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"Green" definition a gray area

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John R. Beckord

JANESVILLE — You can’t talk to a politician without hearing the phrase.

You can’t turn on the TV or pick up the paper without seeing it.

“Green jobs.”

Every day we read and hear about how green jobs are the future and how we need to bring them into our community.

“There’s no question that interest (in green jobs) is very high,” said John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville. “But the next question is ‘what is a green job?’”

The Janesville Gazette asked Beckord about the kinds of “green jobs” that could replace the manufacturing jobs disappearing in Rock County.

Janesville’s not the only city that wants to land that kind of work, Beckord said. States and communities across the United States are competing fiercely to land jobs that can be defined as green.

What do you mean, green?

This week, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a self-described “think-and-do-tank”, released a report on the future of green jobs in the state.

The report was intended to define a green job and outline the urgency of bringing them into Wisconsin.

In part, the center defines green jobs as:

-- Being based on renewable energy.

-- Including energy efficiency building retrofits, mass transit, smart grids, wind power, solar power, advanced biofuels, environmental remediation, waste management and urban agriculture.

-- Paying more than poverty-level wages, offering benefits and having good working conditions.

-- Looking like many of the jobs Wisconsinites have always held but with added “green skills” or technologies.

-- Requiring more than a high school education but less than a four-year college degree.

Part of the problem of defining a green job is trying to define something that’s yet to be created, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy reported.

The center encourages communities to define “green job,” create a baseline and start measuring growth.

Where they land

Like any business looking for a home, those that paint themselves as “green” have some basic requirements.

They have a “decision matrix like any other business,” Beckord said.

One early key is the cost of things in the supply chain: machines, vendors, transportation, land and wages are just a few, he said.

Another basic need is a talent pool. Companies aren’t just looking for workers. They are looking for workers who can adapt to new technology, he said.

“It’s often a mistake to think that companies are only looking for bodies,” Beckord said. “They’re looking for skill sets. If they were only looking for bodies, they would go to Mexico.”

By working with technical colleges, communities can develop specialized talent pools and be more likely to be noticed when green companies look for new homes, Beckord said.

But it will take more than that, he said.

Nearly every state has an incentive program to land producers of alternative energy, Beckord said.

Many are extremely aggressive, he said.

Yes, Janesville can bring in new “green” manufacturing jobs.

But, “we’re going to need an aggressive participation by the state,” Beckord said. “There’s no question that local government is most ready to entertain that.”

Beckord’s job, and that of local officials, is to spread the word about Janesville’s workforce to potential businesses.

In May, a team from Janesville will go to Chicago to call on site location specialists, people who are hired by companies to find locations for them.

Beckord and others working on local economic development also will attend industry-specific trade shows and work through current business partners to find new leads on businesses, he said.

Is it for real?

As interest grows in green industry, one question remains about its future—and its present:

How real is the demand?

“How big is that market?” Beckord said. “That’s the question everybody’s asking.”

While it might seem like everyone’s talking about the need for high-performance, fuel-efficient cars, it remains to be seen how many people will buy them, he said.

Investing in unproven markets puts the investment risk in the hands of the business owners, Beckord said.

“If you’re investing your own money, it’s hard to get a picture of how rapid growth will be and how sustainable it will be,” he said.