Anyone who has shopped at their local grocery store, drug store, or hardware store has seen the variety of “green” products on the market. Are these “green” products creating new manufacturing jobs? For the most part, the answer is “no” because they are just more eco-friendly versions of existing products.
Global companies like General Electric, Dupont, Alcoa, and Procter & Gamble are beginning to respond to the simultaneous increases in shipping and environmental costs with “green” policies meant to reduce both fuel consumption and carbon emissions. That pressure is likely to increase as both manufacturers and retailers seek ways to tighten the global supply chain as fuel prices and transportation costs continue to rise.
“Being green is in their best interests not so much in making money as saving money,” said Gary Yohe, an environmental economist at Wesleyan University. “Green companies are likely to be a permanent trend, as these vulnerabilities continue, but it’s going to take a long time for all this to settle down.” (August 2, 2008, The New York Times)
Pamela Gordon dispels the myth that environmental practices are bad for business in her book “Lean and Green: Profit for Your Workplace and the Environment.” She presents evidence gathered from organizations around the world that environment protection and a profitable business can go together. Her book outlines four basic steps to creating a lean and green organization and presents stories of how 20 companies have enjoyed greater efficiencies and cost savings by utilizing these steps to pursue environmental leadership. Many of these companies are leaders in their field – IBM Corporation, Agilent Technologies, ITT Cannon, Intel Corporation, and Apple Computer. The stories show how companies saved money and increased profitability by utilizing “green” technology and practices.
Since her book was written in 2001, everything related to “green” has become more important because of concerns about “global warning” and acid rain. “Green” has moved from the fringe to the mainstream of American life. More and more consumers are choosing to buy “green” products, even when it means paying more for them. Major corporations are featuring their “green” technology and practices in their advertising campaigns. Some of the largest and most successful companies are now “greening” how they do business: Coca-Cola, DuPont, General Electric, Ford, and General Motors.
For example, in August 2008, General Motors announced that it would add a 1.2-megawatt solar power installation to the roof of its transmission assembly plant in White Marsh, Maryland. The installation generates about 1.4 million kWh of clean renewable solar energy, which is enough to serve the electricity needs of about 145 households. In addition, the White Marsh plant reached landfill-free status in 2007, because it no longer sends any production waste to local landfills. All the waste generated at the facility is entirely recycled or reused.
San Diego business consultant and author, Glenn Croston, advises companies small and large on green business strategy and best practices for becoming eco-friendly. He said, “When people hear the word ‘green,’ they often think this means that something is expensive, hard to do, a luxury, impractical, and only for tree-huggers…In fact, going green often saves money, whether by cutting down on costly gasoline use or by wasting less paper.” His book, “Greening Your Business on a Budget” presents many low cost ways to go “green.”
At a time when consumer confidence in “made in China” goods is at an all-time low, the opportunity is ripe for American manufacturers to feature how their products are made utilizing “green” manufacturing technologies. After the debacle of tainted and defective Chinese products, people are willing to pay more for products that are safe and made in an environmentally responsible manner.
Even when businesses are fighting for their survival in the tougher economic times, they are choosing to move forward by going green. “Indeed, companies would be foolish to abandon their green credentials at the first sign of difficulty,” said Solitaire Townsend, chief executive of Futera Sustainability Communications, which advises companies on their green strategies. “What is more, companies have much to gain from taking steps to improve their environmental performance. The guiding principles behind behaving in an environmentally sound manner are the same as the principles of thrift and economy. Using fewer resources is at the core of environmental sustainability, and leads to cost savings. Thrift and being green go hand in hand,” she said.
More than 260,000 workers in California currently work in the green economy, according to the Employment Development Department. The Redwood empire north of San Francisco leads by percentage with 5.1% of it workforce employed in green jobs, but Southern California leads in actual number of jobs at 106,350 for 1.6% of its workforce. The border regions of San Diego and Imperial counties have slightly more than 21,000 jobs for 1.8% of their workforce.
Traditional blue-collar occupations, such as carpenters, electricians, and heating and air-conditioning technicians comprise the largest number of workers in the green economy. Greenjobs.org provides an online database of environment-related job postings, showing a growing demand for workers with “green” skills.
