While the nation is bleeding jobs during the current recession, economists are predicting that the state will see double-digit growth in some green jobs through 2016.
The demand for specialized environment-related workers, such as hydrologists, geoscientists and environmental engineers, is expected to grow by 25, 20 and 19 percent, respectively, from 2006 to 2016, according to Nicholas A. Jolly, an economist for the state Department of Labor.
Jolly projects that overall growth in green jobs during that 10-year period will be 12 percent, rising from 5,493 in 2006 to 6,148 in 2016.
Connecticut already enjoys a reputation for being at the forefront of fuel cell technologies, home to several major fuel cell companies including UTC Power, FuelCell Energy, Proton Energy Systems and GenCell Corp.
Growth in that area also is expected to grow in response to President Barack Obama’s commitment to decrease reliance on foreign fossil fuels.
However, a significant factor affecting the growth of the state’s green sector will be how and when the economy recovers from the recession, said Jeffrey Blodgett, an economist for the Connecticut Economic Resource Center.
While Blodgett sees job opportunities with green jobs, he points out that the “big wild card is the economy.”
“How many businesses are going to be hiring? How many are going to convert to green?” he asks.
Many expect that Obama’s proposed $800 billion economic stimulus package will provide incentives for green technologies, which he highlighted throughout his campaign.
Connecticut Initiatives
On the state level, Connecticut has taken several steps in the past year to create more green jobs. That includes funding a $4 million University of Connecticut program to hire six of the country’s top alternative energy researchers, as part of the 21st Century Jobs bill passed in 2006.
Connecticut has also created the $9 million Connecticut Clean Tech Fund, which invests in seed and early-stage companies. The fund, which pools $3 million contributions each from Connecticut Innovations, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and DECD since being announced in November, has drawn more than 100 inquiries, including some from Europe and China, said DECD commissioner Joan McDonald.
“It’s been phenomenal,” McDonald said about the response. “We market very hard to consider Connecticut, and we have a lot of European countries that have U.S. headquarters here.”
McDonald said she expects a much-anticipated department report — due later this year — on strategically developing Connecticut’s economy for the young workers will highlight green jobs.
Economic, Federal Challenges
Meanwhile, some initiatives, such as Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s highly touted green collar job training program, have fallen short. Last February, the governor proposed a training program in the state’s technical schools to prepare students for environmental and energy conservation careers. However, the $125,000 proposal came off the table when the Legislature decided not to add new programs to the mid-biennium budget because of a growing state budget deficit.
In regard to energy issues, Connecticut’s small presence on the federal stage could be a problem, Blodgett said. As the only state without representation in the National Association of State Energy Officials — a group of governor-appointed representatives — Connecticut can potentially be missing out on valuable federal dollars, he said.
“There’s not a point person for energy issues in Connecticut,” Blodgett said. “There’s dozens of good state programs, but who’s the energy person? Who’s in charge of all this? You would not be able to identify one person.”
Another challenge that Jolly and other economists have run into is the lack of a working definition for a green job. While someone who solely produces solar panels neatly falls into a universal definition of a green job, an architect who sometimes works on LEED-certified buildings certainly falls into a gray area.
“The problem we ran into is, how do you differentiate a job as green against one that’s not?” asked Jolly, who compiled a report last month for two state agencies: the Department of Labor and the Department Economic and Community Development. “It’s difficult to draw a clear distinction.”
