Thursday, May 28, 2009

Study: $1 Billion Euro German Retrofit Project Produces/Saves 140,000 Jobs


A 2007 WorldWatch Institute report assesses green job creation.

"The most ambitious building retrofitting project to date is the German Alliance for Work and the Environment’s project to retrofit German homes. Since 2001, 1 billion Euros of public subsidies stimulated 5 billion euros in investment and resulted in 200,000 apartment retrofits. An estimated $4 billion through additional tax revenues and savings in unemployment benefits and 2% of annual emissions from German buildings were reduced.293 The energy efficient measures included improving heat insulation of roofs, windows and walls, introducing advanced heating technologies and controlled air ventilation systems and using renewable energy such as photovoltaic or solar thermal systems.294

The Alliance estimated that 200,000 jobs would be created; however a recent assessment of the German Alliance for Work and the Environment showed that only 25,000 FTE (full time equivalent) additional jobs were produced. Another 116,000 were saved between 2002 and 2004 during a recession in the construction sector. Even though these numbers lower than expected, the job numbers are still fairly substantial with around 140,000 new or saved jobs.

These results along with the additional revenue and savings have prompted the German government not only to renew the project, but even increase the money allotted for the program. In 2005, Germany increased the funding of its building retrofit program to 1.5 billion euros." See full report.

No comments:

Post a Comment