5 Questions for Joe Thomas, Missouri Coordinator for the Apollo Alliance
The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs. Inspired by the Apollo space program, they promote investments in energy efficiency, clean power, mass transit, next-generation vehicles, and emerging technology, as well as in education and training. Working together, they will reduce carbon emissions and oil imports, spur domestic job growth, and position America to thrive in the 21st century economy.
1) What do you see as the biggest challenge to Missouri’s energy industry?
Missouri’s energy industry is currently on an unsustainable path due to its reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. Moving to a clean energy economy in a way that generates quality jobs for Missourians is certainly going to be a challenge, but it is a challenge this state is fully capable of meeting
2) How significant a role do you see the renewable energy industry playing in Missouri?
Clean energy production alone can have a significant impact on Missouri’s economy, in the building and maintenance of utility-scale wind and solar installations, as well as smaller installations at residential, commercial, and government properties across the state. Equally promising, and often overlooked, is the manufacturing side of clean energy production. Every utility-scale wind turbine has roughly 8,000 parts, while solar installations have a supply chain that ranges from raw silicon to electrical components that connect small-scale solar installations to the energy grid. Missouri has the potential to create close to 20,000 manufacturing jobs in wind and solar alone. Manufacturing jobs rate very highly in what economists call jobs’ “multiplier,” the ripple effect that creating manufacturing jobs has on the rest of the economy. In other words, creating more manufacturing jobs has far more of a positive impact on the economy that creating more jobs in, say, the service industry. Missouri has historically had a strong manufacturing sector, thanks to its relatively low labor costs (because of the low cost of living in the state) and strong geographic location in terms both of centrality and access to freight rail
3) What steps can the utility industry take to create new jobs and benefit the economy?
The key for the utility industry is to think “investment.” New transmission lines, smart grid installations in more populated areas, energy-efficiency measures – all of these are investments in a more energy-efficient future that will, in the long run, not only save consumers money, but save the industry money as energy becomes increasingly more expensive. Measures that may not be currently cost-effective should still be considered investments for the future, when they will become cost-effective as the price of energy continues to rise.
Additional energy generation should be focused in renewables, built here in Missouri, and should include an emphasis on local purchasing of parts in order to benefit Missouri’s economy. Investments in renewable generate, roughly, twice as many jobs as investments in coal, and local purchasing of component parts can help build Missouri into a renewable leader.
4) How do you think the oil spill will impact Missouri?
Although the direct impact may not be significant, it would be foolish of us in Missouri to believe that the distance from here to the Gulf is enough to make the oil spill nothing more than a sad spectacle on television. The fact is that billions of dollars worth of damage have been and will be done, and entire industries – fishing, tourism – will be crippled for years, if not decades. The ripple effect on the economy – from reducing Missouri exports to the Gulf region to displaced workers swelling the ranks of the unemployed in Missouri – will be significant. If there is any silver lining, it is that the oil spill may highlight for Missourians the need both to end our reliance on fossil fuels and to overhaul the infrastructure in our energy sector. Both those steps are not only vital to the stability of our energy sector and the environment, but to the rebuilding of our economy.
5) What is the IMPACT Act, and how will this have an effect on MO?
The IMPACT Act, introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, is designed to create a revolving loan fund for small-to-medium sized manufacturers to either retool or expand in order to take advantage of new markets and new technologies in clean energy and energy efficient manufacturing. Access to capital for small-to-medium businesses is severely limited in the current economy, and so facilities are running below capacity and skilled workers are going unemployed because businesses are unable to retool to enter the supply chain for clean energy production or other green products (Energy Star rated appliances, etc). With or without national legislation, there is a growing demand for such productions, and the IMPACT Act is designed to make sure that the demand is met domestically. Currently, roughly 70% of clean energy components (wind and solar in particular) are manufactured overseas. The IMPACT Act is designed to fix that. Missouri still retains the backbone of a strong manufacturing sector, and could benefit enormously from the IMPACT Act.
