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Economy and Green

Wisconsin wind blade facility to create 600 jobs

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

While Washington leaders debate whether the stimulus money has done enough for the economy, Wisconsin has latched onto money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to kick start a wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in Wisconsin Rapids, a small city in the center of the state. The new factory is expected to be the most advanced in North America and employ more than 600 people.

The Energy Composites Corp. (ECC) facility will be built with the help of $238 million in municipal tax-free bonds from a pool of money (the state’s Recovery Zone Facility pool) created with federal stimulus dollars.

While the financial arrangements took several steps, including new legislation introduced by Sen. Julie Lass, D-Stevens Point, and supported by several other state legislators — the desired outcome is a straightforward effort by the state to capture manufacturing for the fast growing commercial wind energy sector.

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Clean Energy Week brings activists, businessmen to Washington

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

By Bill Sullivan

Image: cleanenergyweek.org

Legislators wrestling with health care reform, job concerns and a spiraling federal deficit have another group vying for their attention in Washington this week.  Thanks to a hastily thrown-together coalition, it’s Clean Energy Week, with environmental activists and business leaders descending on Capitol Hill to press for money for more and better green initiatives.

An unlikely catalyst for that change: The jobs bill, which many hope will include more green items than normal. As the week began, the Senate was considering a proposal to deploy $11 billion of the potential jobs bill for efficiency measures. Creation of a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) and a Green Bank also were part of the discussion.

Reed Hundt, co-chairman of the Coalition for the Green Bank, says the clean energy movement has been presented with a rare opportunity, however strange the bedfellows in some cases may be.

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New organization of U.S. companies calls for clean energy and climate legislation

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

A new organization of hundreds of American businesses is demanding comprehensive action by Congress on federal clean energy and climate legislation in the wake of the recent Copenhagen climate change summit.

In its first six weeks, the American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) said it has grown from just 19 members to include over 800 businesses as of today. ABCE is a diverse coalition of businesses that support Congressional action to pass clean energy and climate legislation that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The organization is largely made up of small Main Street businesses, clean tech and green businesses, but it also includes major names such as Gap Inc, DB Climate Change Advisors (Deutsche Bank Group), and power companies FPL Group and New York Power Authority.

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Poll shows more Americans believe climate action will boost the economy

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

As the Copenhagen climate talks moved into high gear on Tuesday, preparing for the heads of state to join the talks, the AP released a poll showing that more Americans believe action on climate change will help the U.S. economy than hinder it.

The Associated Press-Stanford University Poll found that 40 percent of Americans said that action to slow global warming would create jobs, and 46 percent said it would “boost the economy.”

Less than one-third of respondents felt that controlling climate change would hurt the economy.

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Report says California’s cap on carbon has negligible impact on small businesses

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Border Gill in Santa Monica

Border Gill in Santa Monica


From Green Right Now Reports

As international climate treaty negotiations continue in Copenhagen amid debate over the potential economic impact of new standards, a new report shows that the costs for small business operating under California’s landmark climate law (AB 32) can be measured in pennies.

Conducted by leading economists and released by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the report found that AB 32 policies will only increase the percent of small business revenue spent on energy by only 0.3 percentage points–from 1.4 to 1.7 percent–in 2020. In a case study of one small business — Border Grill restaurant — the report fond AB 32 will cost diners 3 cents extra per $20 meal in 2020.

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Report says green construction creates jobs

Friday, November 13th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips

Over the last eight years, green construction has created 2.4 million jobs and contributed $173 billion to the US economy. It is estimated that in the next four years, despite an unstable economy, both numbers will more than triple, according to a new study from the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton.

The study reports that green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs, adding $554 billion into the American economy, including $396 billion in wages.

“The study demonstrates that investing in green buildings contributes significantly to our nation’s wealth while creating jobs in a range of occupations, from carpenters to cost estimators,” said Gary Rahl, Officer, Global Government Market, Booz Allen Hamilton.

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Trend watching at the Greenbuild Expo in Phoenix

Monday, November 9th, 2009

By Kate Nolan

When the Greenbuild Expo 2009 landed in Phoenix Nov. 9 with 30,000 participants, the circus came to town for Mick Dalrymple. He runs the a.k.a. Green Eco-Friendly Building Center, the Phoenix area’s first store of its kind.

Phoenix Convention Center

Phoenix Convention Center

Dalrymple also sits on the national board of the U.S. Green Building Council, the organizer of Greenbuild Expo and International Conference, which this year (its eighth) has packed 1,800 exhibitors into the recently expanded Phoenix Convention Center.

An electrical engineer, former Hollywood filmmaker and graduate of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Dalrymple first came to green building as a way out of an oil-based U.S. national security policy. He would give talks on how green building could lead to energy independence, and when people complained they couldn’t find where to buy these mysterious carbon-neutral products, he opened a store.

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Federal weatherization funds providing major boost to states

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
A field monitor checks a gas meter for leaks. (Photo: Department of Energy)

A field monitor checks a gas meter for leaks. (Photo: Department of Energy)

From Green Right Now Reports

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced today that the first installment of $123 million in federal Recovery funds for weatherization will begin to be released Nov. 2, part of $253 million that the state will use for this purpose.

The Governor said the funding represents an unprecedented level of investment that will help to create new, “green” jobs, save money for struggling families, and stimulate local economic activity as weatherization agencies buy required material, vehicles and equipment.

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Report says Chicago can attract green collar jobs by training new workers

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

Though the economy remains weak and the unemployment rate is still high, a new report released by the Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative cites the job creation potential of green collar jobs in the Chicago region.

The report highlights numerous policy opportunities – including climate legislation, additional resources for environmental programs, and changes to environmental standards – that may help spur the development of new green collar jobs throughout Chicagoland. The specific occupations most likely to experience significant growth are energy efficiency measure installers and auditors, primarily in response to the projected increase in the number of residential retrofits expected to be completed in the coming years.

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Wind industry ahead of projections

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
The Roscoe, Texas, project became the world's largest win farm.

The Roscoe, Texas, project became the world's largest wind farm.

By Barbara Kessler

The US wind industry will finish 2009 ahead of projections for wind installations, though the numbers will still fall behind the industry’s record-breaking year in 2008.

“It’s not a bad year given the financial crisis,” said Liz Salerno, director of industry data and analysis at the American Wind Energy Association, in a news conference this week.

The US is expected to have installed about 7,000 new megawatts of wind energy in 2009, falling short of the 8,500 megawatts of 2008, but ahead of analysts’ predictions for the year and ahead of 2007’s installations.

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