By Gitte Laasby, The Post-Tribune
glaasby@post-trib.com
Indiana could gain between 22,000 and 45,000 jobs and increase household income by $476 to $1,219 by 2020 if Congress passes cap-and-trade legislation and encourages renewable energy and energy efficiency.
That's the major conclusion in a report released Monday by Indiana Businesses for a Clean Energy Economy.
The study also states that Indiana's gross domestic product would increase between $900 million and $2.5 billion between 2010 and 2020. All numbers are compared to the expected growth in Indiana without "green" legislation.
The more conservative numbers are based on requirements in the U.S. House version of a cap-and-trade bill.
The higher numbers are a best-case scenario under more aggressive standards.
For Northwest Indiana, most of the jobs created would be in manufacturing, said author of the study, professor David Roland-Holst of the College of Natural Resources at University of California, Berkeley.
He said increasing energy efficiency in appliances and cars and increasing demand for manufacturing products for renewable energy equipment could lead to a "reindustrialization" in Northwest Indiana.
"In Indiana, there's a substantial job growth in manufacturing," he said. "We've got about half of job creation in metals, vehicles. We're not going to give up cars, we're going to get new cars."
The report is based on what the authors call a "state-of-the-art forecasting model" that takes into account several factors, including the price of carbon under a federal market-based system to limit emissions and changes in energy requirements of buildings and appliances.
The report comes as a U.S. Senate panel is scheduled to start hearings today on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The bill contains similar policies to those advocated in the study.
Opponents of the cap-and-trade bill cite concerns over higher electricity bills and costs of increasing energy efficiency.
The report points out that the economic impact on states more dependent on fossil fuels and energy-intensive industries "will depend on the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of carbon capture and storage ..., the timing of shifts to alternative energy sources, and the effects of a range of energy and climate policies on fossil fuel prices."
