On Thursday, March 4th, the Apollo Alliance and Center for American Progress (CAP) co-sponsored a conference in Washington, D.C. that brought together leading policymakers, academics, business and labor leaders, and other experts to discuss what policies will support the United States in becoming not only a consumer of clean-energy technologies but also a leading producer of them.

The conference, Picking a Winner: How to Make the U.S. a Leader in the Clean Energy Economy, was held amid growing concerns about clean-energy jobs—particularly manufacturing jobs—going overseas rather than being located in the United States. It covered the diversity of policies that will need to be implemented for the U.S. to regain its competitiveness in the global clean energy economy.

Click here to watch videos of the entire conference or particular conference sessions. You can also check out photos of the conference on Flickr.

Clean energy manufacturing was a hot topic at the conference. During her keynote address, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said, “For too long our strategy has been to design, to innovate on new technologies, but not to worry about where it’s made. … Well, it does matter where it’s made, if you care about the American economy, and if you care about the middle class, and if you care about jobs.”

At the end of the day, Jared Bernstein, chief economist and economic policy advisor to Vice President Joseph Biden, closed the conference by emphasizing the Obama administration’s commitment to strengthening the U.S. manufacturing sector—especially through supports for the domestic manufacture of clean energy technologies. “I’m here today to amplify a simple message, which is that manufacturing matters,” Bernstein said. “As a member of the Obama administration, I can most emphatically tell you it matters because this president has a vision of seeding new industries that will establish America as a leader in the clean energy economy of the 21st century … and most importantly he’s taking steps to make that vision a reality. This is not just talk.”

Other conference speakers, including Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA); John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress; Thea Lee, deputy chief of staff of the AFL-CIO; Kathleen McGinty, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance, discussed the trade, energy, industrial and innovation policies that the U.S. needs to implement if it is going to become a leader of the global clean energy economy.

Dr. Bill Spriggs, assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, kicked off a discussion of workforce policies by talking about the Department of Labor’s green jobs training grant program. “We wanted to make sure that they [the training programs] were targeting unemployed individuals; that they were going to help lift those who were more difficult to lift; that they had some outreach to those who had some known barrier to employment, either drop outs or people with a criminal record or some other disadvantage because they lived in a high poverty area,” Spriggs said. “We came up with a set of grantees that I think ended up looking inclusive, looking like the American workforce, looking with the diversity that the Secretary [of Labor] can say, these are gonna be good jobs for everybody.”

Watch the conference video. There’s also a video available at the Wonk Room of an interview with U.S. Representative Jay Inslee just before his conference keynote speech.

The Apollo Alliance is proud to announce that we are one of the conveners of this year’s Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference, which will take place May 4-6, 2010 in Washington, DC. Good Jobs, Green Jobs (GJGJ) is an annual event that’s organized by the Blue-Green Alliance and brings together thousands of union members, environmentalists, business leaders, and elected and administration officials for three days of sessions about building a green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and preserves America’s economic and environmental security.

The 2010 GJGJ conference program is still under development, but last year’s conference featured green economy leaders including U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Senators Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar and Debbie Stabenow, and United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Achim Steiner. Apollo’s chairman, Phil Angelides, and board members Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers Union and Carl Pope of the Sierra Club also spoke at the conference, among many others.

This year the Apollo Alliance will be organizing at least two sessions at the GJGJ conference, on how to build your state’s clean energy manufacturing sector and on clean transportation and good jobs. Stay tuned for more information about these and other panels and workshops.

Early bird registration ends March 15th! If you’d like to join the Apollo Alliance and thousands of other green jobs enthusiasts at this year’s GJGJ conference, don’t miss the early bird registration deadline. Click here to learn more.

There’s also a green jobs expo to showcase the companies, products, services and career opportunities in the green economy. Your group can find out about registering for a booth at the GJGJ conference website.

We look forward to seeing you in May in DC!

