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Where I live in the US, utility bills surged during the winter, and someone I know who is a Republican blamed renewables. However, the state I live in has the largest number of data centers of all US states, and electricity consumption from data centers is what drove up the cost of power during that period. It wasn’t solar power or wind power.
The clean, renewable electricity and energy efficiency industries support many jobs around the world and actually make a great deal of money, but they often drive costs down by cutting fuel costs. A new report found over 10 billion British pounds were generated by net zero-related industries in Scotland, and these industries support over 105,000 jobs there.
There are about 3,000 businesses participating in Scotland’s net-zero economy, according to the report, which was commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) with analysis from CBI Economics and The Data City. According to the same report, net-zero jobs there pay about 5 percent more than the average salary in Scotland.
“It’s hugely encouraging to see the sheer scale of the opportunities afforded to Scotland by the net zero economy. Scotland has been at the heart of the UK’s energy sector for half a century and is now rightly taking its place at the forefront of the clean energy transition,” said Michelle Ferguson, CBI Scotland Director.
