by jboullion | Oct 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a report published by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, The Green Tier Porgram at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Wisconsin School of Business:
By 2007, 68,203 businesses in the United States had generated more than 770,000 jobs in the green economy (Pew Charitable Trust, 2009). Every state has a piece of America’s green economy. The leading states include Oregon, Maine,California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota. Wisconsin is not currently among the leading states:
SOURCE: PEW Charitable Trusts, 2009, based on the National Establishment Time Series 2007 Database; analysis by Pew Center on the Statesand Collaborative Economics
Green job growth in Wisconsin through the 2001 recession (where WI lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs that were never recovered) was anemic. Wisconsin has lost an additional 70,000 manufacturing jobs (through July, 2010) because of the recession of 2008 (Center on Wisconsin Strategy, 2010).
While Wisconsin ranks either first or second in the nation in manufacturing jobs per capita, there is still a great deal of idle capacity in Wisconsin.
In 2007, jobs associated with the green economy accounted for 0.49 percent of all jobs nationally. WI was slightly below the national average with 3,150,000 total jobs and 0.48 percent of them being green.
A closer look at the data reveals that Wisconsin ranks as a top ten state in energy efficiency jobs. Energy efficiency is one of the five types of green jobs identified in the Pew report. Wisconisn ranked sixth in energy efficiency with 2,801 jobs. Midwestern states generally did well in all sectors, with Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois appearing among the top 10 states in multiple sectors.
In 2007, jobs associated with the green economy accounted for 0.49 percent of all jobs nationally. WI was slightly below the national average with 3,150,000 total jobs and 0.48 percent of them being green.
A closer look at the data reveals that Wisconsin ranks as a 2,801 jobs. Midwestern states generally did well in all sectors, with Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois appearing amongthe top 10 states in multiple sectors.
The report concludes:
The United States, and Wisconsin, will be focused on job creation over the next five to ten years. Creating green jobs has to be a part of the future if we hope to maintain our roleas a manufacturing state. Green jobs will gravitate towards states that are the most attractive, or to states that actively increase their attractiveness relative to competing states. The states that actively recruit green businesses will prosper in the longer run.
Wisconsin has a long history of manufacturing strength, and we are increasingly attracting manufacturing companies that are creating green jobs. But we can do more. We have only to look at our neighboring states of Iowa or Minnesota to see the benefit of establsihing Wisconsin as a hotbed of green expertise.
New green businesses can create jobs, generate revenues, and help Wisconsin re-emerge as a bell-weather state in the heartland of America.
by jboullion | Oct 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a report published by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, The Green Tier Porgram at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Wisconsin School of Business:
By 2007, 68,203 businesses in the United States had generated more than 770,000 jobs in the green economy (Pew Charitable Trust, 2009). Every state has a piece of America’s green economy. The leading states include Oregon, Maine,California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota. Wisconsin is not currently among the leading states:
SOURCE: PEW Charitable Trusts, 2009, based on the National Establishment Time Series 2007 Database; analysis by Pew Center on the Statesand Collaborative Economics
Green job growth in Wisconsin through the 2001 recession (where WI lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs that were never recovered) was anemic. Wisconsin has lost an additional 70,000 manufacturing jobs (through July, 2010) because of the recession of 2008 (Center on Wisconsin Strategy, 2010).
While Wisconsin ranks either first or second in the nation in manufacturing jobs per capita, there is still a great deal of idle capacity in Wisconsin.
In 2007, jobs associated with the green economy accounted for 0.49 percent of all jobs nationally. WI was slightly below the national average with 3,150,000 total jobs and 0.48 percent of them being green.
A closer look at the data reveals that Wisconsin ranks as a top ten state in energy efficiency jobs. Energy efficiency is one of the five types of green jobs identified in the Pew report. Wisconisn ranked sixth in energy efficiency with 2,801 jobs. Midwestern states generally did well in all sectors, with Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois appearing among the top 10 states in multiple sectors.
In 2007, jobs associated with the green economy accounted for 0.49 percent of all jobs nationally. WI was slightly below the national average with 3,150,000 total jobs and 0.48 percent of them being green.
A closer look at the data reveals that Wisconsin ranks as a 2,801 jobs. Midwestern states generally did well in all sectors, with Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois appearing amongthe top 10 states in multiple sectors.
