美国国家公共电台 NPR As Coal Jobs Decline, Solar Sector Shines

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For decades men without much education could make a very good living by mining coal. The loss of those jobs has stung as the coal industry has declined. Renewable power, especially solar power, is now where jobs are. So we wondered how they compare. We sent The Alleghany Front's Reid Frazier to find out.

REID FRAZIER, BYLINE 1: At Consol Energy's Harvey mine, south of Pittsburgh, I meet Craig Williams in a crowded break room. He's in his work gear - dusty jacket, hard hat with a headlamp and safety glasses. He's kept his job through tough times in the coal industry.

CRAIG WILLIAMS: Pittsburgh used to be a big - big on steel. That's mostly gone now. We're one of the last industries around and hope to keep it that way.

FRAZIER: A father of two, he says, like generations before him, coal is the best way he's able to support his family. He wouldn't say what he's making, but, nationwide, coal miners make around $80,000 a year.

WILLIAMS: If you had to take another job in this area especially, you're going to take anywhere from a 50 to 70 percent pay cut to what the next best thing is that's out there.

FRAZIER: But coal has shed jobs - 40 percent since 2011. And renewable energy is growing. Now, it's hard to compare these two industries. Solar power accounts for just under 1.5 percent of electricity in the U.S. And yet, according to the Department of Energy, solar jobs outnumbered those in coal by more than 2 to 1. So can laid-off coal miners find jobs in solar?

ROB GODBY: Well, certainly, it's a possibility, but there are a couple of major challenges.

FRAZIER: Rob Godby is an energy economist 2 at the University of Wyoming. He says one of those challenges is simple - location.

GODBY: When you are thinking about coal mining in Appalachia, I mean, oftentimes there are generations of families in those regions, and it's just very difficult to pick up and move.

FRAZIER: And then there's pay. Coal miners make on average around $35 an hour, Godby says, in part because the job can be dangerous. In renewables, it's more like 20 or $25 an hour.

GODBY: That doesn't mean you couldn't raise a family on that. But you're a lot closer to the average income in a lot of states in the solar industry than you are in mining industries.

FRAZIER: On a rooftop at a community center near Pittsburgh, seven workers in neon green T-shirts bolt down solar panels. Brian Krenzelak was a roofer before joining this company, Energy Independent Solutions, seven and a half years ago. Now he installs solar and helps train others.

BRIAN KRENZELAK: Have that prepped. Have these out.

FRAZIER: He believes in the mission of solar, and it's a good living. His wife also works. And the couple have three kids, one in college and another about to enter.

KRENZELAK: You know, I do well with this company - very well. It covers what we need to cover. I mean, I'm not becoming a millionaire overnight. But steadily 3, I've been building the nest egg for sure.

FRAZIER: Experts say solar's surge is being helped by incentives 4 that are scheduled to run out in a few years. And they don't know how long the boom will last. But they say solar is here to stay, and it'll be hard for machines to replace these jobs.

Krenzelak's company is busy. It's looking to basically double its workforce 5 of 22.

KRENZELAK: We had to slow the salesmen down at a certain point. We we're selling so much solar, we had to actually slowed them down a little bit until we caught up.

FRAZIER: He says it feels good to be in an industry with a future. For NPR News, I'm Reid Frazier in Pittsburgh.

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