Study says green shift means jobs

Study says green shift means jobs

Sep 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - James Haggerty The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.

Ed Shoener knows the employment power of wind-generated energy.

"Wind is competitive now with traditional forms of energy," Mr. Shoener said Tuesday. "Wind is not a pie-in-the-sky environmental technology."

His consulting firm, Shoener Environmental Consulting, has grown to 12 workers from three in 2005 and employs engineers, scientists and geographic information systems analysts. The Dickson City company, which did work for the wind farm in Waymart and does consulting for other wind-power and environmental-related projects, recently opened a branch office in San Diego.

Shoener Environmental's growth fits projections of a new report on job growth from investment in a nationwide clean-energy transition.

The study, conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, projects a $100 billion public-private investment in diversion from fossil-fuel energy would create 86,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and 2 million nationally.

Clean-energy proponents discussed the report's projections Tuesday at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square.

Money invested in mass transit, energy-efficient building conversions, solar heat and biofuels development would create jobs for construction workers, engineers and scientists, said Katie Feeney, a policy analyst at the Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy group.

"This is a very hopeful sign for green technology," said Mr. Shoener, former regional director of the state Department of Environmental Resources, now the Department of Environmental Protection.

But academic projections and reality are separate, as Jim Sovaiko's experience shows.

Last year, Mr. Sovaiko took part in a county-sponsored demonstration project in which a North Scranton garage was heated and cooled through geothermal energy extracted from mine water. That project, though, has not generated any subsequent investment or development.

"Right now, the process is in limbo," said Mr. Sovaiko, president of Arcman Corp., a Throop-based company that converts electrical meters into table lamps. "We know it's there and it can be done. ... We need full-time, dedicated professionals to develop the resource."

Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com