A coalition of labor, business, environmental and community leaders have released a comprehensive roadmap for rebuilding U.S. manufacturing capacity around clean energy technology.
The plan, called the Apollo Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP), is at the center of a broad-based campaign led by the Apollo Alliance to restore millions of American jobs.
It lays out aggressive steps to scale up production of American-made clean energy systems and components while making U.S. factories more energy efficient. Over the next several weeks, Apollo’s national coalition of business, labor, environmental and community leaders will lead a multi-state advertising and advocacy campaign calling for federal investments to enable domestic manufacturers to meet the nation’s demand for clean energy solutions.
"We can’t let the next generation of energy jobs be in oil fields on the other side of the world. Our energy security and economic revitalization depend on creating and keeping good jobs in the U.S.," said Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides. "The Apollo Green Manufacturing Plan will put millions of Americans back to work and restore America’s manufacturing leadership."
GreenMAP calls for:
- Direct federal funding for clean energy manufacturers to retool facilities and retrain workers to develop, produce and commercialize clean energy technologies.
- Tying federal support to manufacturers’ ability to meet labor and "Made in America" content standards.
- Federal support to streamline the clean energy components supply chain to make American producers more competitive.
- Increased federal Green Jobs Act funding to enable the American workforce to meet the demands of a clean energy economy.
- Creation of a Presidential Task Force on Clean Energy Manufacturing to coordinate the federal government’s efforts and increase international competitiveness.
The manufacturing sector employs nearly 13 million Americans. Long considered the ticket to the middle class for workers without college degrees, these jobs are disappearing, with many being sent overseas. Since 1999, 4.6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been shed, including more than 750,000 since late last year.
"For middle class families who are being squeezed by this economic downturn, clean energy manufacturing jobs could be the answer to their family’s security and their community’s re-growth," said U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). "We have the opportunity now to develop clean energy production and build the workforce to ensure its success."
Only 50% of America’s existing wind turbines were manufactured in the U.S., and while the solar cell was invented in the U.S., four countries outpace American production of solar components. Without a bold U.S. effort to retool factories and retrain workers for green jobs in new energy sectors, the country will cede the opportunity to reclaim manufacturing jobs and achieve energy security.
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said, "By investing in green technology, innovation and production here at home, we will ensure that we don’t move from a dependence on foreign oil to a dependence on foreign technology."
Apollo Alliance’s introduction of GreenMAP comes as the administration and Congress are considering policies–including a renewable energy standard and a carbon pricing program–that will create unprecedented new demand for clean energy systems and components.
Based on data from the Renewable Energy Policy Project and the Energy Information Administration, Apollo Alliance estimates that transitioning to 25% renewable power could generate one million new manufacturing jobs and indirectly create 2.5 million jobs in related industries.
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