourceful. Pushing the solar angle constantly just gets old you know? Especially in light of the fact solar is mostly subsidized by government and has yet to stand on its own as a viable alternative source. I think that it provides what 3% of all energy? Just my 2 cents.
Bubba James
Well said Mike. Article is full of misinformation and is a slap on the face of every US coal miner.
Anopheles
The ASSUMPTIONS made in the article fly in the face of reality.
Very few installers are needed for solar, there’s already more than are needed. I’ve seen government after government promise exactly the same thing, that if they throw hundreds of billions of dollars at alternative energy, they will “create” an industry.
It works to a tiny percentage of what they promised, and the “industry” completely dies when the massive government subsidies stop.
Altaf
I think we all should let the solar or what ever try out and let it stand on its own feet. I think it is in the phase of establishing itself (for the past 20-30 years) But we should acknowledge that the costs are coming down due to low cost chips and all. The costs are going down to an extent that in India they are installing roof tops at prices equal or lower than grid power.
Its not only coal power cost at plant vs solar. Its coal power at plant + grid/transmission cost vs individual roof tops which is making slow progress.
If internet was there 150 years ago, I assume, donkey / horse carts would have criticized IC engines the same way we are doing on solar.
I am from Oil and gas field and still support solar if they are researching on something new and can come up with a viable source of energy.
Barry Wink
Well Doggonit now, if this just doesn’t top the stupid chart…..coming from two well known Liberal Universities, Why the coal industry? and not the Auto Industry?, which just may have more technology oriented trained workers and currently has 5 times the workers out of the work force. Funny this comes comes at a time when the Democratic Presidential candidate is in trouble for her statements on putting the coal industry out of business……This piece is totally a liberal political attempt at lifesaving the DNC Candidate. Us mining professionals that visit this site are quite aware of the difficulties the Solar Industry faces in the USA and Coal Miners are not the answer to the Solar Industries troubles ahead. Too expensive, many US companies have failed dramatically, China controls the market, coal producing states are not abundant with the needed resources for panel construction, and to think that a third generation coal miner from WV will relocate to California or
Oregon or any other liberal state, is absurd….Nice try Cecilia but us miners are smarter than you give us credit for…..better luck next time..
klgmac
Expensive alternative energies are making electricity a luxury item and hurting our most vulnerable citizens in the process. They are truly a crime against humanity.