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Green push could have local firms seeing green
Wind turbine production alone could generate 11,688 manufacturing jobs in Ohio, a study says.
More on alternative energry in Ohio:
Sunday, December 28, 2008
More green energy will likely mean jobs — and more green as in cash — for the Miami Valley, experts say.
The launching of the domestic renewable energy industry could boost the fortunes of traditional Miami Valley machine shops, forges, plating, injection molding businesses as well as newer composite materials manufacturers.
The Edison Materials Technology Center, or EMTEC, 3155 Research Blvd., is the state and federally-funded business developer that tries to help traditional businesses figure out how to retool and redeploy to serve new technology manufacturing.
Spending money on an energy industry that generates power at home recirculates cash into the U.S. economy, rather than filling the pockets of fossil fuel producers far from U.S. shores, said Frank Svet, EMTEC president and chief executive.
There are a lot of estimated numbers out there to play with. The Renewable Energy Policy Project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, says that economically hard-hit states such as California, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois stand to benefit most from wind turbine production, with Ohio getting 11,688 new manufacturing jobs, according to the study.
Svet said those estimates are likely conservative.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, in an October report, said new green jobs of all types in Cincinnati, Middletown, Dayton and Springfield could total more than 40,000 by 2038.
Jim Zuber, advanced energy manager for the Ohio Department of Development, puts estimates for new wind power-related jobs in the Buckeye State as high as 30,000. The solar power industry could create up to 8,000 jobs long-term.
Zuber is enthused about Ohio's ability to feed the supply chain for alternative power hardware, including the 3,000 to 5,000 parts that go into a wind turbine.
For example, WebCore Technologies Inc. in Miami Twp. has more than doubled its employees in the past year to 45. Its composite materials can be used in 44-meter wind turbine blades. The potential is very large, said Rob Banerjee, a WebCore vice president. By 2017, the company could employ 200, he said.
