Apollo Releases Report on Indiana’s Clean Energy Job Creation Potential
This week, the Apollo Alliance released a report about the potential for clean energy job creation in Indiana. The report, How to Keep Creating Clean Energy Jobs in Indiana, found that Indiana missed out on 117,000 jobs when the U.S. Senate failed to pass clean energy and climate legislation this summer.
“The job-creation potential of clean energy and climate policies is impressive,” said Matt Mayrl, policy director at the Apollo Alliance and one of the report’s authors. “With Indiana still suffering from a 10.1 percent unemployment rate, the state’s businesses, workers and stagnant economy cannot afford another year without strong national clean energy and climate policies.”
The report analyzed the employment impact of several key federal clean energy and climate policies, including a clean energy manufacturing loan program along the lines of the IMPACT Act; a strong renewable energy standard of 25 percent by 2025; investments in advanced vehicle manufacturing paired with stronger vehicle energy efficiency standards; and a cap on carbon emissions combined with key energy efficiency provisions. It found that these combined policies could create up to 117,000 jobs in Indiana by 2030—many of them in the manufacturing sector.
“If the U.S. Senate does not make another attempt to pass clean energy and climate policies when it returns to session in September, Indiana will miss out on an historic opportunity to put tens of thousands of Hoosiers back to work in a new generation of quality clean energy jobs,” said Andrea Alderson-Bazemore, the coordinator of the Indiana Apollo Alliance.
Click here to read the report.
Photo credit: Allison Transmission.
What’s new across the country?
Oil Hasn’t Vanished from the Gulf of Mexico
Following on the heels of recent optimistic reports about the disappearance of the majority of the oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico throughout this spring and summer, three new analyses call those rosy estimates into question. “The idea that 75 percent of the oil is gone and is of no further concern to the environment is just absolutely incorrect,” said Charles Hopkins of the University of Georgia, one of the study’s authors.
The University of Georgia study found that after accounting for oil that has been skimmed, burned, evaporated and degraded, the oil remaining at or below the surface is between 70 and 79 percent, or between 2.9 and 3.2 million barrels. Meanwhile, University of South Florida Marine scientists have discovered oil in sediments in a vital underwater canyon and observed evidence that the oil has become toxic to marine organisms. And scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have discovered a 22-mile long oil plume more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, which “could stick around for quite a while” said study co-author Ben Van Mooy.
President Obama Touts Clean Energy Manufacturing
On Monday, President Obama visited Wisconsin manufacturer ZBB Energy Corporation to talk about the potential for clean energy production to revitalize American manufacturing. ZBB Energy manufactures advanced zinc bromide flow batteries and intelligent control platforms, key components of a smart energy grid and successful U.S. electric vehicle industry.
“What we’ve been trying to do — and that’s why I’m here at ZBB — is to jumpstart a homegrown, clean energy industry –- building on the good work of your governor and others in this state,” said President Obama.
“We expect our commitment to clean energy to lead to more than 800,000 jobs by 2012. And that’s not just creating work in the short term, that’s going to help lay the foundation for lasting economic growth. I just want everybody to understand –just a few years ago, American businesses could only make 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles — 2 percent. In just a few years, we’ll have up to 40 percent of the world’s capacity.”
Click here to read the President’s remarks or here to watch them on video.
On Wednesday, the President expressed a similar message during a visit to Toledo.
In other news …
*Check out our latest clean energy success stories. We have new signature stories about Allison Transmission, which is creating union jobs in Indianapolis in hybrid truck manufacturing, and Abound Solar, which plans to open the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the United States in Tipton County, Indiana. We also have a new story about a union electrician, Tanya Pitts, who is helping commercial building owners employ energy efficient lighting techniques.
* Intern at the Apollo Alliance! The Apollo Alliance is seeking a smart, organized, energetic person with strong research and writing skills to assist with our program and policy department. This internship offers an excellent opportunity for a talented student or professional committed to clean energy and social equity issues to gain experience working in a high caliber, fast paced, results-oriented non-profit policy organization. The application deadline is Sept. 3. Click here to view the internship announcement.
