/Energy efficiency, wind, and biofuels are highlighted industries./
MADISON, Wis. (March 12, 2008) – A new “green jobs” report, /Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy, /was released today by the Madison based Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) in collaboration with the Workforce Alliance and the Apollo Alliance. The report includes an action plan for state policymakers, highlighting policy, program, and system reform opportunities to embrace the greener and more equitable promise of the new energy economy.
/Greener Pathways/ explores the kind and quality of jobs in the clean energy economy; the skills needed to fill these jobs; and how existing plants and their workers – especially those in the beleaguered industrial heartland – can move to the center of the clean energy economy. /Greener Pathways/ highlights jobs in three key green industries:
*Energy efficiency: *Energy efficiency may be the fastest, cheapest way for states to address global warming, reduce energy costs for their poorest citizens, and create and sustain good jobs. The report looks primarily at residential retrofits, one sector in a broader field that includes commercial and industrial retrofits, green building, and green manufacturing.
*Wind sector:* The wind sector holds potential as an economic driver in both urban and rural areas, and its capacity for job creation in manufacturing as well as installation and operations. Component part manufacturing for wind turbines holds particular promise.
*Biofuels:* Although evidence mounts that at least in their current state, biofuels are not particularly good for either the environment or the job market, the industry has taken root, is growing rapidly, and generates increasing policy interest and investment, particularly, but not exclusively, in the Midwest. The report looks at jobs in ethanol and biodiesel production.
“A greener American economy can and will create jobs,” said Joel Rogers, COWS director. “To make real progress on economic and workforce development in the new energy economy, we must focus more carefully on key clean energy sectors and seize the opportunities in leading industries, like: energy efficiency, wind, and biofuels.”
The report is being released in Wisconsin today and nationally tomorrow at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Pittsburgh, PA.
For more information or to download the executive summary of the report, go to www.cows.org/greenerpathways.
*About COWS:* COWS is a national “think and do” tank focused on high-road economic development – a competitive market economy of shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and capable democratic government.