The report concludes:
The United States, and Wisconsin, will be focused on job creation over the next five to ten years. Creating green jobs has to be a part of the future if we hope to maintain our roleas a manufacturing state. Green jobs will gravitate towards states that are the most attractive, or to states that actively increase their attractiveness relative to competing states. The states that actively recruit green businesses will prosper in the longer run.
Wisconsin has a long history of manufacturing strength, and we are increasingly attracting manufacturing companies that are creating green jobs. But we can do more. We have only to look at our neighboring states of Iowa or Minnesota to see the benefit of establsihing Wisconsin as a hotbed of green expertise.
New green businesses can create jobs, generate revenues, and help Wisconsin re-emerge as a bell-weather state in the heartland of America.
by jboullion | Oct 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council has published a 2010 Green Jobs Report focusing on areas of opportunity and investment for the state to focus on to build jobs in the clean-tech sector.
The report sees opportunities in jobs linked to energy efficiency, green building, renewable energy and mass transit.
“Green jobs are a critical part of the state’s recovery from the recession,” said Tom Eggert, executive director of the business council and co-director of the business, environment and social responsibility program at the University of Wisconsin School of Business.
The aim of the report was to look at green jobs in Wisconsin at a time when other Midwest states have moved to capitalize and promote the attractiveness of their states for clean-tech companies, Eggert said.
“We can do more,” the report concludes. “We have only to look at our neighboring states of Iowa or Minnesota to see the benefit of establishing Wisconsin as a hotbed of green expertise.”
Strengths that the state can build on include its manufacturing tradition and the experience of its workforce in manufacturing technology, Eggert said.
“Green jobs will gravitate toward states that are the most attractive, or to states that actively increase their attractiveness relative to competing states,” the report says.
Wisconsin has invested heavily in energy efficiency initiatives and in research linked to cellulosic ethanol and biofuels. Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the nonedible parts of plants.
But Eggert sees an opportunity by increasing the state’s renewable portfolio standard as a way to send a message to companies that may want to locate here that the state is committed to renewable energy. A renewable portfolio standard is a regulation that requires increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal.
by jboullion | Oct 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
A Danish firm’s expansion is giving Wisconsin another player in the manufacturing sector geared toward alternative energy.
Avanti Wind has been in operation here for several years, making service lifts used by technicians who inspect and repair wind turbines and need to scale the turbines’ tall towers.
Now the company has moved to expand here by moving production of aluminum ladders to Wisconsin from China and Germany, said Kent Pedersen, the company’s U.S. general manager.
The pace of wind development across the country has slowed considerably this year – with the second quarter installations of wind power down 71% amid the slow economy and developers having a hard time getting financing.
“But we have done quite well in expanding our customer base in North America, and we’ve continued to grow in 2010 compared to 2009 and we expect that to continue next year,” said Pedersen, whose privately held parent company, based near Copenhagen, has been in the ladder business in Denmark for more than 100 years.
The Avanti local expansion is a small example – creating just a few jobs – of what local economic development officials hope will be a growth sector for Wisconsin, among the biggest manufacturing states in the country.
“It’s a market we look at and we see growth, we see jobs and we see capital investment,” said Jim Paetsch, business development specialist with the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group, during the Wisconsin Solar Decade conference Wednesday.
“We’ve got a lot of companies here that are set up in way such that their traditional strengths service those markets really well,” Paetsch said. “And in a really bad economy that is one of the sectors that’s growing.”
by jboullion | Sep 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Governor Jim Doyle:
CUBA CITY – Governor Jim Doyle today announced up to $1,506,000 in assistance to Wausaukee Composites and Grant County to support the company’s efforts to create 200 full-time jobs. The funding comes from the Community Development Block Grant for Economic Development program overseen by the Department of Commerce.
“My top priority this year has been to help move companies and communities forward and create good-paying jobs for our citizens,” said Governor Doyle. “I’m pleased that we could help Wausaukee Composites expand its business and bring these new jobs to Grant County.”
Wausaukee Composites will use the state funding to build and equip an addition to their Cuba City facility. The company has committed to creating 200 new full-time positions to manufacture wind turbine components. The total project cost is $5,023,000.
Wausaukee Composites manufactures highly engineered composite components for original equipment manufacturers in the construction equipment, agricultural equipment, mass transportation, wind energy, medical imaging, commercial site furnishings, therapeutic systems, corrosion-resistant materials handling and recreation industries. They are a subsidiary of Sintex Industries, headquartered in India, with textile and structural plastics plants on four continents.
