Dissertation Idea

Assess capacity of U.S. to meet demand for environmental protection services/clean energy
- Green businesses
- Workers
- Training programs

Assess potential for outsourcing elements of the "green economy"
- e.g., Wind developments

Compare to other countries
- Case study of Spain - how have they retained jobs, prepared workers

13 Mar 2008

TODAY

• Finished"criticisms" memo and sent to Bob
• Read new Apollo GCJ report and took notes - good definition of GCJ program and identification of necessary components
• Looked through Renewable Energy World news (formerly Renewable Energy Access)
• Read new Nation article on Green Collar Jobs - "Labor's War on Global Warming"

TOMORROW

• Already worked 20 hours this week, but for next time:
• Print all memos, reports, etc. that were sent to Bob and put them in binder
• Reread GCJ notes that I sent to Bob and begin report on what I know about Green Collar Jobs
• Look up programs in Seattle; RFP requirements in Multnomah County, OR
• Read NAM and ACCF Study Highlighting the National and 50-State Economic Impacts of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Change Bill
• Download portable Mozilla so I can take Zotero with me
  

12 March 2008

TODAY
Condensed list of criticisms and began writing intro

TOMORROW
Finish criticisms; send to Bob
Look over the report that Bob emailed on economic analysis of Lieberman bill
Look over Apollo Report of case studies

11 Mar 2008

TODAY
Continued to work on criticisms.

TOMORROW
2 hours on criticism finding and 3 hours writing a summary.

THURSDAY
Back to GCJ case study and analysis piece.

10 Mar 2008

TODAY
Worked from home; continued to add criticisms to list of CAP suggested policies. Going relatively slowly because am reading a bit of background information on the various policies.

TOMORROW
Pick up where I left off on the 1994 decoupling report and keep going.
Remember to add a section with general energy reform criticisms and who makes them - including criticisms of renewable energy and arguments in favor of fossil fuels.
Try to finish this section by Thursday when GCJ case study report comes out.

5 Mar 2008

TODAY

• Finished taking notes on Rosner 2006 report on green building in LA.
• Followed up on several of the programs I had added to the source list (highlighed these in yellow) and added them to the bottom of the case study list.
• Met with Bob
• 1. Asked me to write up what I sent him regarding green jobs initiatives. I said it would make sense to wait until the Apollo Alliance report of case studies comes out next Thursday, 3/13.
• 2. Report should discuss 1) different definition of green collar jobs; 2) what is a "green collar jobs" program; 3) critical analysis of programs that are out there (most new, small size); 4) discussion of what we need
• 3. Possibly follow up on 3 or 4 examples - successful and unsuccessful - to get a better idea of what is really going on in these programs.
• 4. Until 3/13, work on gather criticisms of green initiatives (a la criticism of Kansas governors proposal.) Who are the critics? What are their arguments? What research/methods do they use to support these arguments?

TOMORROW

• Pick up where I left off in the "criticisms" collection - who is on what side in the Kansas coal-powered plant debate. What are arguments and who is making them?

Grist: How do we define the green-job economy?

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/19/155825/434
by Kevin Doyle, resident of Green Economy, a Boston-based training, consulting, and research firm with services for the institutions and individuals building a more sustainable world

Review of recent green job studies:
In January, Green Biz.com released State of Green Business 2008
What's the state of "green job creation" in 2008? It's mentioned under the heading "Indicators We Wish We Had" with the following rueful comment: "How many jobs are being created through all of the kinds of activities measured in this report? No one knows."

Links to some of the green jobs reports that are making the rounds can be found at the end of this post, but one thing is common to almost all of them. They agree that we need more detailed local and regional information from employers in six specific industries: green building, energy efficiency, solar energy, wind power, biofuels, and brownfields redevelopment.

The December issue of the Environmental Business Journal provides the 2006 revenue and projected annual growth (2007-2010) numbers for the following sectors:

• Wastewater Treatment -- $37.49 billion -- 4.6 percent
• Solid Waste Management -- $50.60 billion -- 4.2 percent
• Remediation/Industrial Service -- $11.55 billion -- 4.4 percent
• Consulting and Engineering -- $23.98 billion -- 5.2 percent
• Water Equipment/Chemicals -- $26.11 billion -- 5.6 percent
• Water Utilities -- $36.61 billion -- 4.4 percent
• Resource Recovery -- $24.13 billion -- 15.0 percent
• Hazardous Waste Management -- $ 8.99 billion -- 2.2 percent

The EBJ numbers are supported by last year's review of the top 200 environmental firms in Engineering News Record. ENR's analysis showed a 12.5 percent gain for the top 200 over the previous year, pushing total revenues for the big guys to $42.2 billion.

