.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
A rally on the state Capitol steps calling for 2 million new green jobs through investment in renewable fuels. Barack Obama’s call for 5 million new green-collar jobs in his campaign speeches. Wind manufactureres moving into the former Maytag Corp. plant in Newton.

These are all signs of increased attention on a new buzzword: “green jobs.”

Especially in an election year, supporters have been ramping up efforts to support environmentally friendly initiatives that they claim would create a new green work force focused on jobs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However the call for 5 million new green jobs raises some questions as to what constitutes a “green job” and how the nation would reach that level.

In 2006, the United States had around 750,000 green jobs, or less than one-half of 1 percent of total jobs, according to an October 2008 report created by Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Mayors Climate Protection Center. However, the report estimates that with growth in renewable power generation, residential and commercial retrofitting, renewable transportation fuels, and engineering, legal, research and consulting jobs to support these emerging fields, that number could grow to 4.2 million over the next 30 years.

These figures are based on a definition that a green job is one that is devoted to a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, an increase in energy efficiency and a curtailment of greenhouse gas emissions.

Mike Tramontina, director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED), said his department is still trying to pin down exactly what counts as a green job, but it currently uses the definition of a “job that produces a product or a process that replaces carbon or a fossil fuel-based product or process.”

The IDED is focused on the development of a green work force in Iowa, especially because the innovation and development of biofuels and wind energy, a field in which Iowa is a leader, fits with the state’s overall goal to advance biosciences, information technologies and advanced manufacturing.

It also has the potential to boost Iowa’s economy, supporters say.

“If you look at what’s happening economically in the country,” said Andrew Snow, campaign director of Iowa Global Warming, a campaign to raise awareness for global warming issues in Iowa, “even in the state right now, we have a rising unemployment rate. The fact of the matter is, what are we going to do to create jobs? What are we going to do to drive innovation? How are we going to put ourselves on top again? And the answer is going to be clean energy.”

Skepticism

Iowa State University economist David Swenson believes the energy behind the call for 5 million new green jobs is politically driven, and that more research needs to be done to clarify what a green job is.

“It becomes a nice-sounding piece of political and social rhetoric that oftentimes gets folded up with pie-in-the-sky promises from environmental groups and other kinds of industry groups about a brave new energy world, but with precious little evidence,” he said.

Iowa’s greatest potential to contribute to a green economy is through the development of biofuels and wind energy, Swenson said, but he questions whether biofuels can even be labeled green at this point, with studies that show ethanol production has actually caused more carbon to be released into the atmosphere as more land has been put into production to meet greater demand for corn. Meanwhile, green job growth, such as in advanced biofuels, is dependent on technology that hasn’t been created yet.

“We haven’t gotten the technology off the ground, and before the technology, it’s not possible to know how much the economy will react,” Swenson said, “and before the economy reacts, there’s no way of knowing how many jobs.”

Plus, Swenson points out, newer technology tends to replace the existing labor pool with fewer jobs, rather than adding to the job stock.

Tramontina argues, “Iowa in the last five years has added manufacturing jobs and this is one of the reasons for that, not just wind but biofuels.”

Well-positioned

Tramontina believes Iowa is well-positioned to be a leader in a new green economy with its growth in renewable energy and fuels. Wind-generated electricity has been a particularly strong sector, with Iowa ranking third in the nation for current wind generation.

Though the Dakotas are better situated for wind-energy generation, and some scientists have claimed that the southern part of the United States may be more suitable to provide the biomass needed in advanced renewable fuel production, Tramontina said Iowa is laying the groundwork now to keep a stronghold in these areas in the future. It has recently attracted several manufacturers that are making parts used in wind-energy generation installations in the rest of the Midwest and will be one of the first states to have a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. This growth has been encouraged by incentives already in place, as well as the recently created Iowa Power Fund.

Interest in a green work force also is growing as several advocates strove to raise awareness for environmental issues during the election year, especially in the political battleground state of Iowa. 1Sky organized more than 600 rallies across the nation, including Des Moines, in September to draw attention to its goal of federal action by 2010 to reverse global warming. Part of this overall goal is to create 5 million new green jobs. Anjuli Kronheim, who organized the 1Sky rally in Des Moines, said she has about 200 allies in Iowa, including the United Steelworkers of America, PowerFilm Inc. and several architecture firms.

Iowa Global Warming advocates the creation of a federal cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions and supports the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council’s efforts to draft new proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of which could be introduced in Iowa’s 2009 legislative session, among other initiatives.

Green growth drivers

Supporters of green-job creation agree that legislation is key for driving job growth. A cap-and-trade system would lead to innovation as companies are forced to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

“We expect during ’09 a momentum on the federal level,” Tramontina said, “and when that happens, it will dramatically affect wind and everything renewable and will really spur growth in the bioeconomy.”

Just changing Iowa’s energy code has the potential to create new jobs as people retrofit buildings and install more energy-efficient systems to meet higher standards, Snow said.

But Swenson cautions against placing too much emphasis on tax credits to drive this new economy. The development of the biofuels and wind-energy industries “is incredibly dependent on federal mandates and credits, and that’s a tenuous position to be in,” he said, “What it means is industries aren’t currently competitive based on economic principles.”

Education could also be a focus for change, because companies need people trained in new areas of manufacturing and construction. Though Iowa has started to develop these training programs, such as Iowa Lakes Community College’s program to train wind turbine technicians, many companies currently have their own extensive training programs, Kronheim said.

But the main focus in all these campaigns is on immediate legislation.

“The new president-elect needs to get something done in the first 100 days of office,” Kronheim said. “So we can really move on this as quickly as possible, because the (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report says we really can’t wait on this issue any longer, and clearly the economy can’t wait.”