Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

A coalition of non-profit environmental and economic research organizations from across the country released a ... guide to cities and states to enhance one critical component of America’s shared prosperity: Training and employing people for the higher wage, family-supporting careers in the new clean, green, energy efficient job sectors.

The new guide, “Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities,” was made public at the start of the two-day national Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Pittsburgh. It makes a ... case that pursuing a four-step strategy—essentially a metropolitan green business and jobs development plan—provides a wealth of environmental, economic, and social benefits, including what it calls “a pathway out of poverty” for thousands of unemployed, under-employed, and hard to employ people in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The report was
prepared by the Apollo Alliance, Green For All, Center for American Progress and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.

The state report, “Greener Pathways,” outlines a plan of action for state policy makers, highlighting reform opportunities to embrace the greener and more equitable promise of the new energy economy.

According to both reports, a job qualifies as green-collar if it provides high enough wages and good benefits to support a family, opportunity to advance and build a career, and reduces waste, pollution, and other environmental risks. Among the green-collar jobs that are gaining in number and popularity, said the studies, are machinists, technicians, service workers, equipment and installation specialists, construction workers, and managers of all kinds.

The business sectors seeking such employees span alternative transportation and fuels, green building and energy efficient retrofitting, renewable energy production and installation, and hundreds of related industries and occupations.

Case Studies From Across the Country
Among the 14 green-collar job programs that the report highlights are these:
• Milwaukee, with the help of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, has organized a major project to retrofit residential, commercial, and institutional buildings in order to significantly reduce energy consumption. Milwaukee Energy Efficiency, or Me2, is raising both public and private capital to finance the retrofit work. Building occupants pay back the funds through charges on their utility bills, and they will realize immediate savings from reduced energy costs.
• In Richmond, California, a non-profit group, Solar Richmond, forged a partnership with the city to provide low-cost and free installations of energy producing solar systems while simultaneously training low-income residents from the community to do the work. One of the project partners, Build Richmond, a city project, established a 10-week training program for construction and solar installation skills. Last year 32 residents completed the program and as of late last year, all but five program graduates were working for local solar and building companies. For more information: Michele McGeoy, Director, 510-847-3172, info@SolarRichmond.org,
http://www.solarrichmond.org/
• In Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty last September announced the start of a “Green Collar Job Advisory Council,” and has tapped the directors of four city agencies to play integral roles in the development of green jobs training policies. The central goals of Mayor Fenty's effort are to develop the capacity of local businesses and workers to capitalize on opportunities opened by an array of new green policies and programs. Among them are 1) a new Green Building Law, 2) storm water management and green urban infrastructure policies, 3) a comprehensive energy policy that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy installations, and 4) a city-wide commitment to reducing carbon emissions to fight climate change. For more information: http://planning.dc.gov/planning/cwp/view,a,1282,q,642589.asp

Reasoned Four-Step Strategy: Assess, Enact, Train, Communicate
The process for establishing these and other green-collar development programs starts, said the guide, with research to understand local economic conditions, business strengths, and opportunities to develop green businesses and jobs. Los Angeles, for instance, developed a convening organization and published a comprehensive report in 2006, “Jobs in L.A.'s Green Technology Sector,” that identified green industries poised for growth and the ability of the community to fill jobs in those sectors. The report has served as guiding document in the city's work to build a green jobs economy. See:
http://www.economicrt.org/summaries/Green_Tech_synopsis.html

“Green-Collar Jobs” also calls on cities to enact new policies and programs to stimulate demand for green businesses and jobs. Chicago and New York are among the growing number of cities that require municipal buildings to be retrofitted to improve energy efficiency, a step that encourages new opportunities for the construction trades, energy auditors, and other specialists.

The third step in the report's strategy urges cities to develop training programs that take a special interest in providing job opportunities for low income residents. Especially significant in developing such training programs are building the skill set for jobs that actually exist or are on the way so that trainees have rewarding work when they finish.
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More Green-Collar Job Programs
Other successful green-collar job development projects noted in the study include:
-- The Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program and the Center for Sustainable Energy in the Bronx, both of which are moving people from welfare into green collar jobs. For more information: James Chase, Director of Communications, Sustainable South Bronx, 212-431-5113, Givechase@gmail.com, Annette Williams, Director, B.E.S.T.. Program, 718-617-4668, awilliams@ssbx.org, http://www.ssbx.org/.
-- B'more Green, an initiative of Civic Works, is an innovative job training program for unemployed and underemployed residents of Baltimore to gain entry level positions in environmental technology. For more information: John Ciekot, Project Director, 410-366-8533, jciekot@civicworks.com, http://www.civicworks.com/bmghome.html.
-- Wilbur Wright College in Chicago has a six-course, 21-credit hour occupation building certificate in building energy technologies. The first 14 students graduated in December. For more information: Victoria Cooper, Director, Environmental Technology Program, Wilbur Wright College, 773-481-8610, vcooper@ccc.edu, http://wright.ccc.edu/department/etp/build.asp.
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According to the report, many skills of the greener future are closely related to the skills of today. And most of the jobs in them industries examined in this report—electricians retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, lab technicians ensuring quality control in ethanol plants, machinists crafting wind turbine components and technicians maintaining them—do not require advanced degrees. Thus the greener pathways of this report lead to middle-skill jobs in the clean energy future.

