Certainly, there is great deal of potential benefits of biofuels, both environmentally and economically. Proponents of the biofuel industry, such as the current U.S. administration, say that as biofuel production and research grows that millions of biofuel jobs will be created and the economy saved. So, can biofuel jobs help drag the economy out of its current doldrums?
From an economic standpoint, biofuels are terrible. They cannot, at least as of yet, produce large quantities of energy at affordable prices, even though the government subsidizes them. The government spent millions and millions of dollars on subsidizing renewable energy, yet it still only contributes less than one half of 1 percent to the nation's electricity.
Even though biofuel jobs may be created, they will certainly displace millions of jobs that employ people in the industries that bring us reliable energy today. Another of the potential pitfalls of biofuel jobs is that the technologies used to create biofuel are energy intensive and cost a great deal of money. Those two factors combined are job killers, not creators. So you may create biofuel jobs but lose millions of jobs to foreign countries that have lower energy costs. This is already happening in the IT and manufacturing industries.
One cannot deny the environmental benefits of biofuels and the biofuel industry will certainly continue to evolve. But sweeping statements coming from the Hill in Washington stating that biofuel jobs can save the economy are more fodder for votes than they are reality.
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