Solar creates jobs:
- Solar job rate growth nationally over the last year by 6.8%
- Job rate growth otherwise nationally is only 0.7%
- Number of workers in the U.S. solar industry is greater than 100,000.
- Number of workers in the coal mining industry equals 79,500.
Fossil fuels are high in emission and are imported from out of state. Solar is clean, home-grown, and locally installed:
- Missouri is dependent on coal for over 80% of its energy – 2 times the national average. Most of this coal is imported from Wyoming.
- A significant portion of Ameren’s requested 15% rate increase was due to increased costs of transporting coal from Wyoming.
- In the last two years, the number of solar installations in St. Louis and Kansas City have grown 3,000%.