In the United States, green jobs promise to bring new subsidies to industry, research dollars to universities, competitiveness to the American economy, jobs for the unemployed, and solutions to environmental problems. Dramatic changes in energy, transportation, building design, and other industries are underway, spurred by policy innovations and investment at various government levels. State and local governments have entered into an increasingly intense competition to establish their region as the capitol of one or more clean tech industries. Meanwhile, civil society organizations have mobilized to support green jobs programs that promise to provide jobs for the unemployed and to revitalize distressed urban neighborhoods, and financial services firms have created a range of new products to serve investment in clean or green businesses.
This project offers two perspectives on the transition to a greener economy in the United States. First, from a practical policy perspective, the research project tracks and analyzes the progress of policy innovations in support of clean tech and green jobs at the state and local government levels in the United States and Canada. The project provides insight into policy innovations, hurdles, and best practices that are emerging. It also provides some insight into which cities have shown leadership in the transition from overall urban greening to green jobs development, and which states are showing leadership in the creation of industrial clusters for wind, solar, smart grid, biofuels, energy-efficient building technologies, fuel cells, and batteries. Finally, the project charts new financial products and investment strategies, both from governments and the private sector, that have emerged to support clean and green business development. The results will be of value to advocates and policymakers as they sort through priorities and strategies for a transition toward a greener economy, and the results will be made available publicly for their use.
Second, from a social science perspective, the project studies how different understandings of development are at work in the green economy transition. Specifically, the project develops a comparative analysis of the history of research and practice for mainstream economic development (leading up to the current focus on high-technology clusters, including clean-tech clusters); community development (from the antipoverty programs of the 1960s to current efforts to link green jobs to the needs of low-income communities); and localist development (from the debate over import substitution to the emergence of local food and local, independent business movements). Understanding the three approaches to development is important because there is evidence of the influence of all three in green jobs and clean tech policies. Likewise, the strands can also be identified in the design of new financial products associated with the green economy transition. In exploring the different approaches to development as they are becoming expressed in new policies and financial products, the project will draw on and suggest a way to integrate previously disconnected research fields of the sociology of finance, environmental sociology, and science and technology studies (STS). It will also contribute to broader theoretical conversations about sustainability and development.
The resarch and education project provided cost-effective training for eight graduate students during the summer of 2010 in the fields of science and technology studies, environmental and energy policy, and sociology. Students from universities in several states subsequently used the research training to launch and improve successful doctoral research projects in related fields. As part of the training, students attended conferences and events, interviewed over 50 representatives of nonprofit organizations and governments, reviewed and analyzed policy reports, and produced case studies of 17 states and shorter reports on the remaining states. The ten-week training project resulted in a 333-page policy report on the state of clean technology and related business development and job creation programs, the most comprehensive review of state and local government policy to date. The project was funded during a period (2009-2010) when green jobs and clean-tech economic development were high priorities in both the federal government and many state governments, and it was developed in response to those priorities. Specifically, the students studied policies for biofuels, renewable energy for electricity, fuel cells and energy storage, smart-grid technology development, and energy efficiency for buildings. The team found that state governments were more important drivers of the green economic development policies than city governments, that there is a trend toward integrating environmental (demand-side) with economic development (supply-side) policies, and that only some states and cities have developed the full suite of policies that is required for the development of successful clean-technology clusters. As a result, the development of clean-energy industries in the U.S. is occurring at an uneven pace, and some states had already developed successful industrial clusters that integrate research capabilities with business and job development. Reports were also broken down by city and state to facilitate access and classroom use. The report was circulated among policymakers and nonprofit organizations at all levels of government, and all information was made available publicly on the project web site (www.davidjhess.org/greenjobs.html). The outreach included radio coverage, public speaking events, and exchanges with state and local government leaders. The three main pages of the project on the web site received over 3,000 views during the first year, and individual state and city documents received thousands of more views. Even in 2012, the main pages continued to receive hundreds of views per month, including from students who been assigned the case studies for use in coursework. The project also provided one source of empirical data for subsequent social science policy research by the principal investigator on some of the challenges of building successful clean-technology manufacturing clusters in the U.S. (The research is summarized on the project web site.) An increasingly important challenge and one of bipartisan concern has been the high level of global competition from trading partners such as China. The PI develops the argument that rising competition from industrializing trading partners such as China is pushing the U.S. to develop a more defensive and pro-active approach to trade and economic policy. The changes are evident in trade disputes that have emerged with respect to renewable energy technology and rare earth materials and in the continued deepening of industrial policy among state governments. Comparisons are made with the "American system" of trade and economic policy during the nineteenth century. Other, ongoing research that emerged from the project examines the factors that affect higher and lower levels of bipartisanship for energy legislation in state governments.
