Clean energy safer for workers

Journal-Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI)
By Baldur Hedinsson, Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Aug. 18, 2009

Solar, wind power pose fewer work risks, research finds

To keep the gears of America's economy turning, energy workers need to drill deep into the Earth for explosive gas and flammable oil, a dangerous occupation.
New research finds that switching to a renewable energy system based on sun and wind would provide safer working conditions and prevent more than 130 job-related deaths in the United States each year by significantly reducing the need for mining. The study is published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the paper, Peter Layde, a professor in the department of population health and co-director of the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Steven Sumner of the Medical Center at Duke University, compare the occupational hazards energy workers are exposed to in fossil fuel with that of renewable energy production. Three renewable energy sources with potential for growth - solar, wind and biomass - were included in the study.

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