Greener Pathways examines jobs in three key green industries:
• Energy efficiency may be the fastest, cheapest way for states to address global warming, reduce energy costs for citizens, and create and sustain good jobs. The report looks primarily at residential retrofits, one sector in a broader field that includes commercial and industrial retrofits, green building, and green manufacturing.
• Wind power is growing rapidly in the U.S. and abroad and has the potential to be an economic driver in urban and rural areas. Wind power has the capacity for job creation in manufacturing as well as installation and operations. Component part manufacturing for wind turbines holds particular promise.
• Biofuels have taken root and are generating more policy interest and business investment, particularly in the Midwest. The report, while noting that biofuels may have significant environmental consequences, examines jobs in ethanol and biodiesel production.

The report offers a snapshot of such jobs for three key green industries in the at-aglance” charts folded into a summary (with further details in the report):

Key Points
• Jobs in energy efficiency retrofitting, wind and biofuels look a lot like traditional construction jobs.
• While only two of these energy efficiency retrofittting occupations show faster than average projected growth, the Department of Labor (DOL) identifies all 10 key energy efficiency retrofiittng jobs as “in-demand” because they are critical to high-growth industries.
• Every $1 Million invested in efficiency retrofits generates eight to eleven on-site
• Job numbers rise if we include indirect economic effects. State and municipal retrofitting programs will need to be tied to regional training programs, as the construction and building trades face imminent shortages of skilled workers. A good place to start greening career pathways in the building trades is through union apprenticeship and related programs, some of which are currently constructing workable pathways out of poverty.
• Some construction jobs have high wages, but offer only seasonal employment.

Jobs to Watch
Some high-demand energy-efficiency jobs are relatively new; we do not have good wage and employment data because they are not yet tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, however, is in the process of standardizing job titles and skill requirements for energy auditors. And the Regional Economic Development Institute at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College identifies several emerging middle-skill occupations among green construction jobs with highest employment potential:
Energy and indoor air quality auditor
Deconstruction worker
HVAC operations and maintenance technician
Systems technician
Solar installer and technician

To stabilize carbon emission levels, the U.S. needs to add 185,000 MW of renewable energy in ten years. The Renewable Energy Policy Project calculates wind power’s share to be roughly 125,000 MW, which would support close to 400,000 domestic manufacturing jobs. The American wind industry is growing at ...45% per year.

Minnesota West Community and Technical College found that employers wanted graduates of three wind energy related tracks:
Wind energy technician
Wind energy mechanic
Windsmith

Jobs in biodiesel and ethanol production pay decent wages, but offer few jobs: A 50 million gallon per year (MGY) plant employs on average 35 workers. A few good jobs, however, can bring significant benefits to rural communities.

Increasing the scale of production does not significantly increase employment. An ethanol operation that grows from 40MGY to 100MGY might grow from 35 to 45 or 55 workers; a biodiesel plant expanding from 4 to 10MGY could potentially operate at the same general staffing level—12 employees.

The job creation potential of biofuel refineries has been greatly exaggerated. Reliable studies now suggest that the jobs multiplier is a modest 3-4, depending on local markets. Local ownership demonstrably boosts indirect economic impacts. Metal manufacturing jobs will likely be in demand as the biofuels industry matures.

Biodiesel related jobs include:
Ethanol plant technician
Ethanol plant operator
Ethanol maintenance mechanic
Biodiesel laboratory technician
Biodiesel maintenance mechanic
Biodiesel process control technician
biofuels

For the full report, including more information on partners, links to related resources, and bibliography, go to www.cows.org. The co-authors can be reached at swhite@cows.org; jason@greenforall.org.

Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS); 1180 Observatory Drive; Madison, WI 53706; 608.263.3889; cows-info@cows.org; www.cows.org
http://www.cows.org/greenerpathways/
Press Release and Executive Summary dated March 13, 2008