What exactly are the green jobs that Van Jones espouses? Are there enough high paying, unionized green jobs to help lead America away from its dependence on carbon-emitting energy sources?
Surprisingly, wind seems to have a better shot than solar at providing clean American jobs...especially if supported by the American Clean Energy & Security Act. Today's ACES word of the day is RES, short for Renewable Electricity Standard. The official House summary states:
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) requires retail electric suppliers to meet a growing percentage of their load with electricity generated from renewable resources and electricity savings. The combined renewable electricity and electricity savings requirement begins at 6% in 2012 and gradually rises to 20% in 2020. At least three quarters (75%) of the requirement must be met by renewable energy.
The RES includes wind and solar, among other sources.
This diary solicits your thoughts on ACES' inclusion of a potentially controversial issue, whether termed a "level playing field for American manufacturing" or "protectionism." Tread carefully.
This diary is one in a series on reasons why ACES was considered weak in the House, and ways to strengthen it. Past diaries include Senate: Pass A Reality-Based Bill (hint: 350 ppm is reality) and Senate: Pass A Clean Energy, Clean Jobs Bill (hint: it's what 90 percent of the American public want).
Solar power: I've been a big believer in solar energy ever since childhood days spent arguing about it while soaking it up on Zuma Beach. It's abundant and free. We don't need a lot of it to power the whole world:
Back in the 1970s, Americans were warned that alternative energy sources were going to be desperately needed to wean us off our dependence on foreign oil. Fast forward 30 years and nothing has changed. We've gotten bogged down, and there's plenty of blame to go around: Republican administrations who don't care, utility companies, technical questions of storage and transmission, high costs, and sheer confusion.
Wake up! While we've been moaning and whining about why solar was impossible, huge chunks of the solar manufacturing industry are moving to China. Evolution Solar is the latest, and in a slap to Obama, stated:
"China has made a commitment to solar and placed substantial funds behind that commitment," stated Robert Kaapke, CEO of Evolution Solar Corp. "Talking about change is very different form actually changing; we want to be part of real change and that is why we are setting down our roots where real change is taking place."
Another China-based company, Suntech, is selling its panels on the American market for less than the cost of the materials, assembly, and shipping. Chinese manufacturers are being aided by a top-down government structure:
Chinese governments at the national, provincial and even local level have been competing with one another to offer solar companies ever more generous subsidies, including free land, and cash for research and development. State-owned banks are flooding the industry with loans at considerably lower interest rates than available in Europe or the United States.
The American solar business is still feasible, despite Evolution Solar's comments. Profitable industry leader First Solar has no plans to move from Tempe. As Meteor Blades diaried yesterday, solar panel manufacturer Solyndra is taking over (sweet irony alert!) an abandoned automobile plant in Fremont, California. And for a much more small scale, hands-on individual approach, gmoke's diaries are highly informative.
There will be plenty of American solar jobs; installation of solar panels, retrofitting a home, and tying a home's electricity to a smart grid all must be done locally. However, a manufacturing trade war is brewing. From today's Reuters:
German solar firms Conergy and Solarworld have voiced strong concern about the pricing practices of Chinese panel makers -- who undercut their German peers' products by around 20 percent. Chinese modules sell in Europe at about 1.70 euros per watt, according to a UBS report.
Industry experts say U.S. firms share those German concerns.
Germany's BSW solar industry association is looking into allegations of dumping by Chinese rivals as Conergy rallies support to call on the European Union to examine Chinese pricing tactics.
In short, there's plenty of potential for protectionism in the solar industry.
Wind power: As a child, I didn't pay as much attention to wind energy as I did to solar, simply because I liked Malibu beaches better than the wind farms of San Gorgonio Pass and Altamont. Since then, both the wind industry and I have matured. I didn't know that every state in the Union has some potential for wind energy:
I didn't realize that windmills wind turbines are better candidates for American manufacturing than solar panels. They're big and bulky and thus harder to ship than photovoltaic cells. Between 3,500 and 5,000 of them were manufactured last year in the United States, and the American Wind Energy Association credits 35,000 wind-related jobs created in 2008. Texas, Iowa, California, Minnesota and Washington lead the nation in growth of wind capacity; Minnesota and Iowa led the nation in terms of percentage of total electricity that comes from wind, each state's share just over 7 percent. Wind projects are moving closer to fruition off the shores of New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island and other Northeast states, but they're at least a year away from coming online. They also supplement farmers' income; a farmer can lease a single windmill to bring in $3,000/year.
Protections, or protectionism? Tariffs or free trade? A group of ten Midwestern Senators, normally moderate-to-liberal who support climate change legislation, have demanded tariffs: potentially, taxes on imports from countries that do not adopt emissions restrictions. The House bill had similar provisions. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) believes that tariffs are needed to stop companies from outsourcing production to nations without emissions limits, such as China and India. Robert Casey (D-PA) believes that a "border adjustment mechanism" will continue to ensure the viability of American manufacturing. The gang of 10 includes, along with Brown and Casey, Russ Feingold (D-WI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Robert Byrd (D-VW), and Al Franken (D-MN). Senator Casey's wish list:
short-term transition assistance in the form of rebates provided to energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries; negotiating objectives requiring any international agreement to address manufacturing competiveness; effective means to measure, monitor, verify, and hold countries accountable for emissions reductions; and policies that promote investments in energy efficient and clean technology manufacturing and help the sector retool for the clean energy economy.
In addition, a longer-term border adjustment mechanism is a vital part of this package to prevent the relocation of carbon emissions and industries if other major carbon emitting countries fail to commit to an international agreement requiring commensurate action on climate change. We believe that a border adjustment mechanism is critical to ensuring that climate change legislation will be trade neutral and environmentally effective.
The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor (United Steelworkers, SEIU, LiUNA) and environmental (Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council) favors strong trade protections. President Obama doesn't. Someone will get his/her/their/its way.
This community, as a whole, should support ACES, in the same way that it's supporting health care reform and other parts of President Obama's domestic policy agenda. However, we should not be expected to blindly support a weaker bill like the one that passed the House in June, so loophole-ridden that Henry Waxman regrets his own landmark bill. Instead, we should strengthen it as we've been rallying behind the health care reform public option. I have mixed feelings on whether the Gang of 10's position is a positive development, but my opinion is less important than the opinion of the community as a whole. Your thoughts?
GreenRoots is a new environmental series created by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily for Daily Kos. This series provides a forum for discussing -- and acting on -- all environmental issues of our day.