{"id":306020,"date":"2024-03-05T18:40:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T17:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=306020"},"modified":"2024-03-05T18:40:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T17:40:12","slug":"jobs-per-unit-of-energy-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=306020","title":{"rendered":"Jobs Per Unit of Energy in the\u00a0UK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More jobs is not necessarily a benefit<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Scepticism <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0JIT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Prompted by Mark\u2019s piece<\/a> about solar panel manufacturing in the EU.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I plotted some figures<\/a> showing elementary facts about UK energy use. One thing I didn\u2019t plot was jobs in energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Mark frequently points out green job losses and other failures in Where Did All the Green Jobs Go?<\/a> What I\u2019m going to show here is how much energy the UK consumes, and how many workers provide that energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point I should mention the obvious point: jobs in energy are a cost, unless you are exporting energy and getting paid for it. The key metric is productivity. You cannot argue that we need more farmers (I\u2019m sorry, farmers, I love you!) unless the quantity of produced food goes up. You don\u2019t employ more gardeners\u2026 if your garden is shrinking\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first figure shows, on two separate Y axes: (i) the UK\u2019s final consumption of energy in thousands of tonnes of oil equivalent and (ii) the number of jobs in the energy industries, in thousands.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The UK\u2019s energy consumption peaked at the turn of the millennium and has been declining ever since. There are a number of reasons for this, and depending what your beliefs are, it is possible to battle over those reasons. More efficient use of energy? Loss of energy-intensive industries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Of interest also is the fact that the UK ceased to be a net exporter of energy in 2004.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of jobs in energy declined from the 70s onwards (and probably since before then; the statistical release I have to hand begins in 1980 for jobs but only 1990 for energy). This reflects the loss of jobs in coal (and inasmuch as coal use switched to gas, reflects an improvement of productivity). Employment in energy reached a nadir in 2005 and then began to climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This climb was not matched by a climb in energy consumption. It occurred as energy consumption was falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you divide one set of numbers by t\u2019other, you get the productivity of employment in energy. Productivity maxed out in 2005, and has been sliding ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximum energy use: 2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year as net exporter of energy: 2003<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peak productivity: 2005<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I leave it to readers to interpret the meaning of these figures and dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data came from here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image: Archive.org<\/a> (1910 ish).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this point I should mention the obvious point: jobs in energy are a cost, unless you are exporting energy and getting paid for it. The key metric is productivity. You cannot argue that we need more farmers (I\u2019m sorry, farmers, I love you!) unless the quantity of produced food goes up. You don\u2019t employ more gardeners\u2026 if your garden is shrinking\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":306026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"At this point I should mention the obvious point: jobs in energy are a cost, unless you are exporting energy and getting paid for it. The key metric is productivity. You cannot argue that we need more farmers (I\u2019m sorry, farmers, I love you!) unless the q","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827414,691819310],"class_list":["post-306020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-green-job-losses","tag-uk-energy","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0job_loss_redundancies_shutterstock.jpg?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1hBO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":432489,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=432489","url_meta":{"origin":306020,"position":0},"title":"Chicken Litter Biomass Plants May Shut When Subsidies\u00a0End","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/19\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s behind the usual paywall, but EDP are reporting that Melton Renewable Energy\u2019s five biomass power plants may shut next year when their ROC subsidies run out, unless the Government coughs up more money","rel":"","context":"In \"biomass\"","block_context":{"text":"biomass","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biomass"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-Chicken-Litter-Biomass-Plants-May-Shut-When-Subsidies-End.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-Chicken-Litter-Biomass-Plants-May-Shut-When-Subsidies-End.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-Chicken-Litter-Biomass-Plants-May-Shut-When-Subsidies-End.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-Chicken-Litter-Biomass-Plants-May-Shut-When-Subsidies-End.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":283548,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=283548","url_meta":{"origin":306020,"position":1},"title":"Ready, Fire, Aim: Explode!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/16\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hydrogen is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible. 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