Skip to main content

Though electric vehicles make up just 1% of registered cars on the road, drivers bought 1.2 million of them last year. As more of the automotive fleet transitions to EVs, we’re just going to need more electricity. A good portion of that may come from sustainable sources, such as wind and solar. And as a bonus, these energy sources will bring jobs to rural areas.

Here’s an example: In the Invenergy company which puts up wind turbines had 200 U.S. technicians in 2022, and doubled to 400 technicians in 2023. This year, its hiring hundreds more. And that’s just one company. This industry is absolutely booming.

Benjamin Sussman is a college student learning how to maintain wind turbines. Why? Because he knows it is going to be big business on the plains of rural, eastern Colorado where he grew up. He said after college, “I’m hoping to go straight into the wind industry.” He doesn’t mind heights and loves how the career combines working with electricity and mechanics. It doesn’t hurt that the average wind turbine tech makes over $60k a year.

Two men on a roof install solar panels.
Technicians install solar panels | anatoliy_gleb via iStockPhoto

His teacher, Jason Winter, said of students in the area, “If they don’t have a family farm to work on, they really don’t have a lot of opportunity…Now, when we have all of a sudden really good-paying jobs, it makes sense to stay here. I think that’s huge for the community.”

The solar industry is seeing as big a boom. In 2023 alone, 800,000 homeowners decided to put panels on their roofs. Industry experts predict we’ll have solar panels on 100 million homes by 2034. And of course they hired local technicians to install them. And that’s just private installations.

Solar farms are growing too. In 2023, the amount of energy created by solar went up by a whopping 51%. In just one year it installed 32.4 gigawatts of solar energy capacity. That’s over half the added grid capacity, of any energy source. To put that into perspective, it can take three million panels to produce just one gigawatt.

One benefit of green energy is that we produce it here, in rural communities in the U.S. And that means much needed jobs for the folks who live here. Sounds like a win-win.

Related

Why Aren’t There More Hydrogen Powered Cars?

Best in News
Avatar photo
Staff Writer

Henry Cesari

Henry Cesari joined MotorBiscuit in 2021 and brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. Henry is also an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts.

Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont. He has since incorporated his love of the written word with his admiration of classic cars. While Henry is interested in vintage cars, he believes the golden age of cars is yet to come. He is confident journalists will play an important role in this revolution by exposing the industry as it is now and envisioning its possible future.