Once the green market stabilizes it is expected that the cost of production will lower and also that employment will pick up because of this new field. It is expected to cost $65-$70 dollars a year to generate power using land or water based facilities to power 500 houses for an afternoon. To power the same amount using offshore or solar power would be twice that. Outside of maintenance cost, the marginal cost of renewable energy is close to zero. “When you develop a renewable facility and are able to get a connection grid, you’ll always be the lowest cost power source” (Conrad De Aenelle, New York Times).
In 2006, the green market generated “8.5 million new jobs, $970 billion in revenue, and over $100 billion in industry profits” (Sustainability, 217-218). In 2010, renewable energy supplied 16.7% of global energy consumption. Though the green renewable energy market has created new jobs, some areas do not continue to see a high level of production. Between 2008 and 2010, Germanys’ panel manufacturing declined from 77% to 27%, mostly due to the massive investments in China and Taiwan (Ottmar Edenhofer, …show more content…
the greatest is renewable energy. Long term, renewable energy will cost less, making energy consumption cheaper, and in turn making production more cost effective. With green energy being a new technological field, it will take a great deal of innovation and creativity to create better green products. The United States would benefit greatly from discovering more innovative ways to produce these products and gain that lead in commercialization away from Europe. Increases in technology have large positive spillover effects. “A technological gain in one sector of production gives people in other sectors of production, new ideas on how to change what they are doing.” There are also several positive effects (externalities) that were not taken into account originally. “Through those externalities, what is called general purpose technological change can have a much larger effect on growth than can an increase in capital” (Macroeconomics,