[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Pittsburgh showcases green economy at G20 summit
Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:53am EDT
By Rebekah Kebede and Herbert Lash
PITTSBURGH/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The collapse of the U.S. steel industry forced Drew Mihalek in 1977 to leave Pittsburgh, a onetime capital of industry that President Barack Obama will show to world leaders this week as a "bold example" of a new green economy.
Mihalek, 58, recalls bubbling caldrons of metal during summer jobs at U.S. Steel as a college student. Now he works in a dust-free workplace as environmental health and safety manager at Solar Power Industries, a maker of solar cells.
Mihalek calls the change in his hometown "kind of like my own personal revitalization." That shift will be in the spotlight this week as leaders from the Group of 20 nations meet in various "green" buildings -- a visible image of the new economy touted by the Obama administration.
Debate before the Pittsburgh summit of leading developed and developing countries has focused on bankers' pay, regulation of the financial sector and how governments should withdraw from the enormous stimulus packages enacted to blunt the global economic crisis and spur growth.
Climate change and tackling high unemployment are other issues on the G20 agenda, tying into Obama's vision for a green economy and why Pittsburgh is hosting the summit. But hopes for millions of new green jobs in the U.S. economy may prove more ambitious than many advocates and investors dream of.
Central to a green economy are education, innovation and research, which Pittsburgh offers through schools like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Also key are an educated work force and plentiful raw materials.
Andy Hannah, chief executive of Plextronics, a company that makes organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes and uses photoactive inks to print solar cells, said Pittsburgh offers the right mix of corporate and university talent.
Hannah also said Pittsburgh was a prime location for setting up Plextronics because raw materials such as aluminum, glass and plastics are produced locally.
Patrick McCarthy of ATRP Solutions, a polymer maker using technology developed at Carnegie Mellon, also said the key elements for a green company come together in Pittsburgh.
"In this city, we have a history of materials companies commercializing products. This expertise is not everywhere in the country," McCarthy said.
GOVERNMENT KEY TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
Despite all its strides -- Pittsburgh has one of the largest green collar work forces for a U.S. city its size -- some doubt green jobs will be a major engine for the economy.
Lester Lave, an economics professor and director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon, said neither oil or coal will be replaced any time soon. He also said politicians were overly optimistic in their assumptions about new jobs.
"You are not going to be overwhelmed with (green) jobs in energy," Lave said. "I think the vast majority of jobs are going to be in the retrofit area and those can be good jobs."
There has long been debate along left-right political lines about the viability of green energy and the large government funding needed to get renewable energy off the ground.
The $787 billion economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law in February included more than $60 billion in clean energy investments.
A green economy would boost energy independence and reduce a chronic U.S. trade deficit, advocates say. But that dream is still far away: solar and wind power accounted for just 0.6 percent of U.S. energy consumption in 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Another selling point for a green economy is that a green collar work force earns 10 percent to 20 percent more than other jobs, the Council of Economic Advisors has said. And those jobs are more likely to be union jobs, the council said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in May 2008 there were 9.9 million people employed in U.S. production, and 3.3 million in computer and mathematical sciences, where salaries averaged $74,500 a year, more than double that of manufacturing.
For all the talk about jump-starting the U.S. economy and spurring jobs, some say that impact has yet to be felt.
"I hear a lot of thunder, but I see no rain," said John Bucher, a senior executive at Solar Power Industries, where Mihalek works.
WAITING FOR TIPPING POINT
The poster child for a green economy is solar power, which is expected to drive jobs growth, especially in installation.
But costs still outweigh benefits and industry experts say grid parity is a tipping point that is several years away. Grid parity refers to when solar costs come in line with the cost of electricity from the power grid.
"If the incentives aren't there, then it's hard to justify the price of the system itself," Bucher said.
Investors have made big bets on solar energy. There are about 45 publicly traded companies in the sector whose market capitalization is about $50 billion.
A number of catalysts could spark a sudden conversion to solar panels, as was seen with the rapid adoption of cell phones in the late 1990s, said Shawn Kravetz, president of Esplanade Capital LLC in Boston, who has a fund dedicated to solar energy.
A tipping point could come earlier than many think, perhaps by 2011, especially if carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade program aimed at limiting carbon emissions comes about, Kravetz said. A fall in panel prices, cheap financing and the first solar panel to go up in a neighborhood are enough to spark sales, he said.
"People are more aware that solar isn't a newfangled technology, it's by-and-large a 30-year-old technology that works," he said. "We just need to get the cost to where it's cost effective, and where, thanks to some government support, we're finally there."