While it good that that “going green” is saving money for manufacturers, benefiting some traditional blue-collar occupations, and providing “green” products for consumers, the question is whether it is creating any new manufacturing jobs. While campaigning for president, Barrack Obama, proclaimed the goal of creating five million so-called “green collar” jobs by restoring America’s manufacturing base through clean energy technologies, innovation and less reliance on foreign oil. He said, “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process.”
Three years later, it appears that America is missing the boat in creating green manufacturing jobs. China’s cheap labor, combined with free trade policies that afford companies with international portability, have propelled China to the top of the mountain in terms of clean energy investment.
One example is the manufacture of light bulbs. In July 2010, General Electric permanently shuttered its last major factory producing incandescent light bulbs. The closure cost 200 employees their jobs. These jobs were transferred to China, where the much more energy efficient bulbs known as compact fluorescents, or CFLs, are produced at a much lower cost. The incandescent light bulb was born in America and now has died in America, taking plenty of well-paying manufacturing jobs with it.
Despite the fact that CFL’s were invented in America in the 1970’s, virtually none are made in America. Because they require much more hand labor than your typical incandescent bulb and labor costs are much higher in the U. S., many companies set up manufacturing in China to take advantage of its massive low-cost pool of available labor.
The same thing has happened with solar panels. China tops the world in solar panel manufacturing. “Five of the top 10 solar panel makers in the world are from China, a trend that took hold last year {2009} according to a report by Massachusetts-based greentech analysts GTM Research.”
“Jenny Chase, a lead solar analyst for the Long-based research firm New Energy Finance, says it’s unrealistic for the United States to count on long-term manufacturing jobs in the solar industry, at least where a global oversupply is pressing solar-panel prices through the floor.”
Plenty of others disagree. Several thin-film solar startups, such as PrimeStar Solar, Applied Quantum Technology and SoloPower are planning new factories now in the hope of catching a market upturn in the next couple of years. In April 2011, G.E. announced plans to build the nation’s largest solar panel plant. “The plant, whose location has not been determined, will employ 400 workers and create 600 related jobs, according to G.E.” The factory would annually produce solar panels that would generate 400 megawatts of energy, the company said, and would begin manufacturing thin-film, photovoltaic panels made of a material called cadmium telluride in 2013.”
In 2009, China became the world’s leader in private investment in renewable energy, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Even in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, China invested $34.6 billion in green technologies.
America, meanwhile, has leaked clean energy investment and jobs like a sieve. According to the report, the U.S. has invested just over half the amount of China in clean energy technologies. For all of 2009, private investment in the U.S. totaled just $18.6 billion, down 48 percent from 2008.
A report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop and ABC News, found that $8 of every $10 spent on wind energy projects through the stimulus package went to a foreign company. Total recovery funds spent on wind energy projects total nearly $2 billion. The report estimates stimulus funding for wind projects created roughly 6,000 manufacturing jobs overseas and just hundreds in America. Thus far, the Recovery Act has paid to create 1,807 wind turbines to fuel American homes, businesses, schools and other buildings. Just 588 of those were manufactured domestically, according to the report.
“The United States’ competitive position is at risk in the emerging clean energy economy,” Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Environment Group’s Global Warming Campaign, said in a statement attached to the group‘s report.
In an opinion article for Industry Week, consultant, John Madigan of Madigan Associates, presents “real solutions” to create the $20-per-hour jobs needed to sustain a strong middle class. With more than 25 years experience in operations management at Continental Can and Storagetek, among other companies, Madigan said in 2008, “’Green’ manufacturing technology offers more than a way to slow environmental destruction; it could be a powerful antidote for America’s economic crises, mass job losses, and diminished international status.” (Viewpoint, July 2, 2008, www.Industryweek.com)
In the last couple of years, the term “green technology” has evolved into the more encompassing term of “cleantech.” The new “cleantech” industry could be a powerful antidote for America’s economic crisis and massive job losses in manufacturing. “Cleantech” manufacturing and the technologies that support it could create the higher paying jobs needed to sustain a strong middle class while helping to solve air, energy, water and food crises. Next week’s article will take a look at how some “cleantech” companies are creating new manufacturing jobs in the San Diego region.
[…] Few Articles Around the Web on Large-Scale Going Green Efforts What Effect is “Going Green” Having on Manufacturing? at Saving U. S. Manufacturing. 5 Ways Manufacturers Are Going Green And Don’t Even Know It, at […]