Follow Germany on renewable energy: Clinton

Follow Germany on renewable energy: Clinton

Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:29am GMT

By Jeff Mason

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton wants America to follow Germany's lead -- and her own -- in using environmentally friendly fuel sources and making homes and buildings more energy efficient.

The New York senator and former first lady has made fighting climate change and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil a big issue in her campaign for the White House.

Investing in renewable energy technology, such as solar or wind power, is one way to achieve both goals.

"Take Germany," Clinton told supporters near Los Angeles on Friday. "They have put nearly 300,000 people to work in a much smaller economy installing solar panels."

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Many European governments have discovered that not only is solar a viable source of energy, but that the solar industry itself has enormous potential for creating jobs. Solar systems are much more labour intensive than conventional power systems. The huge plants that generate nuclear, coal and oil energy are capital intensive and highly-mechanized. But solar energy requires people... from the manufacturers of the solar products to the electricians, roofers and plumbers who install the solar systems.

In Germany, the solar industry is the fastest growing sector of the Germany economy, with 30,000 people working in solar jobs. Renewable energy has even helped revitalize other industries. Germany's faltering steel plants have been re-energized by the wind-power industry. In the past six years, windmill manufacturers have become the second-biggest users of steel in Germany.

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