–Andrea Buffa

In a Nov. 2009 article the Apollo Alliance published about veterans green jobs training programs, we interviewed an Iraq war veteran, Alex Cornell du Houx, who is part of an effort by national security and veterans organizations to draw attention to the national security threat that’s created by climate change.

In that article, Cornell du Houx said, “When I was deployed in Fallujah with the marines, we came across a line of cars, trucks and tractors that were bumper-to-bumper as far as the eye could see. They were waiting there all night and risking their lives for gasoline and diesel. It really struck me how vulnerable and dependent they were on this single source of energy. Likewise, it made me think about how dependent we are and how it puts our security at risk.”

The group that Cornell du Houx is part of, Operation Free, ramped up its activities this month in an effort to get the U.S. to adopt comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. They launched a 16-state “National Veterans Tour for Clean Energy Security” and a national television advertisement.

Veterans have a powerful perspective when it comes to climate change and clean energy. Their message about climate change imperiling national security has the potential to appeal to a group of people for whom environmental issues are not a major concern but security issues are.

 “The reason why national security organizations are taking this as a serious threat, is that not only are we [the United States] dependent on oil, but the conflicts that arise from famines, floods and droughts [caused by climate change] multiply the threat of current conflicts and create instability,” Cornell du Houx told the Apollo Alliance back in November.

Click here to watch the Operation Free television advertisement.

Read about the national veterans’ tour or find out when it’s coming to your state.

Read the Apollo Alliance story about veterans green jobs training programs.

–Andrea Buffa

Among the many clean energy investments made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is the $300 million appliance rebate program funded through the Department of Energy. The program offers consumer rebates for the purchase of Energy Star qualified appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers. Most rebate programs began this January, and last between one and three years.
 
To help consumers access these rebates, Whirlpool has put together an easy-to-use website that lists rebates available in each state for different types of appliances, and allows buyers to download and print rebate forms. While shopping for rebates, consumers can compare water and energy savings of each model. In addition to rebates, many utilities offer programs to buy and haul away old appliances being replaced by those that are more energy efficient. Buyouts typically range from $25-$50.
 
According to the Energy Information Administration, appliances consume more than 62% of a home’s energy. Air conditioners use the most energy (16%), but refrigerator gobble up 13.7% of a home’s average total energy use. Whirlpool claims that replacing a refrigerator manufactured before 1993 with their most energy-efficient model can save up to $65 per year in operating costs.
 
Whirlpool Corporation, which owns and markets a number of appliance brands including Maytag and KitchenAid, is headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In the U.S., Whirlpool has manufacturing facilities in Fort Smith, Arkansas; Evansville, Indiana; Newton and Amana, Iowa; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cleveland, Tennessee; and four Ohio cities. In addition to eligibility for the appliance rebate program, Whirlpool also received a grant of $19.3 million in ARRA Smart Grid funds to develop and commercialize smart appliances. According to the company’s grant application, these appliances will allow consumers to defer or schedule their energy use, which can lower consumer costs and reduce peak electricity demand.

Check out Whirlpool’s Cash for Appliances website.

–Elena Foshay

The Green Collar Association published a feature story on the Apollo Alliance in its December 2009 newsletter. The Association, which has offices in Washington, DC and Vancouver, BC, is a clearinghouse that supports green collar job growth through education and training. Its website features industry information, resource materials, and an interactive job board that facilitates networking and employment.

The Apollo Alliance profile describes Apollo’s early years, as one of the first organizations to promote the concept of green-collar jobs, and continues on through our current focus on how clean energy and climate measures can generate green economic growth in the manufacturing sector.

Click here to read the profile, Apollo Alliance Advocates for National Policies to Grow Green-Collar Jobs.

Barbara Byrd, secretary treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO and co-chair of the Oregon Apollo Alliance, is taking part in climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Labor delegates from around the world are taking full advantage of opportunities to negotiate, educate, persuade and build bridges here in Copenhagen.

