Do 'Green' Jobs Pay Off?
Jul 16 - Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
Crouched in a dusty crawl space, Angelo Romano jammed a piece of fluffy
orange insulation between two floor joists under an old single-family home
in Englewood, his face flushed with exertion.
It's a far cry from the job Romano, 58, left 18 months ago, as a network
processor for New York-based Con Edison, to find a new trade.
Yet his shift, to sealing homes for Hackensack-based Bergen County Community
Action Program, puts him at the forefront of a trend toward "green" jobs
championed by politicians, unions and businessmen alike.
A growing number of advocates, among them Governor Corzine and President
Obama, believe that energy efficiency and renewable energy could not only
help the environment but replace jobs lost in the recession.
Critics, however, say that's an expensive and unproven way to create jobs
that will destroy jobs in other sectors, and in many cases will be little
more than putting a green veneer on existing trades.
"If you spend a billion dollars, sure you will create jobs," said William T.
Bogart, an economic professor and dean of York College of Pennsylvania. "The
question is, on net, how many?
At issue are jobs that protect the environment, reduce energy use or curb
greenhouse gas emissions. By most definitions, they fall into two
categories: those that save energy and money by "weatherizing" buildings;
and jobs that create renewable energy by solar, wind, geothermal or other
means.
At present, energy efficiency jobs outnumber renewal energy jobs by almost
20-to-1, according to a recent Rutgers University report. But the ratio is
expected to narrow to about 5-to-1 in the next two decades.
Corzine's energy master plan calls for New Jersey to create 20,000 green
jobs by 2020, part of an effort to reduce the state's energy use by 20
percent over that period.
Obama's stimulus package, which is expected to create more than 500,000
green jobs, includes nearly $200 million for green programs in New Jersey.
But how much that will boost the state's economy is unclear, as are the
number of jobs and the skills needed to do them. The most optimistic
estimates of green job creation pale next to the 160,000 New Jersey jobs
lost since the recession started.
"Right now, we are in a period where people are sculpting fog when it comes
to green jobs," said Jennifer Cleary, a senior project manager at Rutgers
University's John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, who studies
the green job sector.
"Green jobs alone will only replace a portion of the large numbers of jobs
lost in the construction, renewables and manufacturing sectors in recent
years," she said.
The lack of clarity is partly due to the relative newness of the idea of the
green industry as an economic stimulant. It's also because the outcome rests
on so many variables, such as state and federal energy policies, the amount
of green-targeted public investment and how property owners respond to
incentives.
Estimates of the potential size of the green sector vary widely. The Center
for American Progress, a liberal think tank, estimated New Jersey could add
57,000 jobs by investing $3.2 billion in public and private money on
transportation, saving energy and other measures.
The Blue Green Alliance, a union-environmentalist partnership, last week
predicted New Jersey could create more than 17,500 jobs if the nation
required one-quarter of all energy to be renewable energy by 2025.
But Bogart, in a paper written with three other academics, argued that
efforts that emphasize job creation rather than production would "generate
stagnation."
"By focusing on low-productivity jobs, the green jobs literature dooms
employees to low wages in a shrinking economy," they wrote, adding that
green job predictions often don't account for jobs destroyed in the shift to
green.
"Even if you keep the amount of power the same, but shift it from coal-fired
plants to solar, what's going to happen to the people at the coal plant?"
Bogart said.
A recent report by Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia found that New
Jersey had actually lost about 10 percent of its green jobs between 1998 and
2007.
But the report also said that New Jersey's receipt of more green- targeted
venture capital than all but seven other states from 2006 to 2008 showed
investors believe New Jersey has high potential for green innovation.
That kind of entrepreneurial impulse is evident in the efforts of North
Jersey businesses. The state already ranks second in the nation, after
California, in solar installation. And green projects are particularly
attractive as the construction industry struggles to rebound from a historic
slowdown.
That was the case for Warren Zysman, a partner at Garfield-based ARC
Renewable Energy, who started a wind turbine installation business this year
to combat a drop in his construction business. His first installation, for
talk show star Jay Leno, will soon be completed in California. Growth in the
business would create work for licensed electricians, crane operators, steel
fabricators and others, Zysman said. But much of that may be outside New
Jersey. The turbines, for instance, are made in Michigan, he said. And the
most lucrative states are those such as California, with high electricity
costs, and Florida, which has high government incentive packages, he said.
David Golvsholl, the founder and sole employee of Glen Rock- based ENERGi
Eastern Natural Resource Group, hopes to see a tenfold growth in revenue for
the business he started last year installing geothermal systems.
That would create 10 to 15 jobs -- including heating and ventilation
technicians, plumbers, drillers and excavators and engineers -- in his
company or for subcontractors, he said.
But public money is key to these businesses, as it is to the green sector as
a whole. Obama's stimulus package, for instance, includes about $73 million
for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in New Jersey and $118
million for weatherization projects.
New Jersey officials say the weatherization money will reduce energy
consumption in 13,500 low-income homes and create 400 jobs for three years,
based on estimates that eight to 11 jobs are created for each $1 million
spent on weatherizing.
The jobs will include community outreach workers to solicit homeowners,
technicians to conduct energy audits, workers to install weatherization
materials, and supervisors.
State guidelines require contractors to pay all construction- related jobs
$17.40 an hour and provide health benefits.
The work will be carried out mainly by non-profit community action programs.
Bergen County's, for instance, will receive $5 million to weatherize 646
housing units, enabling the agency to quadruple its workforce to about 28.
That expansion is in line with Corzine's ambitious schedule to have the
state weatherize 300,000 buildings a year by 2020, compared with fewer than
20,000 today.
Even if that's achieved, the impact on employment is unclear. What happens,
for instance, to the ranks of power company workers if energy consumption is
cut by 20 percent? And how many of the green jobs would be traditional jobs
retooled with a green "tint"?
Quite a lot, according to a report by Cleary, and a Rutgers University
colleague, Allison Kopicki, called "Preparing the workforce for a 'Green
Jobs' Economy."
"The majority of green jobs in the nation's energy sector will not be new
occupations in the immediate future, but rather traditional occupations that
may require an additional layer of "green skills and knowledge," they wrote.
***
(SIDEBARS)
New Jersey's 'green' economy
New Jersey officials hope "green" jobs in energy conservation and renewal
activities, such as wind and solar energy will help replace the 155,900 jobs
lost in manufacturing and other sectors during the recession.
Here is a snapshot of the state's green industry:
Number of jobs (in 2007) 25,397
Number of businesses (in 2007) 2,031
Venture capital (2006 to 2008) $282 million
New Jersey's national rank by number of jobs 9th
Rank by green-targeted venture capital investment 7th
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts
***
Green jobs and the skills they require
"Green" jobs are generally defined as tasks that conserve energy, protect
the environment or reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions,
sometimes by creating renewable energy. Many green jobs use traditional
skills that are retooled to do green tasks. Here are some of the jobs:
Weatherization:
* Electricians
* Heating/air conditioning installers
* Insulation workers
* Building inspectors/auditors
Commercial and industrial retrofits (to improve energy efficiency):
* Mechanical engineers
* Cogeneration construction and operation workers
* Measurement and verification technicians
* Energy management analysts
Renewable energy jobs:
* Environmental, energy engineers
* Iron and steelworkers
* Electrical equipment assemblers
* Construction equipment operators
Source: John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers
University
***
E-mail: morley@northjersey.com
***
(c) 2009 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by
ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
|