We hear talk about local energy production jobs and the young people along with those who want to retrain into a new industry get excited, but what does it all mean? What sort of jobs are there?
This little photo diary will give you some sense of what is possible.
When wind turbines are installed it’s a major project as they go in by the hundreds. The tasks involved are the same as one would find in bridge construction, in transmission power line installation, and there are parallels to ship building and aircraft manufacturing and maintenance.
Once they’re running wind turbines require constant attention - the stresses put on them are similar to what a low flying plane such as a crop duster or water bomber deals with and there is always something to do. This industry needs some 75,000 new field maintainers alone, to say nothing of the masses that could be employed building the systems.
Every rooftop with a southern exposure can dramatically augment whatever fossil fuel heating is being used. This is not at all limited to the southwest; the system in this picture is on a brew pub in Boston. Every window and door manufacturer idled by the housing downturn could be made busy producing these panels and every HVAC contractor in the country would be scrambling to keep up with the flood of installation work ... but only if we have a policy that encourages this move.
The forests of the northeast and northwest are a renewable energy source that are already exploited by the residents. Outdoor wood boilers and newer, cleaner gassifiers and pellet fueled systems are very popular. Installers are often independent HVAC contractors, much of the internal work is suitable for idled housing construction workers under the guidance of an experienced installer, and the systems to be installed are almost all uniformly American made equipment rather than imports.
Wind produces energy but it is intermittent. A greatly expanded network of turbines connected with a smart grid would run smoothly, but pumped hydro storage is a perfect means to firm this renewable. The bluffs that line the Great Lakes are perfect for building similar systems to the one that currently exists as part of the massive Niagara Falls hydroelectric operation. Construction of such public works would be a massive undertaking, much like the WPA built Hoover Dam of our last great depression.
The systems built need not be massive. This camp, completely off the grid, has a small wind turbine and solar cell setup. Countries like Portugal and Denmark get a large portion of their energy from connected systems like this because they have feed in tariff policies that encourage home owners to invest. The systems are intermittent, distributed since they’re widely distributed the energy the supply is much more stable; it’s rare for the wind to stop everywhere all at once.
Much of our nation’s existing infrastructure is crumbling. Barker Meadow Dam, nearly 3,000’ above Boulder, Colorado and completed exactly a century ago shows, signs of wanting a makeover.
Flood control facilities like this one on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts are newer and sturdier, but with changes in electricity pricing it might make sense to refit them for power production as well.
Ethanol production has been a boon to rural states. We will always need some amount of liquid fuel for vehicles even if we do take the dramatic step of completely rebuilding the interurban rail we had eighty years ago, and rural America will be the source. Some food security activists complain of the use of biofuels, forgetting that America’s peak biofuel acreage happened in 1915, when draft animals consumed 36 million acres of oats and 75 million acres of hay. A third of our country’s land under cultivation was dedicated to fueling our horse and oxen drawn economy.
The right thing today is a prudent review of the details of the production process; some of our members believe a doubling in efficiency is possible ... but only with wise policy and further investment in this sector.
EnergizeUS is a coalition of candidates across the country talking about how we can reenergize our economy, put Americans back to work in good paying jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil but creating jobs in the areas of renewable energy resources and energy efficiency. Candidates of the coalition are: David Cozad (TX-06), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07),Jim Holbert (KY-05), Billy Kennedy (NC-5), David Gill (IL-15), Lance Enderle (MI-08), Rodney Glassman (AZ-Sen), laineyforcongress.com Lainey Melnick] (TX-21), [ Jerry Policoff (PA St House 41), and Michael Puhr (IL St House 104).
You can learn more about the coalition at EnergizeUS.org & you can join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.
If you can afford to, please show these candidates some love on ActBlue.