OHIO’S CLEAN-TECH AMBITION

If Ohio's ambitions are realized, it would be a return of America's energy center to the region where it was at the beginning of the oil era.

Ohio seeks limelight as corridor of energy innovation
Julie Carr Smyth, April 1, 2007 (AP via Coshocton Tribune)

WHO
Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat Governor Ted Strickland and Republican House Speaker Jon Husted, on behalf of their state of Ohio

WHAT
State leaders have taken a step tward fulfilling campaign promises to make Ohio "the Silicon Valley of alternative energy." Republican House Speaker Jon Husted took the initative to create an alternative energy committee in the state legislature and gave the chairmanship to Rep. Jim McGregor, who supports developing Ohio’s independence from traditional energy sources.


WHEN
Presently developing.

WHERE
Throughout the state.

WHY
North Carolina's Research Triangle has brought new investment and energy to the state. 21 states, but not Ohio, have government mandated goals for alternative energy use.
A test turbine has, over two years, helped show that Ohio's wind potential is greater than that of Germany, where wind is an important element of the energy mix. Wind developers from Germany, Spain and elsewhere are coming to Ohio, anxious to place turbines.

QUOTES
- "People are really concerned about everything from high gas prices, home heating prices, the war in Iraq, global warming," said Erin Bowser, director of the advocacy group Environment Ohio. "All of these energy related issues are bubbling up such that energy really is becoming a top priority issue."

- "You have people from (U.S. Rep.) Marcy Kaptur in Toledo to Sherrod Brown in Cleveland all using this phrase and claiming that they coined it, but one of the reasons we can be the Silicon Valley is because of our manufacturing base," [Environment Ohio's Amy] Gomberg said. "That positions us differently than Minnesota or Colorado or New Mexico."
- A study by The Renewable Energy Project found that if there is a national investment in wind power - which experts believe will happen soon - Ohio has the chance to gain 22,000 new manufacturing jobs. The 13,000 of those jobs associated with wind power is the largest potential job gain from the industry of any state besides California.
The gain pales in comparison to Ohio's manufacturing job losses - 234,000 since early 1998, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics - but advocates emphasize the additional benefits it could mean in environmental health, reduced dependency on fossil fuels, and efficient land use.