Alliance Research Weekly - Blowing gusts of wind, MI and NJ tackle unemployment, Hawaii makes the switch

October 29th, 2008 | Posted by WeCanSolveIt

Things in the financial world have looked far from promising lately.  The national unemployment rate hit 6.1% in September, and the stock market continues to yo-yo as investors remain skittish about our economic future.

An answer is blowing in the wind

But, despite this gloomy news, the U.S. wind industry looks like a bright spot in our economy:

“With a projected total of about 7,500-megawatts of new wind energy developments this year, the industry is on track for a fourth consecutive year of record growth in 2008.  This year alone eight new wind turbine component manufacturing facilities have opened, nine have expanded, and nineteen more were announced.  These new facilities will create 9,000 new jobs.”

To help keep the turbines spinning, Clipper Windpower Plc and BP Wind Energy entered a joint venture to build the world’s largest turbine farm in South Dakota:

“The Titan Wind Project will include 2,000 wind turbines installed across 500,000 acres, with a total electric generating capacity of 5,050-megawatts – enough to power over one million homes.  When the project is completed in five-to-ten years, it is expected to be the world’s largest wind farm.”

A few policymakers are also catching the green wave of ingenuity by implementing programs to stimulate employment within their states.  Michigan, which recently adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), will benefit from the New Apollo Program:

“U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D), along with the Apollo Alliance, unveiled a 10-year, $500 billion plan to create five million green jobs nationally.  The program calls for spending on: retooling factories to build renewable energy systems and alternative-fuel vehicles, producing a quarter of the nation’s power from renewable sources, doubling U.S. investment in clean energy R&D, and investing in green jobs training.  The coalition hopes the next administration will help implement the plan.”

And New Jersey’s Governor just revealed his ‘energy master plan’ in the midst of the state’s budget crisis:

“NJ Gov. Corzine plans to employ 1,500 to 2,000 people over 6-12 months in new, clean energy businesses.  A revised energy master plan will include plans to cut energy demand by 20 percent by 2020, push through policies to support the creation of about 20,000 green-collar jobs by that year and increase spending of the $492 million the state has set aside for its clean energy program.”

Hawai'i makes the switch

Mainland states are not the only ones building new solutions for the county’s challenges.  Hawai’i is making the switch to smarter forms of power to meet its goal of producing 70 percent of the state’s total energy needs from renewable sources by 2030:

“Hawaiian Electric Co., the state’s largest utility, commits to put a moratorium on new coal plants, integrate up to 1,100-megawatts of renewable energy into the power grid, and convert existing fossil fuel generators to biofuels using locally grown crops.  Currently the state has one existing coal-fired plant and generates about three-quarters of its electricity from oil-fired plants.”

While travelers may be attracted to the tropical weather in Hawaii, environmental groups and scientists have a right to be concerned when global temperatures abnormally rise:

“According to NASA, seven of the eight warmest years on record globally have occurred since 2001.  Environmental groups and some international scientists have warned that emissions of carbon dioxide must drop 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 to head off the worst consequences of climate change.”

The consequences of the climate crisis are scary.  However, these bold steps taken by the wind industry, policymakers, and local jurisdictions are good signs we headed in the right direction.

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