Green jobs will drive recovery
By Daniel E. Fielding
Amongst all the problems the United States is currently dealing with, the two issues making headlines these days are environmental responsibility and economic recovery. President Obama believes (as do I) that these two topics are intimately intertwined.
Take a look at this excerpt from a speech President Obama delivered at ZBB Energy in Wisconsin this past August:
“We expect our commitment to clean energy to lead to more than 800,000 jobs by 2012. And that’s not just creating work in the short term, that’s going to help lay the foundation for lasting economic growth… Just a few years ago, American businesses could only make 2 per cent of the world’s advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles — 2 per cent. In just a few years, we’ll have up to 40 per cent of the world’s capacity.”
The last time America was truly prosperous was the result of a manufacturing boom. Enhanced domestic production leads to a strong economy. The fact that over a third of all manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the last 10 years is a sad indicator of our economy.
President Obama realises this and, as a result, he has underlined a series of strategic points in a report on the National Export Initiative (NEI). He feels that this initiative will set us on the path to economic recovery, and that path leads to a manufacturing revival in America. If this plan is effectively enacted, it will serve a two-fold purpose: It will help the nation’s economy rebound back into prosperity, while at the same time addressing global environmental/pollution concerns.
While our last manufacturing golden age largely revolved around production of vehicles, the next “renaissance” in domestic manufacturing will be a result of the mass production of renewable energy components: batteries, turbines and solar panels. Battery technology is important to almost every major industry. More efficient batteries result in better consumer electronics, less wasteful vehicles and a smarter power grid.
The US isn’t the only country interested in renewable technologies. There is a considerable amount of competition coming from China, which faces a greater pollution problem (at least in air quality). China consumes less than half as much oil as the US, yet in 2009 China invested twice as much in renewable energy technologies than the US did. This “friendly” foreign competition will hopefully fuel (pun intended) a more rapid development of new technologies and policies conducive to a healthier environment and a stronger economy.
In July, the CEO of Dow Chemical, Andrew Liveris, was appointed to Obama’s Export Council. One month prior, Liveris published an editorial on usatoday.com, “How US can launch a manufacturing renaissance.” In the article, he succinctly highlights what is necessary to improve domestic manufacturing and how, as a result, the economy will follow suit. After reading this piece, it isn’t hard to see why Liveris was selected for such a position. Some of the key suggestions in his editorial are ones that — if followed — will lay the foundation for a boom in manufacturing of green tech components in the US.
Dow Kokam — a battery-producing division of Dow Chemical — is a great example of how these ideas can be applied in the real world. The company’s newest plant, located in Michigan, is estimated to create 2,720 jobs by the time it is completed, with 800 full-time positions once the plant is operational. At full production, the plant will supply enough lithium-ion batteries to power 60,000 hybrid or electric vehicles annually. There is a large demand for these types of batteries in the medical, defense, industrial and transportation industries … both domestically, and abroad. Other renewable energy companies like GE and Florida Power & Light Company are taking similar steps to employ people by the thousands, all of which will have a positive impact on both the economy and the environment.
Andrew Liveris is in good company on the President’s Export Council. Other members of the include W. James McNerney, Jr., CEO of Boeing; Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company; as well as other leading authorities on international transportation and trade. Almost every single member of the export council represents companies taking similar strides to an environmentally-sensitive recovery to the recession. This council is charged with advising Obama on setting the pace for our nation’s newest and greatest industry: green technology.
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Daniel Fielding, an editor at Everything Left who also does freelance design and writing in the green technology blogosphere.