In a confirmation of our hopes for job creation in the clean energy and green building sector, EBJ reported that its definition of that industry grew a whopping 11.8 percent in 2006 to total revenues of $24.90 billion, with expected growth at 11.4 percent annually. Meanwhile, ENR has begun tracking the top "green contractors" in the nation.

Have read 5 of 6 reports on the resource list:
#6: Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Census (PDF) from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (2007).

To Read

Grist article on Climate policy, auctions, and economic justice
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/3/3/03457/29578

4 Mar 2008

TODAY
Took notes on UCLA policy brief on green economic development and LA Green Building sector paper.
Wrote memo to Bob and sent along the notes I have so far.

TOMORROW
Finish notes on UCLA master's research on green building in LA
Follow up on promising leads in "sources" document - CA Solar Initiative, Seattle Green jobs, etc.
Begin looking at oil company subsidies

Rosner 2006 Jobs in LA Green Building

http://www.greenforall.org/resources/la-apollo-rosner.pdf

• Report comes from a UCLA Urban Planning Master Client Project
• Asks what types of jobs are arising in the green building industry and whether any are new. Also, how green building jobs can benefit low-income communities of color.
• Case studies of 3 green buildings + interviews of green building industry reps.
• Interesting results:
• 1. Public policy is the driving force behind green building and stimulating local economic development in the green building sector. Public policy support for green building is motivated by energy conservation, cost savings, and environmental concerns.
• 2. A green building knowledge gap exists between the designers and architects who design the project and the contractors and sub-contractors who construct the project.
• 3. New job opportunities in the green building industry include: LEED certifiers, commissioners and auditors; energy auditors; recyclers; and landscapers.
• 4. Green building material manufacturing represents the most promising industry to stimulate local economic development across Los Angeles.
• 5. The most effective way to connect people from low-income communities of color with green building jobs is through union apprenticeship and worker center training programs.
• Reviews research on green energy and job creation - mostly just refers to Kammen article. Says there are jobs to be had and will depend on policy.
• p.8 California also passed a Million Solar Roofs initiative in 2006, committing $3.2 billion in incentive funds to drive consumers toward solar power over the next 11 years. The Initiative will be implemented in 2007.
• 10 Mentions the Los Angeles Manufacturing Credit phased out in 2005 that gave an additional $1.50/watt rebate to PV systems installed and manufactured in LA...The report [2004 - by LA dept of water and power - on solar incentive program] notes that LADWP trained over 300 workers in PV installation; and employs about 1000 people who spend some portion of their time in PV installation.
• 13-14 Two paragraphs illustrating the impact of policy: The IBEW (electrician’s union) training center recently completed a solar energy power project illustrating policy’s powerful impact. An IBEW training center representative explained how policy impacted the center’s decision to invest in solar power. Interest existed to create a solar training center for the union’s apprentices. However, the real push came from the future energy cost savings. The PV system cost approximately three million dollars, of which half was financed by Edison subsidies. The representative emphasized that Edison receives all of its incentive funding from the State. Therefore, finance incentives on the state level represent the true driving force behind IBEW decision to install a PV system. The system is expected to pay for itself in four years through its 800 megawatt cost savings per year. This pay off period is quicker than first anticipated due to higher performance panels being introduced to the market.
• The IBEW representative also explained that Title 24 significantly impacted energy conservation in California. Adopted in 1978, Title 24 acted as a response to reduce California’s energy consumption by setting building standards for electrical systems. The representative recalled that in 1978 the lighting trades protested the ordinance and feared that they would not be able to meet required standards. However, the lighting trades ended up successfully responding with innovations in technology. Subsequently, California’s Title 24 building standards serves as a model for energy conservation in other states.15
• LADWP put solar incentive program on hold (in 2005?), and report says that several small firms went out of business as a result.
• 16 Green building does not require different skill jobs so much as experience and retraining in green building construction for existing positions.
