Why we need to invest in Green Jobs

[irishbobcat]

Why we need to invest in Green Jobs

September 30, 2008

Green-collar enthusiasts are also calling on the federal government to help ignite change. Investing $100 billion in green technologies and industries "would create four times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry, and would reduce the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent over two years," according to a study released in September by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst under commission by the Center for American Progress.
The report calls for $50 billion in tax breaks, $46 billion in direct government investment and $4 billion in federal loan guarantees for private funders of green projects.
At least half the nation's states have laws requiring that a certain percent of energy be produced from renewable sources. And if or when the United States institutes federal greenhouse gas limits likely including a carbon cap and trade system, industry and municipalities will be forced to turn more to renewable energy.
"It's something that's been building for a while. Folks have been talking about the need to transition to a more stable economy," said Adi Nochur, an organizer with 1Sky, a national campaign to push for federal action on climate and green investment. "With the energy crisis it's not a matter of if we transition to a green economy; it's a matter of when."
The Renewable Energy Policy Project breaks down roughly how many jobs could be created per megawatt of different types of renewable energy. Solar could provide the most at 22 jobs per megawatt; manufacturing could provide 15; geothermal could provide 15 as well. Construction and installation of solar panels would be next at seven, followed by wind at six. A large wind turbine produces one to three megawatts, for example, so a large wind farm of such turbines could produce up to several hundred megawatts. Nationwide, the United States has about 4,000 megawatts of geothermal in development.
"There's definitely a lot of really great local initiatives happening around the country, but we need to see some accelerated attention from the federal government," said Nochur. "Until recently there hasn't really been a constituency that has been pushing for this in an organized way. Now there is really a lot of scope to take this issue forward and start connecting the dots."
The 1Sky campaign was launched in spring 2007 to bring together existing environmental, business, labor and policy groups along with scientists and community leaders to force the federal government to take "bold action by 2010," including: a moratorium on coal-fired power plants, freezing and then ratcheting down greenhouse gas emissions levels, and creating 5 million green jobs.
These groups were instrumental in pushing for the federal Green Jobs Act as part of the 2007 Energy Bill. The act authorized Congress to allocate $125 million to train 35,000 young people a year in green jobs, though it is still in the appropriations process and funding has not been allocated yet. Green For All's ultimate goal is $1 billion in federal funding by 2012 for "green-collar" programs.
The American Solar Energy Society estimates that renewable energy and energy efficiency were responsible for $970 billion in industry revenues and 8.5 million jobs in 2006. But a 2006 report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, identified multiple "nontechnical barriers to solar energy use," which could be addressed by governmental attention and investment. These included inadequate workforce skills and training; lack of government policy supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency; lack of consumer awareness about renewable energy; and inadequate financing of renewable energy projects.
Federal, state and municipal programs and policies could help remedy all of these issues. Proponents say results in the private sector and in individual cities show the promise and possibility of such efforts on a federal level. Multnomah County, Ore., and the cities of Washington, D.C., Oakland, Chicago, Richmond, Calif., and Los Angeles, among others, have already created what the report refers to as "green pathways out of poverty" in the form of job training and opportunities for low-income residents.

ELECT!!!!
DENNIS SPISAK FOR CONGRESS
Green Party Candidate for Ohio's 6th District
The ONLY PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE
Running against a Conservative Democrat and Republican!

Renewable Energy Green/Blue Collars Jobs
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Solar Power/Wind Power/Geothermal Energy

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