More than 150 businesses across the country have endorsed a bill to boost domestic clean energy manufacturing, according to the Apollo Alliance.
Endorsers of the legislation represent a broad spectrum of U.S. industry, including manufacturers, distributors, labor unions, and clean energy producers.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s “Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act will ensure that new clean energy jobs stay in the United States, the advocacy group said.
In June, U.S. manufacturers continued to shed jobs at an alarming rate, accounting for nearly 30% of overall U.S. job losses. Though the stimulus and renewable energy policies being considered by Congress–such as a Renewable Energy Standard and a carbon cap–will generate unprecedented demand for clean energy parts and systems, 70% of America’s clean and efficient energy systems are currently produced abroad, the Apollo Alliance said.
“Without a program to support our own domestic manufacturers, policies that create new demand for clean energy will just lead to more imports,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance. “A healthy manufacturing sector is the key to middle class growth in this country. The IMPACT Act will help millions of Americans find work in well-paying clean energy jobs and greatly reduce our dependence on other nations to meet our energy needs.”
The IMPACT Act would provide resources for small and medium-sized manufacturers through a 2-year, $30 billion manufacturing revolving loan fund, which will provide liquidity for domestic firms to become more energy efficient, retool facilities, and retrain workers to produce clean energy products. The Apollo Alliance estimates that the IMPACT Act will generate more than $100 billion in revenue for clean energy businesses while creating 680,000 direct manufacturing jobs and nearly 2 million indirect jobs over five years.
“We can revive American manufacturing through investment in clean energy,” said Senator Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, one of several states that have been hard-hit by the decline of the manufacturing sector. “This bill will help our manufacturers retool, put our auto suppliers back to work, and produce clean energy technologies.”
“Infinia is a unique solar and renewable energy company in that our supply chain consists almost entirely of retooled Midwestern auto supply companies,” said Peter Brehm, vice president of business development for Washington state-based Infinia Corporation. “Our suppliers are a testament to the goal and promise of IMPACT: taking advantage of America’s existing workforce and infrastructure to manufacture the components and systems of the clean energy economy.”
Endorsers include Gamesa (GAM.MC), Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN), Global Wind Systems, Inc., and Altair Nanotechnologies (Nasdaq: ALTI).
In April, Apollo Alliance released its Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP), which served as the blueprint for the IMPACT Act. Apollo’s GreenMAP lays out aggressive steps to scale up production of American-made clean energy systems and components while making U.S. factories more energy efficient.
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