A report on proposed feed-in tariffs (FITs) in Michigan concludes that the number of green jobs created by FITs would be far less than hoped for and that the negative impacts of FITs would be out of proportion to the positive impacts.

The white paper, “Feed-In Tariffs: Are They Right For Michigan,” was written by Richard A, Barclay, MECA Director of Research and Policy Development, and was released at the MECA board of directors meeting last Thursday.

“Interpolating from German statistics, Michigan FITs might create 4,500 green jobs at most, not accounting for jobs lost and assuming all the RES parts were manufactured in Michigan,” writes Barclay.

In the report, Barclay says total green jobs already account for 3% of the Michigan labor force, which makes Michigan’s record without a FIT about the same as Germany’s.

The report in on the MECA site, under the file “Feed-in Tariffs.”