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The
answer to the lingering malady of today’s jobless recovery from the
Great Recession of 2008-09 is the New Energy economy. By making a
commitment to the New Energy economy, policy makers and private
enterprise will stimulate the flagging national fortunes in ways that
haven't been seen since the post-World War II expansion.
Building a Clean Energy Assembly Line: How Renewable Energy Can Revitalize U.S. Manufacturing and the American Middle Class,
from the Blue Green Alliance, documents the many ways that the New
Energy economy will jumpstart U.S. business activity by reinvigorating
its core strength, the hardworking middle class.
Since December
2007, the U.S. manufacturing sector has lost two million jobs, 14.6% of
the workforce, and ~90,000 U.S. manufacturers, more than 25%, are
considered “at risk.”
The New Energies provide 3-to-6 times as
may jobs, per dollar of investment, as the Old Energies. These are jobs
that are un-outsource-able and invest in people instead of pollution.
Because the power the New Energies generate does not include the cost
of fuel, the jobs can pay well and have good benefits. Because the fuel
the New Energies use is infinitely renewable, the jobs can last for the
working life of the people who do them and generations beyond.
The
Blue Green Alliance, launched by the Sierra Club and the United
Steelworkers in 2006, is a partnership of labor unions and
environmental organizations seeking to further the common ground
between them. The new report is based on research by the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP).
The
calculation that the New Energies provide 3-to-6 times as may jobs, per
dollar of investment, as the Old Energies, includes manufacturing,
installation, operation and maintenance jobs in the count.
In addition to that impressive statistic, the report includes many other vital key findings:
1-A
national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring regulated
utilities to obtain 25% of their power from New Energy sources by 2025,
in conjunction with other proposed policies, would result in enough
demand for the wind turbines, solar panels and the range of New Energy
hardware to create 850,000 jobs in existing U.S. manufacturing
companies.
2-The industrially aching Midwest will especially benefit
from such a scale-up in the New Energies. Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan would be among the top 10 New Energy
job-creating states.
3-Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana would
be among the top 5 states to generate jobs in wind turbine component
manufacturing.
4-The 2 states of California and Texas would create 155,000+ New Energy jobs.
5-With a jump in demand for New Energy hardware, there are 42,000+ existing manufacturing companies that would see growth.
Pew Research showed New Energy opportunities aleady growing. (click to enlarge)
The
report lists specific policy recommendations needed to build a U.S. New
Energy assembly line and create hundreds of thousands of high-paying
jobs with long-term stability and good benefits:
1- A national
Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring regulated utilities to
obtain 25% of their power from New Energy sources by 2025 would build
markets.
2-A national cap™ system with an effective allocation of
emissions allowances would also build markets by putting a price on the
generation of emissions and making investment in New Energy a better
economic choice for big power consumers.
3-Feed-in tariffs at the state level would generate demand for New Energy.
4-Federal
investment and production tax credits (ITCs and PTCs), national net
metering and improved interconnection standards would all encourage New
Energy developers and other entrepreneurs to build New Energy
infrastructure.
5-A national Energy Efficiency Resource Standard
(EERS) would generate assembly line jobs in the manufacture of Energy
Efficient appliances, windows and other efficiency hardware from Smart
meters to caulking guns.
click to enlarge
6-The
cap™ system, by capping emissions and upping the demand for New Energy,
will increase the value of New Energy in electricity markets.
7-Improved
revolving loan programs, loan guarantees and other benefits support New
Energy developers in obtaining the financing they need.
8-Zero-interest Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) would help municipalities, state agencies and other public entities provide financing for New Energy development.
9-Supply chains can be built through an expansion of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
10-Innovation
can be spurred through federal investment in Research, Development and
Deployment (RD&D) to fund early-stage basic and applied research
until it is ready to attract private-sector capital.
click to enlarge
The
report only mentions in passing the hundreds of thousands of jobs that
would come from the construction and maintenance of New Energy
projects. A solar photovoltaic (PV) installation creates at least 7
times as many jobs as the building of natural gas power plants and one
study suggested it could be as high as 33 times as many jobs. One
leading wind contractor already has ~400 construction jobs running on a
daily basis.
Existing U.S. manufacturers of steel towers,
control systems, ball bearings and other such New energy equipment
components will boom if the nation’s leaders face up to their
responsibility to fight global climate change by passing a 25% by 2025
RES to drive the building of New Energy infrastructure.
click to enlarge
In
places where public policies have supported the development of New
Energy such as Europe, Japan and China, New Energy has flourished and
the New Energy assembly line has grown. This is also true for states in
the U.S. that have instituted supports for New Energy, like the 29
states with their own RESs. Recently built New Energy projects such as
the 230 megawatt Wild Horse wind installation near Ellensburg,
Washington, show in concrete terms the potential for permanent jobs in
New Energy. Where policies do not support New Energy, job force growth
the New Energy assembly line is behind the curve and falling out of the
competition.
