Greener Pathways: Three Key Industries and Their Jobs Defining Efficiency Energy efficiency typically refers to reductions in energy demand by, say, insulating houses or developing cars that get more miles per gallon. Such measures raise the ratio of benefit to cost—economic or environmental. Defined this way, energy efficiency is distinct from two related terms: Energy conservation. Like efficiency, conservation relates to the demand side, but conserving energy simply means using less. Turning down the heat in a house during the winter is a conservation measure, while installing a furnace that produces more heat per unit of fuel is an efficiency measure. Green generation. Shifts from conventional (e.g., coal and oil) to renewable (e.g., wind and solar) supplyside measures are generally considered separately from energy efficiency, which is demand-related. Analysts are increasingly calling for policies that exploit the synergies between renewables and efficiency, rather than pursuing them along separate tracks.23 Green building refers to a structure that is generally environmentally friendly in a variety of ways, including its use of energy. In the United States, the bestknown standards for assessing whether a building is green are called LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Established by the nonprofit U.S. Green Buildings Council, LEED standards cover both new construction and existing buildings, and residential, office, retail, school, and healthcare uses. LEED standards address energy use along with a host of other qualities, including the toxicity of building materials, bike/pedestrian access, and stormwater controls.
This section investigates the potential for living-wage jobs in three clean energy sectors: efficiency, wind and biofuels. We offer these emerging industries as instructive snapshots from the vast landscape of the new energy economy. Each has been the focus of state and federal policy—and politics. Energy efficiency has been described as the “first fuel,” and may be the fastest, cheapest way to address global warming. We look at building retrofits, one sector in a broader field that includes residential and commercial efficiency retrofits, green building, and green manufacturing. In the related realm of renewable energy, we chose wind, but could easily have looked at another waking giant—solar—as well as smaller but potentially significant players like geothermal and biomass. Another critical clean energy sector is alternative fuels and transportation. Evidence mounts that biofuels, at least in their current state, are not particularly good for either the environment or the job market.21 Yet the industry has taken root, and is growing rapidly. And because economic developers, particularly but not exclusively in Midwest, have made such strong claims for the bioeconomy as an engine of regional economic prosperity, biofuels merit a closer look. For each industry, we offer an industry overview; a survey of economic development and key state policy levers; a review of employment and training prospects; and a detailed case study. Each study makes clear that the green economy can create many decent middle-skill jobs. Just how many depends on the scale and terms of future investment, both public and private. And for workers entering those jobs, the route out of poverty and into career advancement will be a greener pathway that modernizes training in traditional occupations.
Energy Efficiency Overview Substantially reducing waste of energy through systematic retrofitting and upgrading of residential and commercial buildings is a key area where environmental and equity agendas can come together to create good jobs. The work requires a multi-skilled, local workforce that cannot be outsourced, and it feeds a building-materials industry that is still largely domestic. Retrofitting existing buildings for improved efficiency is already a substantial economic activity. In the U.S. “MUSH” sector—municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals—energy service companies performed $12 billion to $16 billion in retrofit work between 1990 and 2003.22 But there are many more buildings that could benefit from retrofits. And building owners will take advantage of the economic benefits of efficiency improvements, without special subsidies, if well-designed policies can make efficiency a readily available commodity. Any activity that involves energy, from industrial processes to traffic control by stoplights, can benefit from efficiency improvements. We focus here on building energy because of its magnitude— buildings account for some 40 percent of U.S. energy use—and its potential to create green jobs. The United States’ building stock varies widely, with every home and commercial structure representing a unique combination of building shell and energy systems. And this stock evolves continuously in ways that affect energy use. Between 1978 and 1993, for example, the number of U.S. homes with air