Most of us spend time at the World of Work pavilion, located at the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions. The events here provide labor delegates and others with chances to share information and strategies for labor’s involvement in lowering carbon emissions globally. These education sessions have been the most helpful to me in drawing lessons for the Oregon union movement in dealing with climate issues.

For example, the international labor group Public Services International led a discussion on “Public Services: Key to Getting Us Out of the Climate Crisis.” We heard from public sector union leaders from Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom about the important role public workers can play in reducing the carbon footprints of their departments and agencies and stimulating change in other sectors of the economy.

David Arnold of UNISON, one of the United Kingdom’s largest public employee unions, said:

Public services came about to address market failures. Climate change is itself an example of a disastrous market failure.

Our own members in AFSCME, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and other public unions play a similar role in Oregon, drawing attention to the need to “green” their own workplaces while helping the state meet its energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. As testament to the Oregon unions’ interest in this issue, Jon Hunt, president of ATU’s Portland local, is here in Copenhagen for the talks.   

Near the end of the workshop, delegates from Uruguay and the Philippines told us how the climate crisis has created huge problems with their public water supplies. These countries suffer the double whammy of the climate crisis and poverty, stalling their efforts to deal with flooding and water resource depletion. Uruguay’s public service unions also are fighting privatization of the public water supply, just as Oregon’s public sector unions have fought privatization of public services.

It was a stark reminder of what we have in common with our union brothers and sisters in the global south. And it contained an implicit call for increased financial assistance from wealthy industrialized nations. While we argue with our bosses about using recycled paper, union members in these countries lose their livelihoods-and sometimes their lives-to the climate crisis.

This post was originally published on the AFL-CIO blog.

Many of Apollo’s member groups, board members and allies are at the global climate talks in Copenhagen. Below are excerpts from some of their most recent blog posts with links to the full blog entries for further reading.

December 16, 2009, AFL-CIO Blog
Utility Workers Unveil New Energy Policy in Copenhagen by Gary Ruffner, Utility Workers Secretary-Treasurer, and Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council 

The long cold wait of our delegates to get into the Bella Center was rewarded by a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who spoke to the need for diversity of clean energy sources and strongly promoted the ramping up of efficiency measures. 

During the meeting UWUA President Michael Langford shared the union’s new paper on energy policy. Chu also talked about the need to return manufacturing to the United States and our need to ramp up the weatherization of homes.

The UWUA plan calls for rebuilding our infrastructure to reverse the damage done by years of neglect by the market-driven, deregulated utility industry. …

A spokesperson for the Laborers identified the need to do weatherization work at scale in local areas to attract good union contractors. Roger Toussaint, president of Transport Workers (TWU) Local 100 in New York City, spoke about the benefits of mass transit, noting:

In New York, 80 percent of the emissions come from buildings, when in most cities it is 40 percent. This is because they have such a large mass transit system and far less auto emissions.

This was a good meeting. We are hopeful that this summit will result in ways to create good jobs without driving more manufacturing to countries without environmental standards. The global environment requires global solutions and standards.

To read the full blog entry, click here.

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December 15, 2009, NRDC Blog
A U.S. Commitment to Developing Nations: The Key to Unlocking Copenhagen by Frances Beinecke, NRDC president and Apollo Alliance board member

We are nearing the end of two weeks of climate negotiations and heads of state are starting to arrive, but we are leagues away from an agreement that will bring the developing and developed world together.
On Monday, dozens of developing nations walked out of the talks because they don’t believe rich nations are doing enough to reduce global warming pollution.

Talks resumed later, but they could just as easily break apart again over another contentious issue: financing for developing nations to confront global warming and to adapt to its deadly consequences.
Right now, the burden of this potential deal-breaker sits squarely on U.S. shoulders.

The United States is the only nation that has yet to signal its commitment to medium-term financing for developing nations. It has made initial pledges for near-term funding, but it has not made any promises for the 2015 time-frame.

