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Green energy jobs take baby steps in Ohio economy

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, talks to the media before a roundtable discussion with the Dayton Development Coalition's Wright-Patt 2020 Committee in the Wright State University student union building Thursday, February 19, 2009.

E.L. Hubbard/Contributing photographer U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, talks to the media before a roundtable discussion with the Dayton Development Coalition's Wright-Patt 2020 Committee in the Wright State University student union building Thursday, February 19, 2009.

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By Jessica Wehrman, Staff Writer Updated 7:21 PM Saturday, July 11, 2009

WASHINGTON — While Ohio wrangles with grim statistics — the 10.4 percent unemployment rate, the 89 cents left in the state’s rainy day fund — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, took a break a few weeks back to send out a press release touting a more positive number: Four.

That’s where Ohio ranked among all other states in clean energy jobs in 2007, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Only California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota had more.

Don’t get too excited: That statistic represented 3,653 jobs, compared to California’s 27,672 clean energy jobs.

Still, Brown and others say the growth in so-called “green collar” jobs is a much-needed bright spot in an otherwise dismal state economy.

Brown spent a large part of his 2006 U.S. Senate campaign advocating for making the state the “Silicon Valley of alternative energy.”

Today, he follows that with a brief verbal tour of the state. Northwest Ohio, he said, is the home of a cluster of solar energy companies. Northeast Ohio, he said, is showing great potential for wind energy, with the Cleveland Foundation, Case Western and Ohio manufacturer Cardinal Fastener working to install the nation’s first water wind turbine field in Lake Erie.

And Dayton? A leader in the development of composite material — lighter weight, durable material that can be used to make vehicles and airplanes more energy efficient that also has great potential in wind turbines.

The region is taking the green job boom seriously enough that in January, the Dayton Development Coalition hired Chris Meyer as its director of energy programs, a role which has Meyer looking at opportunities in green energy. The National Composite Center, a business incubator in Kettering, has spun off a handful of successful companies that use composite materials, including a Miamisburg company that makes parts for wind turbines.

Two weeks ago, the coalition put on an energy roundtable to talk with local businesses about green opportunities with the Mound Advanced Technology Center. More than 150 people attended.

Businesses, Meyer said, “are looking at how to shift and become more involved in green technology,” he said.

U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has also been an advocate of clean energy sources, but he includes nuclear energy as an energy source that the country must tap to solve the crisis. He is one of the leading advocates of a proposal to bring a nuclear power plant to a former Department of Energy nuclear site in Piketon.

But Garrette Silverman, Voinovich’s spokeswoman, said the senator’s focus is broader than just creating new jobs.

“More immediately, Sen. Voinovich is focused on doing everything in his power to ensure that Ohio retains the jobs it already has so losses like DHL and NCR are not repeated,” she said.

So far, the number of jobs haven’t kept up with the state’s job losses.

But in some places, smaller green employers are growing.

In Toledo, Xunlight, a company that makes flexible solar panels, was founded in 2002 with two employees. Today, there are 100. The company plans to start selling its product commercially either at the end of this year or early next.

John Leland, director of the University of Dayton Research Institute, said the small- to medium-size companies that have emerged are agile and responsive to the marketplace, and the jobs are harder to export to countries such as China or Mexico.

“These jobs have a much better potential for staying here in Ohio,” he said.

Green energy

In a report released in late June, the Pew Charitable Trusts defined clean energy jobs as jobs that increase energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution and conserve water and other natural resources.

Here are some of the local companies that are involved in “green” energy:

WebCore Technologies, Miamisburg: Produces composite materials that are used in wind turbines.

Interlink Advantage: Kettering-based green IT utility service that provides virtual IT for small to medium-size businesses. By eliminating company’s needs for infrastructure overhead, the company reduces its clients’ carbon footprint.

Composite Advantage: Composite products used in infrastructure such as bridges. Based in Dayton.

Wayne Trail Technologies: The Fort Loramie-based company, which designs and builds systems and machinery that helps manufacturers in automotive and other industries automate their manufacturing processes, has also recently begun building systems that are used to manufacture components for solar collector assemblies, lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, nuclear components and other clean energy sources.

AcuTemp: Dayton company makes a high-performance insulation panel that being used in the appliance and construction industries.

Source: Chris Meyer, Dayton Development Coalition and Lisa Novelli, National Composite Center

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