The employment impacts of energy conservation

The relationship between energy conservation and employment are analysed. Through a critical review of the recent literature on the subject, it is found that many of the current estimates are unreliable due to limitations in the reviewed methodologies. The limited number of the assessments that do use reliable methodologies analyse the issue in the context of U.S states and consequently cannot be applied to an assessment for Ontario. In order to address this gap in the literature, a macroeconomic assessment of the effects of energy conservation is presented. The assessment finds that the planned energy conservation programs of the Ontario Integrated Power System Plan will result in a net increase in employment, salaries and wages, and government revenue.