Besides Michigan, the article cites other examples across the nation of an industry that is hiring while other companies are downsizing. It also points out that government involvement has grown the industry (and the jobs that come with it) in other nations.
Worldwide, investors poured a record $117.2 billion into alternative energy in 2007, according to London research firm New Energy Finance. The costs of wind and solar power are dropping fast.
But the industry slowed in late 2008 as the U.S. financial system imploded. Plunging oil prices and frozen credit markets have derailed a number of renewable-energy projects. Some advocates say U.S. government support is needed to keep the sector moving forward.
That strategy has worked for Germany and Japan: Neither is blessed with abundant sunshine, yet these nations boast more rooftop solar arrays than anyplace else, thanks largely to government subsidies. That has created vibrant domestic markets for solar power and tens of thousands of jobs. Asian and European solar module makers dominate the industry.
Training workers figures in the success of the industry, and we get a mention there as well.
Michigan has started its own Green Jobs Initiative to retrain displaced factory workers for careers in renewable energy.
"If we can bend sheet metal for car fenders, we can bend it for windmills," said Ken Horn, a Republican state representative from hard-hit Saginaw.
A tavern owner, Horn said his regulars had been buzzing about green energy -- a sign that the industry was no longer considered fringe or radical.
Michigan's brightest renewable stars are in solar. United Solar Ovonic, a major producer of thin-film photovoltaics, operates three manufacturing facilities in Michigan and has two more under construction in the state.
Hemlock Semiconductor is a joint venture of two Japanese firms and Midland, Mich.-based Dow Corning Corp., which owns a majority stake.
Given California's high unemployment and budget woes, stories like this might cause us to see a migration of people back here. Word of warning: you probably won't like the weather.
Hemlock employs 1,400 full-time and contract workers in Michigan and expects to add 500 more in the next few years. The plant operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, never stopping, even in a recent blizzard.
Snow and ice couldn't keep Rich Steudemann from sliding into work on a recent morning. A mechanical engineer with more than two decades in the auto industry, Steudemann jumped at the chance to join Hemlock last fall as a quality-control expert.
"This is like the era of Henry Ford," said Steudemann, 45. "This industry is just starting to take off."
Want recovery? Get that stimulus passed, and get investing in green energy. The story also mentions how solar power was invented here through Bell Labs and NASA, and we let it get away. Let's not make that mistake again.
Very heartening to see positive news about Michigan being reported for a change. |
