WisBusiness: Panel says green job growth would be helped by faster stimulus cash

By Jim Cryns

For WisBusiness.com

MILWAUKEE — Green job growth in Wisconsin would be helped by faster government distribution of federal stimulus money, a panel of experts told a business event Tuesday.

But panelists at the “Green Jobs: Growing Wisconsin Employment” event at Discovery World generally were optimistic about the future of high-paying jobs linked to a green economy. About 180 people attended the event at Discovery World.

Tom Boldt, CEO of Oscar J. Boldt Construction in Appleton, said to date few of the stimulus dollars have entered the local marketplace. But he said 2010 looks like a strong year. Michael Lovell, dean of engineering at UW-Milwaukee, said federal agencies have been overwhelmed, having to process billions of dollars without additional personnel.

“The federal government does have a role to play,” added Troy Runge, director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative based in the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Runge suggested the government should help jump start efforts and shoulder some of the risk and predicted small businesses would ultimately be a big beneficiary.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett spoke before the panel, declaring: “Being green is a critical component to Milwaukee manufacturing.”

Barrett said issues like climate change must be addressed and the effort will require people with advanced degrees in government and industry. Homes in Milwaukee must become more energy efficient, and the city must further ramp up recycling efforts, Barrett said. He said in the 1960s the corporate and green movements were mutually exclusive and perhaps in opposition to one another.

“Today it’s exactly the opposite,” he said.

Panelists said green jobs will require the right education and technical training.

“I think we’ll see more and more green jobs, and I hope we’ll stop calling them ‘green jobs’ as we incorporate them into more mainstream job market,” said Clay Nesler, vice president, global energy and sustainability, for the building efficiency business of Johnson Controls.

Nesler said federal money should be used to leverage money in the private sector. The federal stimulus bill actually slowed private investment for a time, he said.

“Whenever someone yells ’free money,’ everybody stops what they’re doing,” Nesler said. “It’s like yelling ‘fire’ in a movie theater.”

According to Boldt, Wisconsin has long been a leader in pollution control. “We also have an abundance of fresh water, and that’s not known in a lot of places in the world,” said Boldt, stressing the technology is there now to fuel green job growth.

Sponsors for the event, organized in part, by WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com included: UW-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters,, Midwest Renewable Energy Association, We Energies, the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative and Johnson Controls.