The future of employment in Georgia may be greener

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia could create 50,000 "green” jobs by 2016 and ride an environmentally friendly wave to a cleaner, more prosperous future, according to a thought-provoking report by the Georgia Department of Labor.

While health care and education are expected to account for most new jobs, the green industry could generate 8 percent of an expected 620,000 additional jobs in that period, the report says.

New  jobs are likely to cross all educational and professional strata: from truck drivers to software engineers, welders to nuclear scientists. Most will pay above-average wages. And Georgia’s economy could be significantly transformed -- if the Labor Department's  projections come true.

No one can say how many green jobs there are in the state today.

Unmistakably, though, the green revolution grows across Georgia. The state received, for example, $125 million in March 2009 from Washington to insulate homes. As of March 31, 281 weatherization jobs had been created, according to the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.

An even greener future, though, faces numerous potential roadblocks. Washington – the intellectual and financial catalyst for the burgeoning green industry – could change course and curtail investments in renewable energy and other pollution-reduction programs.

Georgia could inhibit green-job growth if it doesn't keep up with neighboring states and offer juicier enticements such as tax breaks, incentives and renewable-energy mandates to help grow an indigenous green industry.

“We’re seeing a dramatic change in the marketplace, so we’re going to see a lot of jobs in the clean-energy sector,” said Dennis Creech, executive director of the Southface Energy Institute, an Atlanta nonprofit that promotes energy efficiency. “But we’ll have a lot of serious problems if the United States is not the worldwide leader in clean-energy technology. Think of how much money we export every year for energy. Think of the implications for our economy and national security.”

Over the next decade, President Barack Obama wants to spend $150 billion on sun, wind and other renewable energy sources, as well as to further conserve energy already in use. He has raised fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks and proposes subsidizing more consumers who buy gas-electric hybrids. One million homes annually would be weatherized. The nation’s electric grid would be modernized, made more efficient. Clean-energy companies would receive tax credits and loan guarantees.

“Everybody should be more conscious of the energy they’re using now and save it,” said Cartersville’s Scott Burnett, who was learning to caulk and apply flashing to a mock-up attic last week at Southface. “If everyone did this, who knows how many power plants we could shut down?”

If the Labor Department prediction holds, 1 in 100 Georgia jobs in 2016 will be green.

But what, exactly, is a “green” job? The federal government defines them as “reducing the use of fossil fuels, decreasing pollution and green house gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency, recycling and renewables.”

State officials don’t how many such jobs exist in Georgia today. And many of the to-be-created jobs already here, albeit in different occupational guises. Today’s construction worker, for example, could be tomorrow’s energy-efficient home builder.

“Obviously the issue today is how can we create or stimulate the creation of new jobs, particularly in the private sector,” said Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “The so-called green economy offers great potential for economic growth. (And) the great majority of the jobs would be good-paying ones that require a specific set of skills.”

Thurmond’s report lists construction and manufacturing – weatherizers, power-line installers, building inspectors, welders -- atop the green job pyramid. College graduates should also benefit. Software engineers (600 new jobs annually), industrial engineers (300 jobs), operations managers with advanced degrees (2,500 jobs) and sales reps (600 jobs) could also find jobs.

Georgia’s burgeoning green economy spreads from the high-tech factories in north Georgia through the research labs at UGA and Georgia Tech to the pine forests of south Georgia.

Suniva, in Norcross, is one of the nation’s most-successful solar cells makers. It employs 150 engineers,technicians and others and continues to add production lines.

GE Energy in Cobb County announced this month the opening of a “smart grid” (i.e., energy efficient transmission of electricity) technology center that will employ 400 people.

And a handful of factories across south Georgia turn pine trees into wood pellets for Europe. Another half-dozen have been announced. In all, the biomass factories account for $1.8 billion in investment and 570 jobs, according to the state.

“We’ve a wonderful opportunity to help some of the people who’ve lost their jobs because of the downturn in housing and the paper and pulp industries,” said Jill Stuckey, director of the state’s Center of Innovation for Energy. “We’re really just starting to see the jobs develop.”

Georgia’s forested topography wouldn’t appeal so much to Europe without the European Union’s renewable-energy mandates for reduction in greenhouse gases caused by coal. The United States, Georgia in particular, doesn’t typically require utilities to manufacture electricity via more environmentally friendly methods.

“Unfortunately here in Georgia we still send the wrong signal to the marketplace because our utilities are penalized for energy efficiency,” Southface’s Creech said. “They get a guaranteed rate of return on how much energy they sell or how much infrastructure they build. They don’t get near the rate of return on (conserving) energy.”

Georgia Power, until recently, had long fought the inclusion of solar power into its energy portfolio, claiming the Southeast isn’t sunny enough. But studies show that only the desert Southwest has more solar potential than the Southeast, south Georgia in particular.

Creech and Suniva’s Bryan Ashley tout North Carolina and Florida as states more friendly to alternative energy than Georgia. North Carolina, for example, will require by 2021 that up to 12.5 percent of the electricity sold come from renewable energy. It also has a bevy of tax breaks and incentives to grow its alternative energy industry.

Mandates translate into jobs, too. Ashley said Florida can expect 23,000 solar-related jobs by 2016; North Carolina could have 12,000.

“Certainly there’s great potential in Georgia for the manufacture, installation and servicing of solar systems, and I’d love to be a part of it,” Ashley, the Suniva vice president, said. “But right now I’m spending my time where the business is.”