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Green job growth stalling due to lack of fundsBy: Erin Sherbert |
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Programs such as Go Solar have pushed The City to the top of the green and clean industry, but federal funding is falling short. (Examiner file photo) |
San Francisco has taken the lead in the green and clean industry, with programs like Go Solar. As of 2008, there were 11,352 green jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to UC Berkeley.
But green job growth has been crippled in the last year as financing programs and other green loan programs have been dropped or stalled at the federal level, including Property Assessment Clean Energy and the Home Star loan program that would provide rebates.
“There is a lot of excitement around green jobs because people have high hopes,” said Carrie Portis, executive director of SFWorks. “But we might have gotten ahead of ourselves a little bit.”
Green businesses said that their ability to hire was tied to whether or not consumers had access to financing and loans for green projects, according to the survey, which was conducted by SFWorks — a local organization that promotes green business.
This summer, the federal housing agency forced local jurisdictions like San Francisco to suspend cutting edge green financing program that would have created thousands of green jobs citywide and infused money into residential and commercial green building projects.
The suspension was a huge blow to green businesses such as Luminalt, a San Francisco solar installation company, which had to kill two solar water and heat installation projects that were being financed through The City’s Green Finance SF program.
“Jobs are not being created at the pace they otherwise would,” said Jeanine Cotter, the company’s CEO. “It’s slowed down the momentum.”
The survey showed, however, that green businesses are still optimistic about the future of the industry despite having a hard time creating the green jobs they had planned, in part because the demand for green products has hit a lull.
More than 60 Bay Area businesses participated in the survey where 70 percent of respondents said that a lack of consumer demand was the biggest obstacle to growing green jobs locally.
Roughly 40 percent said the lack of commercial demand was holding back their business growth while the lack of working capital was hindering about 30 percent, according to the survey.
Johanna Gregory Partin, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s director of climate protection initiatives, said what the industry really needs now is a thoughtful plan to fuel the green economy.
“We need a more comprehensive green jobs strategy, not this fits and starts we are seeing now,” she said.
esherbert@sfexaminer.com
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