California’s solar industry creates jobs

Global Business

Falling oil prices aren’t alone in posing a risk to the United State’s energy giants.

They also have to contend with the country’s push towards renewable energy sources. And the U.S. state of California is spearheading that shift, thanks to its year-round sunny weather.

CCTV America’s May lee reports.

California's solar industry creates jobs

Falling oil prices aren't alone in posing a risk to the United State's energy giants. They also have to contend with the country's push towards renewable energy sources. And the U.S. state of California is spearheading that shift, thanks to its year-round sunny weather. CCTV America’s May lee reports.

The solar industry is a bright spot in California’s economy. According to a recent solar industry report, in 2015, a record breaking 20,000 new jobs were added in California, pushing the total number of solar workers here to more than 75,000.

According to the latest figures, the solar industry now employs more people than the state’s top utility companies combined and the good news is this is just the tip of the solar energy iceberg.

Green Tech Research forecasts the U.S. market will more than double this year. Similar growth is expected worldwide. The largest market for solar power is China, followed by the U.S. and Japan.

Global investment in solar energy technologies from 2004 to 2015 (in billion U.S. dollars)

This statistic represents global investment in solar energy technologies between 2004 and 2015. In 2013, global investment in this field came to a little under 120 billion U.S. dollars. Europe, China and the United States are the main investors in this area. In 2015, some 67.44 billion U.S. dollars were invested into small-scale solar systems and 94 billion U.S. dollars into utility-scale systems. However, it must be noted that different entities may utilize varying minimal thresholds for the definition of utility-scale, which has been found to range from 5 to 50 megawatts. As of February 2015, one of the largest solar photovoltaic power plants, the Gujarat, is located in India and has a capacity of 856.8 megawatts.

The largest producers of CO2 emissions worldwide in 2015, based on their share of global CO2 emissions

The statistic reflects the largest producers of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2015, based on their share of global energy-related CO2 emissions. China was the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide; the country accounted for around 28.03 percent of global CO2 emissions that year. In 2014, the largest CO2 producers included the United States and the four members of the BRIC countries. Brazil, Russia, India and China were all ranked among the five largest emitters, with China taking the top spot. Fifth-ranked United States was also listed as one of the biggest polluters worldwide in per capita terms in 2013.