• 17 Two paragraphs on difficulties in green building when experience is lacking: The contractor on the job expressed that the [Lakeview Terrance Branch] library was his first and last LEED project he bid for. As LEED was just being introduced in Los Angeles at the time of construction, the contractor had no prior experience in LEED. When the Los Angeles Department of Public Works selects a contractor from a bid process, the City’s only criterion is to choose the lowest bidder. Experience in green building is not a factor.
• The contractor explained that the biggest challenge in the project was obtaining the green building materials. The contractor went through seven different sub-contractors due to inexperience and inadequate knowledge about green building materials and where to seek out fitting materials to match the project’s specifications. The contractor noted that not enough information on LEED and its requirements were offered during the bidding process. Contractors bid for the project without comprehending the full extent of work that LEED would require. The contractor explained that the biggest project issue was a lack of knowledge base on green building.
• 19 Recommends establishing a Green Building Resource Center to bring together information currently spread throughout a number of departments. Santa Monica and Chicago both have them.
• 20 Describes new jobs created by green building: LEED professionals (exam certification), energy auditors, green landscaping, building waste recycling. Recommends standards and certifications for these positions.
• 24 PV Jobs, a non-profit organization providing job placement opportunities for disadvantaged youth and adults, utilizes worker center training and union apprenticeship programs to connect their applicants with jobs.
• 25 PV Jobs works with numerous community organizations and over 50 worker centers throughout Los Angeles to integrate potential employees with union trades working on one of the nine LACCD [LA Community College District LEED certified] campus construction projects. These organizations are responsible for marketing the PV Jobs program and are the first stop for interested applicants. Union trade jobs include: painters, carpenters, floor installers, laborers, plumbers, concrete masons, sheet metal workers, electricians, and tile setters. To qualify for PV Jobs, an applicant must show one of the following employment barriers: income below 50 percent of median; homeless; welfare recipient; unemployed; single parent; and past justice system involvement.
• The first step for an interested applicant is to attend a brief orientation, proving her/his commitment. Next, the applicant is placed in the program tract. The program tract provides applicants with training and connects them with a construction trades union. Through a union position, the applicant is guaranteed health benefits and prevailing wages. PV Jobs commits 3000 working hours to each employer. This means that PV Jobs conducts regular follow-ups to ensure that constituents are truly placed at paying jobs. The union tract often moves slowly, so PV Jobs frequently places people before they are accepted in a union. At these times they are not guaranteed prevailing jobs, and the construction jobs may not even be related to the College District. Contractors may even benefit from this program. PV Job candidates are often eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax that gives employers a tax credit of up to $250, on average, per employee.
• The biggest obstacle in the process, as expressed by two PV Jobs representatives, is placing dedicated and committed applicants with the available jobs. Construction jobs are labor intensive and team oriented. The PV Jobs program tract provides job orientation and training. However, applicants may not have the right mind set for such jobs. They need to realize that they are members of a working crew. It is not excusable if a person does not show up for work. Second, many applicants lack the basic math and English skills to enter the higher skill unions, such as electricians and plumbers. A representative from the IBEW Local 11 training center in Los Angeles echoed this same challenge. The most serious obstacle facing applicants for IBEW apprenticeship programs is the lack of basic math and English skills.
• 26 National IBEW partnered with Sharp, a PV manufacturer, and developed a Sharp PV installation certificate process for union members
• 27 Unions: The PV Jobs representative, who works closely with unions and their training centers, noted that the carpenters union has an extensive training program that includes green building principles. The laborers union may feature green building elements in its construction simulation work station site. Other construction trades to consider working with for a Green Jobs Campaign are the pipetrades, finishers, and plumbers.

