Federal investment needed on energy
This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo mission moon landing and the fulfillment of President John F. Kennedy's bold call for our nation to summon the resources, brainpower and willpower necessary to win the space race. The Apollo missions launched America to the forefront of technological innovation and achievement, ultimately leading to a new generation of American businesses and job creation across a range of industries never before imagined.
Today, our nation faces daunting challenges that will require an equally bold commitment. America's dependence on foreign oil presents grave economic and national security risks. Global warming threatens to upend life as we know it. But just as we did 40 years ago, America has the capacity and the strength to confront these challenges and emerge even stronger as a nation. To do so, we must join together - inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and workers alike - to boost our renewable energy production and end our dependence on foreign energy.
My company represents an Apollo mission success story, made possible by my husband's invention of the digital latching valve that helped propel the Apollo spacecrafts safely into space and back again.
Today, we develop and sell components and systems that allow industries to use less electricity and increase their throughput while saving natural resources and reducing pollution - helping the bottom line while helping the planet.
Many more product developers and manufacturers want to be a part of the emerging green economy and help put Americans back to work, but having been battered by the global recession, we need help making the transition away from oil-dependent production.
That's why business leaders across the nation have joined the Apollo Alliance's coalition of business, labor, environmental and community leaders who are working to build support for a "Make it in America" roadmap to revitalizing our nation's manufacturing capacity and turn it toward clean energy production. Apollo's Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP) lays out clear priorities to put America's workers and businesses on the path to prosperity while slowing the destructive march of climate change.
The federal government should provide funding for technology innovation and to help manufacturers retool their facilities to support these new, clean industries; make production more energy efficient; and build supply chains that keep jobs local. Right now, Congress is considering new energy policy and greenhouse gas limits that will create unprecedented demand for wind, solar and other clean energy technologies. But there's a big problem: 70 percent of renewable technologies used in the United States are produced abroad.
Our economic and national security demand that we keep clean energy production - and good, green jobs - here in the United States.
Creating jobs will only help our economy and our citizens if workers are ready to fill them, which means people need the technical skills to succeed.
The 2007 federal Green Jobs Act is a step in the right direction, but we must double its capacity to help workers meet new demands and enable existing manufacturers who meet domestic production and labor standards to retrain their existing workers for new green jobs.
Achieving this bold agenda will require a bold commitment from our federal government.
The Apollo GreenMAP would establish a presidential task force on clean energy manufacturing to coordinate the government's efforts across agencies and identify opportunities for collaboration that would strengthen America's international competitiveness.
Today, Americans make, sell and buy microchips, medical technology, and even advanced golf balls whose existence is owed to America's investment in the space program. Imagine the new era of jobs and broadly shared prosperity that will result from a similar commitment to producing clean, made-in-America energy.
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Sturman is president of Sturman Industries, Inc., a Woodland Park company that specializes in innovative advanced process controls and systems ranging from clean green mobility and power generation to smart irrigation.