This is what developing nations are waiting to hear. If President Obama announces his commitment to help fund clean energy, forest protections, and adaptation in the world’s poorest countries, it could prompt African nations to come back to the table. They in turn could help nudge China to agree to make its carbon intensity reduction efforts more transparent–another key issue that needs to be resolved before we reach a broad political agreement.

In order for this delicate chain of events to unfold, a U.S. commitment can not wait until Friday when President Obama arrives. The developing world needs to receive a signal sooner in order to come to the table with real intent.

That’s right. The United States has the power to prevent the international climate talks from falling apart. Our financing pledge could be the game-changer in the most important–and dangerously fragile–negotiations of our generation. …

To read the full blog entry, click here.

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December 15, 2009, Oregon AFL-CIO Blog
Labor comes to Copenhagen by Barbara Byrd, Secretary Treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO and Coordinator of the Oregon Apollo Alliance

I’m here in Copenhagen at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, along with 40 other US unionists. Bob Baugh, Director of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Council, is heading up our delegation, which includes affiliate leaders from every sector we represent – leaders like Richard Ianuzzi, AFT Vice President; Mike Langford, President of the Utility Workers; Terry O’Sullivan, President of the Laborers ; Jim Hunter, Director of IBEW’s Utility Division; and our own Jon Hunt, President of Amalgamated Transit Union, #757 (with Ron Heintzman, former #757 President and now International Representative).

So what are we doing here, and why is it important to Oregon’s union members?

First, we want to make sure that whatever comes out of these international climate negotiations includes labor’s core principles. We’re here to urge, persuade, and encourage our own and other countries’ delegations to incorporate these principles into the framework document they’re developing:

1 – We need ambitious actions to be taken on climate issues in order to prevent irrevocable harm to the planet.

2 – We must ensure a just transition toward a low-carbon economy. This means making climate action a driver for sustainable economic growth that leads to decent and “green” sustainable jobs. It also means protecting vulnerable communities and workers who will be harmed by the transition away from a carbon-intense economy.

3 – We are calling for substantial investment in research and development of new technologies and to train workers in new skills – these changes should be good for working people, not just investors!

4 – Leaders must see labor as a crucial stakeholder in the process of climate policy-making, and unions and other community organizations should be represented at all levels of government discussion and action.

If you’ve followed our work in the state legislature and with our regional labor partners in interactions with the Western Climate Initiative, you’ll recognize these principles as parallel to our own in Oregon.

Second, we want to learn from each other. In addition to the formal meetings, we are attending a huge array of educational “side events”, some of which we’ve organized ourselves and some of which have been developed by other “non-governmental organizations” like youth, environmentalists, indigenous peoples, and business. We’re interacting informally with others in the 300 plus international labor delegation, learning from their best practices and sharing our own. In my next post, you’ll get a taste of what I’m learning from my brothers and sisters here that is relevant to our day-to-day work in Oregon. …

To read the full blog post, click here.

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December 16, 2009, Green For All Blog
Reflections on the Way to the Climate Change Summit by Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All and board member of the Apollo Alliance

I am boarding a plane to Copenhagen, heading to the United Nations Climate Change Conference that has captivated the world’s attention. …

I am going to Copenhagen to join with incredible leaders from across the globe to create a future that will provide opportunity for all of us.

Across the world, especially in developing nations, poor people and people of color are getting hit first and worst by climate change – from droughts and floods, food and water shortages, the destruction of homes and entire communities, to island nations threatened by rising sea levels. We need to find a solution that lifts up the most vulnerable, regardless of international boundaries.

Though local and nationwide action is absolutely critical, global warming is a global problem. We need to come together to find a global solution. No person, city, or nation alone can end this crisis. And the welfare of any individual, community, or population cannot be overlooked in seeking a solution.

Later this week, heads of states from across the world — including President Barack Obama — will arrive to close out the final days of the U.N. summit, and try to come to an agreement on how the international community will handle the climate crisis. But Copenhagen is about so much more than the success of a deal that may be reached. It is more than a specific emissions reduction number that is ultimately agreed upon. It is a call to action. It is a call for leadership.

