HOW TO STOP THE OFFSHORING OF GREEN JOBS

Clean-Energy Jobs CAN Be Shipped Overseas (And What To Do About It)
Jesse Jenkins, June 17, 2010 (Clean Edge)

"Politicians talking about clean-energy jobs like to claim "they can't be shipped overseas." …[I]t's wrong…America is already exporting clean-energy jobs -- or seeing them created abroad in the first place…

"…After pioneering wind and solar power, electric cars, and nuclear plants, America turned its back on the public investments in cutting edge technology that catalyzed these innovations, forfeiting clean-tech industries to foreign countries who did not make the same mistakes. The cap and trade program at the heart of the climate bill authored by Rep. Markey may help create some (modest) new demand for clean-energy products, but it won't guarantee the jobs producing those products will be located here America. Conventional responses to today's competitiveness challenge won't cut it…"

Other countries understand what it takes. (click to enlarge)

"…70- 75 percent of the total labor required for a typical wind turbine or solar panel is 'upstream' of the installation and maintenance…mostly in manufacturing the various component parts…That's bad news for the U.S., which now lags behind competitors in Asia (and Europe) in the production of virtually all clean-energy technologies, from wind to nuclear power and from high-speed trains to plug-in hybrid cars and the advanced batteries that power them…

"…[I]n the last five years the U.S. trade deficit in renewable-energy goods has ballooned by 1,400 percent to $5.7 billion in 2009. Roughly 70 percent of the renewable-energy systems and components installed in America are now manufactured by workers overseas…[A]bout 50 percent of the components installed in American wind farms are manufactured abroad…[C]lean-tech scientists and researchers will be the next…Jobs in clean-energy research, innovation, and new product development-- traditional areas of U.S. leadership--are already on their way abroad as high tech giants and startups alike shift innovation activities to be close to vibrant clean-energy manufacturing centers and markets overseas…"

No cost to the taxpayer. Just a long-term goal. (click to enlarge)

"…[I]nsofar as our nation's politicians and pundits have even acknowledged America's clean-energy competitiveness challenges, they have, with a few exceptions, responded with conventional thinking, calling for carbon prices or tariffs or protectionist measures that will do little to restore America's competitiveness or create hundreds of thousands of U.S. clean-energy jobs…A carbon price could certainly help create demand for clean-tech products, but at the levels considered by Congress, such demand would be modest. More to the point: that demand could easily be satisfied by continuing to import foreign-built clean technologies…

"…[W]hat the United States needs to build a competitive clean-energy sector capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs across the clean-energy value chain is a comprehensive set of sustained public investments in clean-tech research and innovation, education and workforce training, advanced manufacturing, and market creation…[Smart investments on the cutting edge] is how America has always sparked the innovation and high- value manufacturing that creates long-term jobs and built enduring industries that have formed the foundation for generations of economic prosperity…If American policymakers want to create and retain new clean-energy jobs and industries, and aren't satisfied with simply 'capturing' the 25-30 percent of the value chain involved in retrofits, installations and maintenance, then we cannot afford to ignore this history any longer."