UCLA 2006 Economic Development Potential of the Green Sector

http://www.greenforall.org/resources/ucla-policy-brief.pdf

• Policy Brief written by Paul M. Ong (professor of urban planning and social welfare) and Rita Varisa Patraporn (graduate student?) of The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Has a more academic presentation and writing style than other reports.
• Heavy emphasis on competition and "first mover advantage" between different cities/regions of the US and between the US and abroad. e.g., "Although the odds of winning the inter-regional competition to grow the Green sector are unknown, taking the risk to implement the initiative is worthwhile because of the potential high pay off." (p.1)
• Acknowledge goal of managing growth in way that benefits disadvantaged populations.
• Recommendations aren't anything new:
• 1. Adoption of policies and programs by public agencies to promote economic development by “piggy backing” on current and projected local and regional induced demand for Green products and services. This enables the region to take advantage of locally induced demand.
• 2. Develop infrastructure and incentives for public and private investment to overcome the barriers to financing a Green sector.
• 3. Develop a “town-gown” network to promote the production, diffusion and adaptation of knowledge to ensure that a region has an edge in innovation.
• 4. Eliminate cumbersome city rules and regulations that hinder development of a Green sector; establish operating procedures that facilitate the expansion of Green firms; and promote the development of a Green industrial service park.
• 5. Match training to labor needs of the Green sector through the utilization of local community colleges and the Workforce Investment Act.
• 6. Maintain accountability by developing timely performance measurements and monitoring strategy, including outcomes for workers, firms and neighborhoods.
• 7. Establish an office to coordinate the proposed initiative and appoint a Green expert who is knowledgeable about environmental issues and economic development.
• 5 Rodino and Associates published report in 2002 on most active regions in environmental technology (LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, NY, Boston)
• 7 Emphasis on lower costs through economies of scale and agglomeration (clustering of related businesses in geographic space)
• Authors say they do not know the optimal size of the sector or the role of agglomeration, but they also do not define the "green sector"
• 9 Emphasis on assessing region's strengths and weaknesses, including current environmental regulations (as demand driver), strengths of existing firms and research institutions, capital markets, governance structure, skills mismatch,...
• 12 Importance of linking environmental policies to local economic development to meet new demand for services and goods (e.g., need trained workers for water and energy conservation, green building, etc).
• 14 Regarding job training: A systematic and consistent forum between community colleges, Workforce
• Investment Boards and firms needs to exist. Such a discussion would benefit the growth of the Green sector, as firms are able to fulfill their labor needs with an appropriately skilled and trained work force. This ensures a region’s lead as a place where a firm’s labor needs can be met uniquely and unlike anywhere else in the country. For example, Los Angeles Trade Technical College links its students with firms that construct the campus’ Green buildings. The College’s architecture program trains and places College students into jobs specifically for constructing campus Green buildings.20 In addition, the California State Employment Development Department currently has a solar training program. Simultaneously, there are proposals in the California state legislature (AB2617 Saldana) to support funding for this solar energy-training program.21 (p.14)
• Authors are thinking about LA, but recommendations and need to coordinate actions apply to everyone. Focus is definitely on economic development (become a winner instead of a loser) instead of environmental protection (in which a more collaborative approach would be called for). Mention the role of government as being simply a coordinator, but it is clear that government intervention needed in several areas to bring together all the components.
  

Overview of Federal Workforce Development Policies

http://www.greenforall.org/resources/workforce-alliance.pdf

• Great overview of 16 different federal programs that allocate funding to training activities, spread over a number of departments./
• 11 When Congress authorized WIA, it stipulated that these different types of service should be provided to clients in a particular sequence, with the expectation that program participants could be deemed eligible for the next, higher-cost form of service only if they had failed to secure employment after receiving the lower-cost services. This approach has dramatically decreased the amount of training provided under WIA relative to previous federal programs.
• 14 How training works under WIA: WIA requires that training services be provided primarily
• through vouchers, known as Individual Training Accounts (ITAs), rather than through the contract method used under JTPA to purchase services from training providers. WIA participants needing training are supposed to receive an ITA, which they can use to purchase services from any organization on their local WIB’s “Eligible Training Provider” (ETP) list.
• 18 In 2004, 48.5 percent of adult WIA exiters received training, compared to 76.3 percent of adults who participated in training during the last year of JTPA (PY99).
• Did not read whole document, but may be useful in talking about poor transitional assistance

Worldwatch report for UNEP - Green Jobs - 2007

Worldwatch. 2007. Green Jobs: Toward Sustainable Work in a Low-Carbon World (preliminary report). Prepared for the UNEP, ILO, ITUC Green Jobs Initiative. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Program. www.unep.org/civil_society/Publications/index.asp

