By Mark Wagner, VP – Government Relations, Johnson Controls
When he walked up to Barack Obama at a rally in Toledo, Ohio the other day, I’ll bet you the ranch that Joe Wurzelbacher had no idea what he was getting himself into. The news footage of that brief, but fateful, encounter has transformed Wurzelbacher from just another guy at a campaign stop into “Joe the Plumber,” and made him the subject of political ads, campaign speeches and news reporters around the world.
Will Joe actually influence the outcome of the election? Who knows? But here’s one thing that is clear: there are lots of other people out there who are going to make a big impact on the future of our economy, the use of energy and the security of our nation regardless of who wins the election.
They’re people like Sam, Lilly and John. And they’re the faces of the new green collar workforce.
Sam is a serviceman who maintains HVAC systems in buildings, correcting problems that waste energy. Lilly develops software that makes data centers more energy- and cost-efficient. And John is an engineer designing advanced battery systems for hybrid electric vehicles.
Two years ago, there were about 750,000 green collar workers like Sam, Lilly and John in the American workforce. Care to guess how many there’ll be in thirty years? Would you believe more than four million? One out of every ten new jobs will be green. That’s the current estimate.
A new study by the University of California concludes that “energy efficiency and innovation can pave the way to economic security and growth.” Those are two things we could use a little more of right now, don’t you think?
But as I said at a recent Capitol Hill briefing (http://www.eesi.org/102208_green_jobs), to get there we must have a coherent strategy. Not just individual programs, but a comprehensive strategy that takes a consistent and complimentary approach to increasing energy efficiency in buildings and vehicles. To begin with, how about:
- Legislation and regulation that mandates CO2 reductions, bakes energy efficiency into building codes, requires that appliances waste less energy and raises the bar on energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards
- Financing programs and tax incentives for energy efficiency initiatives, plus innovative leasing structures
- Training programs focused on preparing workers for careers in energy efficiency
- Greater access to energy usage data by utilities, and improved labeling standards for buildings
And unless we want to be left sitting at a stoplight while the rest of world races ahead, we must develop a sustainable manufacturing capability right here in America to produce the advanced batteries and other critical components for hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. To start with, that’ll mean:
- Laws and regulations that require energy efficiency gains and CO2 reductions in vehicles, maintain high CAFE standards and promote investments in R&D for next generation vehicles
- Incentives for manufacturers to make, and consumers to buy, hybrid vehicles, as well as investments in a domestic supply base for these vehicles and their components
- Greater emphasis on school programs that turn out more engineers and increase our overall competitiveness
- Technology standards for hybrid battery systems and other vehicle components
If government, industry and educational institutions can work together to make the right investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, we can tackle some of our greatest challenges: the financial crisis, energy security and climate change.
And regardless of the name of your plumber or serviceman, that’s a platform all Americans must get behind.
