'Green collar' jobs seen as prosperous

An energy bill President Bush signed last year left out tax breaks for clean energy industries. The White House said it needs to focus on programs that expire this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The bill does authorize $125 million for green-collar job training programs, but the industry says that isn't enough.

The tax credits also are not part of a House passed economic stimulus package endorsed by the White House, although the Senate has included the extensions in its version of the bill expected to come up for a vote next week.

Without prompt action, renewable industry experts say next year's market growth likely won't look so good. According to the wind association, when previous tax credits expired in 2004, the amount of wind capacity installed fell by 77 percent.

The federal government must not only extend the tax credits, but provide more money for training workers, said George Sterzinger, executive director of the Washington-based Renewable Energy Policy Project.

If not, manufacturing will go overseas and the jobs will be lost, he said. It makes no sense, he added, to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil only to become dependent on other countries for products in sustainable energy production.

"You look at a wind turbine. It's got a whole bunch of parts. Somebody makes the blades, somebody makes the tower, somebody makes the gear boxes, the electronic controls," Sterzinger said. "Those parts can come from China, India — or from Buffalo."

The wind energy industry currently employs about 45,000 people in the U.S. and had $9 billion worth of investment last year, a 45 percent increase from 2006, Swisher said.

"Given that growth, we're already seeing constraints in terms of workers," he said.

Swisher estimates that by 2030, nearly a half-million new jobs could be created in the wind industry, in manufacturing, construction and operation.

The solar industry, too, is growing. Last year set a record with 314 megawatts of new solar capacity installed in the U.S., said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. That's enough to power about 80,000 homes, he said.

The market was worth just about $200 million five years ago. Last year, it topped $2 billion, Resch said.

"These are jobs that are really the backbone of the economy, jobs like roofers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers," he said. "But the federal government is completely asleep at the switch here."

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