A wind turbine has ~8,000 parts, from steel towers,
to blades, to high precision gearboxes, to state-of-the-art software
control systems. Turbine blades require special carbon fiber materials
and electronic computerized control systems to adjust them to wind
speed and direction changes. A huge supply chain is necessary for
companies like GE and Siemens with their names on the nacelles. Growth
will follow their expansion just like Detroit car brands grew huge
supply chains to make their cars go.
click to enlarge
Reversing
a long period of outsourcing and job loss, foreign wind manufacturers
are already building facilities in states like Colorado, Minnesota,
Indiana, North Dakota and Pennsylvania where public policies suggest
there will continue to be big wind installation activity. These new
facilities are adding significant numbers to the U.S. employment roles.
As recently as 2005, U.S. suppliers filled less than 30% of the
domestic wind industry supply chain. 2007 and 2008 saw the construction
of 20 new facilities and 17 expanded facilities by foreign
manufacturers. In 2008, with this growing manufacturing base driving
demand and new business investment, U.S. suppliers filled ~50% of the
supply chain. Another 30 new manufacturing facilities were announced in
2008, suggesting the New Energy assembly line is in for still greater
growth in the immediate future.
Total direct jobs added in the
U.S. wind industry in 2008: 35,000. Total direct jobs in the U.S. wind
industry in 2008: 85,000. The wind industry numbers include turbine
manufacturing jobs as well as jobs in project development, operations
and maintenance, legal and marketing services.
click to enlarge
Every
megawatt of wind power, which is enough electricity for ~300 homes,
creates 4.85 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs in manufacturing,
installation and operation and maintenance. Existing U.S. companies and
businesses could manufacture 70-to-75% of the component parts for the
burgeoning New Energy industries. That's a lot of FTEs.
In the absence of policies that support the New Energies, those FTEs (jobs!) will go to Europe, China, Japan and India.
WITH
those policies, the REPP supply chain analysis (using categories
established in the National American Industrial Classification System
(NAICS) to track manufacturing activity) showed that a 25% by 2025 RES
requiring 18,500 megawatts of New Energy every year for 15 years would
generate 850,000+ New Energy jobs that would pay well, be long-term,
provide high-quality benefits and serve a secure, domestic,
emissions-free energy supply.
An ASES study shows New Energy opportunities emerging across a wide spectrum in the next 2 decades. (click to enlarge)
QUOTES
-
From the report: “For a generation following World War II, America’s
factories were humming at full capacity while workers built a vibrant
middle class. Thirty-five years later, our industrial heartland is
fading in the face of global competition. And since the current
recession began in December 2007, the manufacturing sector has lost two
million jobs, or 14.6 percent of the workforce…In fact, more than a
quarter of American manufacturers — some 90,000 — are now deemed “at
risk” due to their inability to keep pace with global
competitors…Today, we need a comprehensive industrial policy to rebuild
manufacturing — and by extension, “Main Street” — across the United
States. A critical component of a new industrial policy will be a
program to make the U.S. the world’s leading manufacturer of new, green
technologies and components. This is not a pie-in-the-sky goal. It
makes good economic sense and we have the capacity to do it.”
An ASES study shows New Energy opportunities emerging across a wide spectrum in the next 2 decades. (click to enlarge)
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From the report: “The new, clean energy economy is fundamentally
different than the 20th century economy and its reliance on polluting
fossil fuels imported from distant regions of the world. Whether wind
or solar, biomass or geothermal, clean energy is home-grown. What’s
more, it can be cheap — it just needs to be captured efficiently and
transformed into electricity, hydrogen or clean transportation fuels.
This process of capture and transformation can jumpstart our struggling
economy by lowering energy costs and creating millions of jobs,
including hundreds of thousands of family-supporting manufacturing
jobs. Development of clean energy invests directly in people,
substituting labor for fuel expenses…”
An ASES study shows New Energy opportunities emerging across a wide spectrum in the next 2 decades. (click to enlarge)
-
From the report: “Strong and consistent federal policy support,
including passage of comprehensive climate and energy legislation,
would greatly accelerate growth in wind-turbine manufacturing, and
extend economic opportunity to smaller and less mature industries in
the solar, geothermal and biomass sectors. We need robust supports for
manufacturing in such legislation to ensure that strengthening and
revitalizing America’s manufacturing base is a national priority. There
is no reason why America and its workers should not lead the world in
green manufacturing. Failure to support a world-class domestic
renewable manufacturing sector in the U.S. in the face of greatly
expanded demand for renewable energy will likely have negative
consequences for job creation in the U.S. Foreign competitors will
capture most of the new manufacturing sector jobs and revenues.” posted by Herman K. Trabish
Clean energy to boost US manufacturing jobs-study
November 4, 2009 (Reuters)
and
Report Shows Green Technologies Will Revitalize U.S. Manufacturing
November 4, 2009 (Blue Green Alliance)