This is a defining moment for our country. Will we deliver the promise of the American Dream? Or just the rhetoric? Are we ready to make sure that children from Detroit to Johannesburg are given an opportunity to succeed in the clean-energy economy? …

To read the full blog post, click here.

Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo will be in Copenhagen attending the international climate negotiations throughout this week. While there, he will be sending a series of brief reports of his experiences, which you can read here on the Apollo blog:

“I arrived in Copenhagen on Saturday. About 10,000 protesters were at the entrance. More than 100 were arrested (Update: the number of arrests has swelled to more than 1,000). Today, I’ve been invited to a reception of the US Conference of Mayors by Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols. So far, green jobs seem to be a common discussion globally. Carbon reduction is a priority, but having the money to pay for it is a challenge for most nations. Economic stimulation through more jobs is a must. There is a strong international labor presence here. I plan to link up with the U.S. labor delegation.”

Click here to read a story about Jerome’s trip to Copenhagen and other international climate summits he has attended.

More to come…

By:  Ron Ruggiero

An exciting announcement on Friday kicked off the first-ever commercial scale deployment of wave energy in North America.  Off the coast of Oregon, near Reedsport, Ocean Power Technologies will deploy a 10-buoy power project using the power of the ocean’s waves to generate 1.5 Megawatts of Electricity.

Notably, Ocean Power Technologies selected Oregon Ironworks to build the buoys.  Oregon Ironworks is a company familiar to the Apollo Alliance.  Just last year, the Apollo Alliance reported on its leadership in building a clean energy, good jobs economy and its innovation in developing wave power.  Oregon Ironworks employs over 400 workers in Clackamas, Oregon, with most of its employees union members making family-supporting wages and benefits.  It is expected that the project with Ocean Power Technologies will employ 30 workers for over nine months during the construction phase.  Additional employment will take place in Reedsport as the buoys are deployed.

Mark Draper, CEO of OPT, said: “OPT has identified the Oregon Coast as one of the world’s top sources of future wave energy development, and Governor Kulongoski’s leadership has helped to enable the realization of its potential to create green jobs and prosperous coastal communities.”

The Apollo Alliance has long advocated a “Make It In America” strategy as we build a clean energy economy.  The announcement on Friday shows that clean energy can play a major role in bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.   

By:  Ron Ruggiero

Mention the word “efficiency” and people think of all sorts of things:  energy efficient refrigerators, dual- and triple-pane windows, compact flourescent light bulbs, and adding insulation to our homes and businesses.

Well, add one more item to your efficiency list:  factories that squeeze every last penny out of their energy dollars.  This might surprise you, but America’s factories have done a lot over the last several decades to become energy efficient.  However, a new report Greening Ohio Industry shows there is still much opportunity for additonal energy savings.

A recent report by Policy Matters Ohio, the organization that convenes the Ohio Apollo Alliance, sheds new light on another source of potentially dramatic energy savings for US factories:  combined heat and power and further industrial efficiency.  According to Amanda Woodrum, the report’s author, “We found that Ohio manufacturing, which continues to be the largest sector of our economy, uses 33 percent of all energy consumed in Ohio and spends billions of dollars each year to purchase energy created from polluting fossil fuels imported from outside Ohio.”  Their use of large amounts of energy also creates a huge opportunity for savings.

Astoundingly, the report found that 70% of electricity generated is lost during generation and transmission.  One remedy:  if Ohio generated 20% of its power using combined heat and power (CHP)  methods–it would create 40,000 jobs and save $2.9 billion per year.  Fortunately, there is much room for improvement as Ohio ranks 5th nationally in CHP potential, but only 43rd in its adoption so far.

The report is full of solid recommendations for Ohio’s Industrial sector, but also contains many lessons for all American manufacturers.  Check out Greening Ohio Industry to learn more.