(Editing by Frances Kerry)
[Green Business]
Japan to propose green technology, funding: minister
Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:19am EDT
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will unveil a plan to support developing countries in technology and funding to fight climate change at a U.N. meeting this week, Japan's environment minister said on Sunday.
Speaking ahead of Hatoyama's U.S. trip, Sakihito Ozawa also said Japan would work toward its own bold goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by outlining the economic rewards of shifting to clean energy to persuade firms wary of initial costs.
"The 'Hatoyama Initiative' will be announced at the United Nations, and everyone should have high hopes for this," Ozawa told reporters.
Hatoyama said this month the initiative would provide financial and technological support to developing nations working proactively to reduce emissions, but has not made clear what funds or the sort of technology would be provided.
Japan's government, which took office last week, is aiming to play a bigger negotiating role in U.N.-backed talks in December for a new agreement on reducing emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which ends in 2012.
The talks have run into deadlock on issues such as sharing out curbs on greenhouse gases among rich and poor nations, and raising funds to help developing countries tackle global warming.
Ozawa declined to elaborate on the new scheme for developing countries, but hoped it would be an incentive for big emerging economies such as China and India to join a new climate agreement.
NEED TO PERSUADE BUSINESS, HOUSEHOLDS
Developing countries have insisted that industrialized countries shoulder most of the cost of resolving a problem they caused in the first place.
"I think the Hatoyama Initiative will be one big tool," said Ozawa, who will join Hatoyama this week for the U.N. meeting of world leaders on climate change and a G20 summit of leading and emerging economies in Pittsburgh.
A former banker and an expert on economic policy, Ozawa said he would also work at home to persuade businesses and the public to build toward a target of cutting emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
The target, much tougher than the previous government's, faces resistance from industry as Japan emerges from its deepest postwar recession. Media have stressed the burden on households to install new equipment such as solar panels.
"I want to outline an (economic) model that shows that climate change is not necessarily negative for the economy, but that it could rather be a driver for growth," he said.
He said he hoped to draft a plan outlining the economic model within the next two months.
Details on policies, including an environment tax, to help Japan meet its new emissions reduction target would be subject to discussion with other cabinet ministers, Ozawa said.
The new government is also planning to launch a domestic emissions trading market with compulsory volume caps on emitters, although details such as which sectors will be covered have yet to be thrashed out.
(Editing by Ron Popeski)
[Green Business]
Pittsburgh showcases green economy at G20 summit
Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:53am EDT
By Rebekah Kebede and Herbert Lash
PITTSBURGH/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The collapse of the U.S. steel industry forced Drew Mihalek in 1977 to leave Pittsburgh, a onetime capital of industry that President Barack Obama will show to world leaders this week as a "bold example" of a new green economy.
Mihalek, 58, recalls bubbling caldrons of metal during summer jobs at U.S. Steel as a college student. Now he works in a dust-free workplace as environmental health and safety manager at Solar Power Industries, a maker of solar cells.
Mihalek calls the change in his hometown "kind of like my own personal revitalization." That shift will be in the spotlight this week as leaders from the Group of 20 nations meet in various "green" buildings -- a visible image of the new economy touted by the Obama administration.
Debate before the Pittsburgh summit of leading developed and developing countries has focused on bankers' pay, regulation of the financial sector and how governments should withdraw from the enormous stimulus packages enacted to blunt the global economic crisis and spur growth.
Climate change and tackling high unemployment are other issues on the G20 agenda, tying into Obama's vision for a green economy and why Pittsburgh is hosting the summit. But hopes for millions of new green jobs in the U.S. economy may prove more ambitious than many advocates and investors dream of.
Central to a green economy are education, innovation and research, which Pittsburgh offers through schools like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Also key are an educated work force and plentiful raw materials.
Andy Hannah, chief executive of Plextronics, a company that makes organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes and uses photoactive inks to print solar cells, said Pittsburgh offers the right mix of corporate and university talent.
Hannah also said Pittsburgh was a prime location for setting up Plextronics because raw materials such as aluminum, glass and plastics are produced locally.
Patrick McCarthy of ATRP Solutions, a polymer maker using technology developed at Carnegie Mellon, also said the key elements for a green company come together in Pittsburgh.
"In this city, we have a history of materials companies commercializing products. This expertise is not everywhere in the country," McCarthy said.
GOVERNMENT KEY TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
Despite all its strides -- Pittsburgh has one of the largest green collar work forces for a U.S. city its size -- some doubt green jobs will be a major engine for the economy.
Lester Lave, an economics professor and director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon, said neither oil or coal will be replaced any time soon. He also said politicians were overly optimistic in their assumptions about new jobs.
