Obama won!
That’s potentially great news for the renewable energy industry.
Throughout his long campaign Obama continually voiced his support for solar power and other types of renewable energy as a way for the US to achieve energy independence and to spur an economic revival that can overcome our current financial woes. Now the President-Elect can make good on that pledge.
In the waning days of the campaign, Obama repeatedly emphasized his dual messages of hope and change. In his 30-minute infomercial on Wednesday, October 29 and in his Saturday, November 1 radio address Obama assured his audience that his policies will “point the way to a better future, starting with energy independence.”
Here’s Obama’s pledge as he stated in his Saturday radio address, “We’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced, and help end our dependence on foreign oil.” Obama has named it, his “Apollo project” and told Time magazine reporter Joe Klein, it is his “number one priority.”
Now Obama is on the line to put his Apollo Project into practice.
No one, including Obama, says it will be easy. Obama also reminds audiences that, “we face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” And in his eloquent acceptance speech Obama reiterated the challenge, “we know that the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”
The $15 billion a year investment Obama proposes to enact over the next ten years for the renewable energy sector, includes solar, wind, and biofuels. Obama doesn’t specify the proportion of funds that go to each fuel source, but it’s a far more specific plan than John McCain proposed during his campaign.
In previous speeches Obama talked to supporters about how the US can use the renewable energy industry to grow manufacturing jobs and business, particularly in the “Rust Belt” where the manufacturing sector has suffered from competition abroad.
Perhaps, Obama’s Apollo Project will ultimately look similar to the revitalization of Newton, Iowa. Newton is the town the New York Times featured in its Business section on Sunday, November 2. Newton was once home to the appliance giant Maytag. Now it is home to TPI Composites, a manufacturer of giant wind turbine blades. In its winning bid, TPI promised to create 500 jobs by 2010. The company has already hired 225 and is on track to meet its promise.
Wind turbines are huge and heavy. That makes them particularly costly to export. Thus when Obama and others talk about “green jobs” they are in part talking about jobs like those available from TPI. It’s unlikely wind turbine blades manufactured in Denmark or other parts of the world can compete against blades might right here on the continent when you add in travel costs. (Newton, Iowa won out over other locations TPI Composite considered because it is right along the rail line and Interstate 80.)
The Times article also features Toledo, Ohio where a glass manufacturing plants that makes car windshields now also uses those skills for solar power components. The nearby University of Toledo supports a faculty of 15 researchers devoted to developing solar-related initiatives.
Transportation and hefty equipment are not the only factors that will inject the country with a healthy demand for new jobs. A newly trained work force will be required on how best to install and operate the alternative energy systems.
And despite the sagging economy, demand for renewable energy systems will likely continue. The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, a non-profit group dedicated to the advancement of renewable energy technologies, published its Solar Market Trends report in August 2008 before the federal tax credits were formally extended and the financial meltdown occurred. The IREC report concluded that the prospects for the solar industry looked bright, particularly if the federal government extended the tax credits. From 2006 to 2007, installations of solar photovoltaic and solar hot water (including pool) systems had mushroomed by 48 percent. Early market data indicated that the market was continuing at its robust pace, in part due to increased energy prices.
True the market imploded. Also true the tax credits passed. No doubt Obama will have his work cut out for him as he begins to develop strategy to overcome this economic thicket, but rays of sunlight appear in his favor. Another recent report published by the US Council of Mayors and Global Insight, an economic research firm, predicts that “green industry” will potentially become the nation’s fastest growing job segment, accounting for “roughly 10 percent of the new jobs over the next 20 years.” (A Forbes article summarizes the report.)
Obama has stated again and again we “can point the way to a better future, starting with energy independence.” He may just be right.
Obama’s decisive victory means the majority of Americans believe him. Hopefully Obama can capitalize on this sense of renewed optimism and spirit and fulfill the intentions of the mantra he introduced oh-so-many months ago, “Yes We Can!”
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