Although our new President is rumored to have awesome
super powers, it’s unlikely that even Barack Obama will be able to swoop down on his
flying unicorn and rescue the economy by hiring millions of unemployed auto workers to slap solar panels up on everyone’s roof. Nevertheless, the widespread use of sustainable technologies to update both our industries and our infrastructure can play an important role in getting the economy out of the deep ditch that we managed to drive it into.
But, in order for sustainable technologies and the green jobs they create to play a meaningful role in re-inventing the industries that are the foundations of our wealth, we need to take a fresh look at the relationship between our society, our economy, and the ecosystem upon which they both depend. It’s impossible to write a prescription to heal a $13 trillion economy in the few hundred words provided here (even if I was an economist), but there is a relatively short list of first-order issues that would go a long way towards designing a national green-tech policy that works.
- Gradually reduce the huge direct and hidden subsidies that have kept fossil fuels relatively inexpensive and made it more difficult for renewable energy sources to compete in a free market. Structure fuel taxes so that they factor in the environmental and social costs of fossil fuels, including the high political price we pay for relying on imported energy.
- Apply a careful mix of push (pollution regulations, efficiency standards, etc…), pull (market creation, short-term subsidies, and strategic government investments), and friction-reducing (develop a national smart grid, require grid access for renewable energy sources) measures to help kick start the key industries we’ll need to move the country towards a sustainable economy.
- Use a smarter, broader definition of what, exactly a green job is. Although there is a huge emerging market for wind, solar and biomass systems, it’s likely that it will be dwarfed by the industries built on technologies that help improve the efficiency of our transportation, building, lighting and communication systems. The so-called invisible green jobs that these industries create will be one of the key building blocks of a vibrant, sustainable economy.
Since I’m neither an economist nor a politician, I’d like to leave the first two items in their capable hands and use the remainder of this Editorial to take a quick look at the kinds of opportunities this wider definition of green jobs opens up.
Transportation: Whether it’s building the energy management and battery systems that will power the next generation of hybrid/PHEV/EV vehicles and ultra-efficient trucks, re-building our aging rail infrastructure, or developing innovative systems that add intelligence to our congested urban roadways, energy-efficient transportation could be a major source of jobs in a green economy. And that’s not even counting the potentially disruptive improvements that radical companies like
Better Place or
Bright Automotive might be able to make to our transportation industry.
Residential and Commercial Buildings: It’s now reasonable to expect that we can cut the energy consumption of existing structures by 40% or more with relatively straightforward retrofits of their insulation, glazing, heating, cooling, and lighting systems. Cypress Envirosystems’ recently-announced wireless building control retrofit system (reviewed
here October 2008) is only one example of the kinds of energy- and climate-saving products that are now hitting the market. With payback periods for most of these improvements in the range of 18 months to 3 years, it would not take much to create a booming market for tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment and services. New structures represent an even bigger opportunity to save energy, save money, and create lots of new jobs. When designed with energy efficiency in mind homes offices and industrial buildings can deliver better comfort than conventional structures while consuming 60% - 75% less electricity and fuel. Equally important, newly-developed green building materials such as
low-energy drywall,
low-carbon concrete, and environmentally-friendly window and flooring
systems will become increasingly important players in the mainstream construction industry.
Lighting Systems: Energy-efficient lighting systems will be another major growth sector and source of jobs because they simply make sense. Solid-state lights are making rapid improvements in both efficiency and the quality of light they produce, putting them on schedule to begin displacing incandescent and fluorescent systems within the next 2 - 3 years. Between the energy savings and reduced maintenance they offer, even the early premium-priced solid-state lights offer a lower lifetime cost than their low-tech counterparts. This and the built-in distributed HVAC control, security, and fire detection capabilities that come almost free with today’s smart lighting systems will make them a must-have for any home or office while creating lots of jobs in the process. We’ll save the huge market that’s emerging for ultra-efficient street lights and outdoor lighting for another column.
Computing and Communication: Whether it’s the growing demand for EnergyStar-rated computers or the emerging standards for energy-efficient data centers being developed by the
Green Grid Consortium, energy conservation is now an integral part of the computing and communication industry’s business equation. The lowest hanging fruit here are the many opportunity for anyone supplying components that go into the servers, routers, and other equipment that lurk in data centers and Internet exchanges.
A bit over five years ago, I advised several major semiconductor companies that they had to start getting ready to support these emerging markets (as well as several other opportunities I’ll share with you some other time). The few companies that actually listened have done quite well for themselves and should ride out this painful economic downturn with considerably less bruising than those that did not.
Comments? Questions? Other sources for invisible green jobs you’d like to share? Write me at
lhg at EN-genius dot net or post your comments on our blog!
