Stephen Heavener, executive director of Concord Regional Development Council, joined several economic development, labor, and business leaders today to endorse a jobs growth strategy centered on investment in clean energy and energy efficiency.
"We strongly support state and federal policies that create the opportunity for New Hampshire companies to develop products and services based on clean energy and energy efficiency," Heavener said. CRDC has recently supported a biofuels start-up company in Pittsfield.
The green jobs growth strategy is bolstered by a study released in NH today, showing that the U.S. can create two million new jobs and 9,245 jobs in NH, reducing unemployment by 1.3 percent.
Robert Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst led a study, "Green Recovery - A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy," which compared the economic effect of three means of distributiing a hypothetical $100 billion economic recovery package. The three types of plans were: a clean energy/energy efficiency investment package; increased oil industry investment; or a federal household tax rebate program similar to that of April 2008 designed to increase general consumption.
The study found that the clean energy/energy efficiency approach would create the greatest number of new jobs and result in greater long-term energy cost savings and greater reductions in global warming pollution. The clean energy growth strategy would create two million jobs nationwide over two years, four times those resulting from the same spending within the oil industry and triple the number of high-paying jobs ($16 per hour plus) as spending within the oil industry.
Several other economic development, labor and business leaders also stood in support of the green economic recovery plan.
"This is a win-win. The more our nation works toward clean energy solutions, the more opportunity for a lot of people to earn a decent living while helping the environment," said Joe Casey, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 490.
According to Mark Zydel, president of American Council of Engineering Companies, "We have already seen a large increase in requests for green buildings. New Hampshire has the potential for even more growth in clean energy jobs."
For complete PERI study findings, visit: www.peri.umass.edu/green_recovery.
Specific New Hampshire study findings are located at www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/other_publication_types/green_economics/new_hampshire.pdf
Current Issue - May 2024