Green Technologies Will Revitalize Manufacturing

A report by the Blue Green Alliance, Building a Clean Energy Assembly Line outlines policies to create clean energy jobs. According to the report, renewable energy technologies provide three to six times as many jobs as equivalent investments in fossil fuels when manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance jobs are taken into account.

"Clean energy can revitalize U.S. manufacturing, and Ohio companies will lead the way in building the technology of the 21st century," Brown said. "Clean energy technology utilizes many of the same components manufactured for the auto industry. Done right, clean energy policy will create new demand for Ohio manufacturing. By utilizing our state's skilled workforce and longstanding auto component supply chain, we can make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing."

The analysis builds on a report earlier this year by BGA and the Renewable Energy Policy Project that estimated more than 850,000 manufacturing jobs could be created across the United States, and more than 42,000 existing manufacturers could experience growth based on a demand for parts, with the enactment of a federal Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) of 25 percent by 2025.

Scaling up renewable energy will pay big job dividends in the industrial Midwest. Of the states with the potential to create the most renewable energy jobs, six of 10 are in the Midwest, including Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

• Four heartland states will be the big winners in wind technology manufacturing from increased renewable energy development. Of the states with the potential to create the most jobs from the manufacture of component parts for wind turbines, four of five are in the Midwest: Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana.
• California and Texas alone stand to create more than 155,000 jobs making the parts needed to produce wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy.
• More than 42,000 existing manufacturers could experience growth based on increased demand for component parts needed to produce clean energy.

"Renewable energy, and the green jobs that come along with it, are key to our economic growth," said Michael Langford, National President of the Utility Workers Union of America.

Central to these recommendations is enacting a federal RES, robust allocation of allowances to promote renewable electricity deployment, state-level feed-in tariffs, an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard and extending the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit. With regard to market reforms, recommendations include passing comprehensive federal legislation that caps carbon emissions economy-wide and addresses regional disparities and carbon leakage, and includes an emphasis on domestic manufacturing.

Source: Blue Green Alliance, 11/2009