"You are not going to be overwhelmed with (green) jobs in energy," Lave said. "I think the vast majority of jobs are going to be in the retrofit area and those can be good jobs."
There has long been debate along left-right political lines about the viability of green energy and the large government funding needed to get renewable energy off the ground.
The $787 billion economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law in February included more than $60 billion in clean energy investments.
A green economy would boost energy independence and reduce a chronic U.S. trade deficit, advocates say. But that dream is still far away: solar and wind power accounted for just 0.6 percent of U.S. energy consumption in 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Another selling point for a green economy is that a green collar work force earns 10 percent to 20 percent more than other jobs, the Council of Economic Advisors has said. And those jobs are more likely to be union jobs, the council said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in May 2008 there were 9.9 million people employed in U.S. production, and 3.3 million in computer and mathematical sciences, where salaries averaged $74,500 a year, more than double that of manufacturing.
For all the talk about jump-starting the U.S. economy and spurring jobs, some say that impact has yet to be felt.
"I hear a lot of thunder, but I see no rain," said John Bucher, a senior executive at Solar Power Industries, where Mihalek works.
WAITING FOR TIPPING POINT
The poster child for a green economy is solar power, which is expected to drive jobs growth, especially in installation.
But costs still outweigh benefits and industry experts say grid parity is a tipping point that is several years away. Grid parity refers to when solar costs come in line with the cost of electricity from the power grid.
"If the incentives aren't there, then it's hard to justify the price of the system itself," Bucher said.
Investors have made big bets on solar energy. There are about 45 publicly traded companies in the sector whose market capitalization is about $50 billion.
A number of catalysts could spark a sudden conversion to solar panels, as was seen with the rapid adoption of cell phones in the late 1990s, said Shawn Kravetz, president of Esplanade Capital LLC in Boston, who has a fund dedicated to solar energy.
A tipping point could come earlier than many think, perhaps by 2011, especially if carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade program aimed at limiting carbon emissions comes about, Kravetz said. A fall in panel prices, cheap financing and the first solar panel to go up in a neighborhood are enough to spark sales, he said.
"People are more aware that solar isn't a newfangled technology, it's by-and-large a 30-year-old technology that works," he said. "We just need to get the cost to where it's cost effective, and where, thanks to some government support, we're finally there."
(Editing by Frances Kerry)
[Green Business]
Japan to propose green technology, funding: minister
Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:19am EDT
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will unveil a plan to support developing countries in technology and funding to fight climate change at a U.N. meeting this week, Japan's environment minister said on Sunday.
Speaking ahead of Hatoyama's U.S. trip, Sakihito Ozawa also said Japan would work toward its own bold goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by outlining the economic rewards of shifting to clean energy to persuade firms wary of initial costs.
"The 'Hatoyama Initiative' will be announced at the United Nations, and everyone should have high hopes for this," Ozawa told reporters.
Hatoyama said this month the initiative would provide financial and technological support to developing nations working proactively to reduce emissions, but has not made clear what funds or the sort of technology would be provided.
Japan's government, which took office last week, is aiming to play a bigger negotiating role in U.N.-backed talks in December for a new agreement on reducing emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which ends in 2012.
The talks have run into deadlock on issues such as sharing out curbs on greenhouse gases among rich and poor nations, and raising funds to help developing countries tackle global warming.
Ozawa declined to elaborate on the new scheme for developing countries, but hoped it would be an incentive for big emerging economies such as China and India to join a new climate agreement.
NEED TO PERSUADE BUSINESS, HOUSEHOLDS
Developing countries have insisted that industrialized countries shoulder most of the cost of resolving a problem they caused in the first place.
"I think the Hatoyama Initiative will be one big tool," said Ozawa, who will join Hatoyama this week for the U.N. meeting of world leaders on climate change and a G20 summit of leading and emerging economies in Pittsburgh.
A former banker and an expert on economic policy, Ozawa said he would also work at home to persuade businesses and the public to build toward a target of cutting emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
The target, much tougher than the previous government's, faces resistance from industry as Japan emerges from its deepest postwar recession. Media have stressed the burden on households to install new equipment such as solar panels.
"I want to outline an (economic) model that shows that climate change is not necessarily negative for the economy, but that it could rather be a driver for growth," he said.
He said he hoped to draft a plan outlining the economic model within the next two months.
Details on policies, including an environment tax, to help Japan meet its new emissions reduction target would be subject to discussion with other cabinet ministers, Ozawa said.
The new government is also planning to launch a domestic emissions trading market with compulsory volume caps on emitters, although details such as which sectors will be covered have yet to be thrashed out.
(Editing by Ron Popeski)
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