• Final report is due out in April 2008. Skimmed this report - did not read many sections.
• Thorough (133pp.) synthesis of the info and studies out there on employment effects of RE, energy efficient building, transport, agriculture. Also details environmental problems that create need for green employment and potential barriers. Acknowledges that much useful data does not exist. Lots of stats; 44 pp. of citations.
• Executive summary of this report is slightly more detailed version of the UNEP Background Paper on Green Jobs cited above
• Notes underdevelopment of green jobs in developed world, with exceptions of China and Brazil (ethanol production?)
• “As the German government has done, governments should also commission in-depth modeling and econometric efforts to analyze not just direct green jobs but also those that are related in a more indirect manner” (p.xiii)
• Worldwide employment estimates for recycling (1.5 million)
• Not all “green” jobs are automatically good for workers – electronics recycling (xiv), bad conditions in biofuel growing/production and potential to push people off land (xv) Carbon capture and sequestration is capital intensive; jobs/$million expected to be low (xvi-xvii) “
• As the Stern Review notes, real levels of R&D in low-carbon technologies have actually fallen sharply in recent decades” (xxvii)
• Problems with clean development mechanism (CDM) include skewed allocation of development projects (toward China, away from Lat Am and Africa); costs of certification around 14-22% of value of selling carbon credits from project; piecemeal approach of companies looking for cheap carbon credits (p.xxix)
• Skilled green jobs: “At the cutting edge of technology development for wind turbine or solar PV design, for instance, specialization has progressed to the point where universities need to consider offering entirely new study fields and majors” (p.xxx)
• Not all green jobs easy to recognize or count: “For instance, a particular piece of specialty steel may be used to manufacture a wind turbine tower without the steel company employees necessarily being aware of that fact” (p.8)
• Research on “rebound effect” – extent to which improved efficiency results in increased use (e.g., in cars, AC use, etc.) (p.9)
• Discusses need to move business focus from increasing labor productivity to increasing energy and materials productivity (p.12-13)
• Potential contradiction between renewables as a global source of jobs and renewables as part of national competitive economic strategies – e.g., desire to maintain export market stands in the way of technology transfer (p.60)

3 Mar 2008

TODAY

• Continued compiling resources/taking notes on GCJs. Didn't get through a whole lot - Pinderhughes, UNEP/Worldwatch, ASES, CIPHER/SCOPE.
  
• Skimmed the Workforce Alliance report on federal workforce development programs/funding. Good report! Not sure if it will be useful.
  
• Am getting away a bit from the "case study" task - the UNEP and ASES reports are about more macro-level job creation - numbers, rather than specific green collar job case studies.
• Still, the idea of case studies of GCJs is a bit ambiguous. Includes descriptions of jobs in green industries? Probably want case studies of Green Collar Job programs, which are likely to be training programs to put disadvantaged individuals into "green" industry jobs. Examples of these are few and will probably be covered in upcoming Apollo Alliance report. Do more in depth study of them? Or do "green collar jobs" case studies mean something different?

TOMORROW

• Take notes on the UCLA policy brief (p.16) - remember to include CA state solar training program (still exists?)
  
• Other WIA training programs that focus on green jobs?
  
• Write up memo for Bob - maybe a synthesis of what I know plus companion documents with the case study blurbs and annotated bibliography.

House bill - increase taxes for big oil and renew PTCs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022702635.html?hpid=topnews

• would rescind a tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the revenue to boost incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency
• Heads to senate: "fourth time in the past year that Democrats have tried to get the package adopted."
• Supporters of the measure noted that rescinded tax breaks would amount to less than 2 percent of the profits of the five biggest oil companies. Even if the companies were to pass along that entire cost to gasoline consumers, it would amount to about a penny a gallon.
• Republicans mostly supported the bill's renewable energy provisions, worth about $8 billion.
• But at the heart of the floor debate was a provision to exclude oil and gas companies from a tax break given to U.S. manufacturers in 2004. Two years earlier, Congress had given a subsidy to manufacturers -- not including the oil industry. When the World Trade Organization ruled that the subsidy was a violation of trade accords, Congress instead came up with a provision that effectively lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 32 percent over a number of years. In addition to the traditional manufacturers that would have received the earlier subsidy, the new tax break was extended to Hollywood studios, architectural and engineering firms, and oil and gas companies.
• RENEWABLES PROVISIONs
• To spur renewable energy, the bill would extend the production tax credit, now 2 cents a kilowatt hour, for wind for three years; after 2009, tax credits would not be able to exceed 35 percent of the value of a wind project.
• The 30 percent investment tax credit for solar projects would be extended eight years for commercial customers and six years for residential customers. The current maximum credit for homeowners would be doubled to $4,000.
• The legislation would also channel $2 billion into clean renewable energy bonds, which would help finance renewable energy investments by the country's politically powerful rural electric cooperatives. The bill would also expand tax credits for the installation of pumps for motor fuel with 85 percent ethanol and for purchases of plug-in hybrid vehicles.