Green jobs and the bottom line=profit

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Green jobs and the bottom line=profit
Green jobs and the bottom line Awareness is growing that corporate commitment to preserving environment can be profitable
 

  Mar 29, 2009
Times Union
   
Larry Rulison

Mar. 29, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- "Green" jobs aren't just for tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing hippies anymore.

That's because corporations across the globe realize that growing problems such as climate change and dwindling petroleum resources aren't just political hot potatoes.

They might actually threaten the bottom line.

After all, how can a company like General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) sell its turbines and generators to the developing world if there is political unrest due to environmental or economic disasters?

That is why political and business leaders in the Capital Region and across the country are increasingly focusing much of their economic development efforts on creating so-called green jobs or what is known in the scientific community as "clean tech."

Now, nearly everyone is trying to get a piece of the windfall -- which includes tens of billions of dollars nationally from the federal stimulus package.

In fact, of the $24.6 billion that New York state is set to receive through the stimulus package, a whopping $16.8 billion is for energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects in the state.

That money is expected to create a lot of green jobs, as long as the money is spent the right way, say business and labor groups.

"This is game-changing type of money," said Jeff Jones, director of the New York State Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups that supports the creation of green jobs. "New York is well-situated, but it's not guaranteed. It's not going to come again. We actually have to take it to the next level."

That means first understanding that green jobs are everywhere and can be held by all kinds of workers, from mechanics and electricians to engineers and scientists.

"If it reduces carbon, it's a green job, and if it protects the environment, it's a green job," Jones said. "And now we want as many of these good jobs as possible."

You might be surprised where green jobs are found these days. Some are at the Capital District Transportation Authority's bus garage off Everett Road in Albany.

That's where mechanics do diagnostics on the regional bus provider's fleet of 29 diesel hybrid buses, which have electric transmissions and produce 10 percent of the emissions of regular buses. Workers get special training on how to diagnose and fix problems on the hybrids.

Steve Wacksman, manager of technical training for CDTA, said his employees are excited to be working on the hybrid buses because it provides skills that are useful in the green economy.

"It's not going away, and we need to know the new technology," he said. "It's here to stay."

The greener buses are not only easier on the environment but may be helping grow CDTA as well.

CDTA has 40 new buses on order that are hybrids or clean-fuel diesel, said spokeswoman Margo Janack. The greener fleet is helping raise ridership as it aids the environment because people want to be part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gases from car emissions, she said. One diesel electric bus has the same emissions as just one traditional car.

"We're finding more riders are riding because they want to be greener and environmentally friendly," Janack said.

Green job skills are also being taught to electricians at a union training center in Latham known as the Tri-City JATC.

The center, which is funded by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 236 and the Albany chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, runs a five-year apprenticeship program. Students participate in 900 hours of classroom training while they accumulate 8,000 hours of on-the-job training.

In their fifth year, the students take 16 hours of basic training on solar panel installation, and the center has 162 solar panels behind its building on Old Niskayuna Road for hands-on experience.

Tim Potter, an instructor at Tri-City JATC, said the solar panel installations are extremely dangerous, which is why the training is so necessary. That's because solar panels use DC, or direct-current, voltage, which can be harder to handle than AC, or alternating-current, voltage.

"If the solar panel sees sun, it makes power," Potter said. "It's very dangerous. With DC voltage, you can't mess around."

While there are clearly tremendous opportunities for green jobs in the Capital Region, the hardest thing to do is to quantify exactly how many of these jobs are available now and how many could be created in the coming years.

Neither the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority nor the state Department of Labor tracks green jobs in the state, citing the difficult nature of the task and the lack of specific data.

"We're going to get there soon," said Department of Labor spokesman Leo Rosales.

Earlier this year, Gov. David Paterson said state renewable-energy and energy-efficiency policies could create 50,000 new green jobs by 2015. That includes trying to get 30 percent of the power used by New Yorkers from renewable sources and reducing electric consumption in the state by 15 percent as well. The two policies together are called 45-by-15 and combine and expand previous energy policies created during the Pataki and Spitzer administrations.

Nationally, robust figures for green jobs exist. A report issued in January by the American Solar Energy Society in Boulder, Colo., found that 9 million jobs in the United States are tied to the green economy and that up to 37 million jobs could exist by 2030 under the most aggressive scenario -- or one out of every four jobs in the country. The report also said that annual revenue of the green economy would quadruple from $1 trillion to $4 trillion.

Work force training, however, may be the biggest hurdle to tapping into the green economy, local labor experts say.

For instance, a large portion of the federal stimulus money coming to New York has been set aside for weatherizing homes that will make them more energy efficient. Of the $5 billion set aside for the entire country, $404 million has been targeted to New York state.

That will provide a lot of work to laborers, said Ed Murphy, executive director of the Workforce Development Institute, a Albany-based nonprofit that is aligned with the AFL-CIO and has offices across the state.

But there aren't enough energy auditors right now to go into homes and evaluate how much retrofitting will need to be done.

"That's where you save energy," Murphy said. "We do need training for that. There aren't enough auditors."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.
   
   

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Green jobs can bring profit....jump on the bandwagon Ohio!



Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Vallley Green Party

Ohio Green Party



www.ohiogreens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/