Growing a Green Economy For All

8/8/2019 Growing a Green Economy For All

1/136

Growing a GreenEconomy for AllFrom Green Jobs

to Green Ownership

Deborah B. Warren and Steve Dubb

The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland

June 2010


2/136

About the Authors

Deborah b. Warren has spent much o the past three decades working to promote socialand economic justice in the American South. She was the frst Executive Director o both

the Southern Rural Development Initiative (SRDI) and the Community Reinvestment

Association o North Carolina (CRA-NC). Since 2007, Warren has consulted or a variety

o local, state and national non-proft organizations.

Steve Dubb is the Research Director o The Democracy Collaborative. Dubb is the prin-

cipal author oLinking Colleges to Communities: Engaging the University for Community

Development(2007) andBuilding Wealth: The New Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social

and Economic Problems (2005).


3/136

Growing a Green

Economy or All

From Green Jobs

to Green Ownership

Deborah B. Warren and Steve Dubb

The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland

June 2010


4/136

The Democracy Collaborative

1140-F Tydings Hall

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

Copyright 2010 by The Democracy Collaborative

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en_US
http://users/kathleenhayes/Library/Caches/Adobe%20InDesign/Version%207.0/en_US/InDesign%20ClipboardScrap1.pdfhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en_UShttp://users/kathleenhayes/Library/Caches/Adobe%20InDesign/Version%207.0/en_US/InDesign%20ClipboardScrap1.pdf


5/136

Contents

List o Figures v

Dedication: John Logue, Ohio Employee Ownership Center vi

Acknowledgments vii

Preace ix

Executive Summary 1

Introduction 5

The Promise o Community Wealth Building 7

Mapping the Green Economy 13

Potential or Community Wealth Building 16

Community Wealth Building in the Green Economy Today 19

Case Studies: Innovation in Green Community Wealth Building 39

Austin Energy (Austin, Texas) 39

Washington Electric Co-op (East Montpelier, Vermont) 42Coastal Community Action and the Graylands Wind Energy Project

(Washington state) 43

Windshareand the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative

(Toronto, Ontario) 45

PV Squared (New England) 46

Green Worker Cooperatives (Bronx, New York) 48

Excellence by Owners: The EBO Group Goes Green (Sharon Heights,

Ohio) 49

The ReUse Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 50

WAGES (Oakland, Caliornia) 52

The Evergreen Cooperative Business Network o Cleveland, Ohio 54


6/136

Growing a Green Economy or Alliv

Meeting the Challenges 59

The Role o Intermediaries 69

The Role o Philanthropy 73

The Role o Policy 77

Recommendations 83

Conclusion 97

Appendix A: Interview Subjects and Contributors 99

Appendix B: Selected Resources 101

End Notes 112


7/136

List o Figures

Figure 1: Green Community Wealth Building Model 8

Figure 2: Growth o Community Wealth Building 10

Figure 3: Green EconomySix Leading Sectors 13

Figure 4: Community Wealth in the Green Economy 20

Figure 5: Case Study Overview 40

Figure 6: Facing the Challenges 60

Figure 7: Intermediaries and Their Actions in the Green Economy 70

Figure 8: Philanthropic Approaches to Building Community Wealth

in the Green Economy 74

Figure 9: Policy to Build Community Wealth in the Green Economy 78

Figure 10: Outline o RecommendationsBuilding Community

Wealth in the Green Economy 84


8/136

In memory o John Logue (19472009)

For more than two decades, John Logue was a national leader in employee own-

ership, a primary mechanism or building wealth among working Americans by

broadening the ownership o capital Due to his eorts and those o his colleagues

at the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Ohio has more employee-owned com-

panies and more employee owners per capita than any other state John was also

a leader o the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative in Cleveland, which is proled in

this report We dedicate this report to Johns memory


9/136

Acknowledgments

All reports build on a body o work that precedes them and this work is no excep-

tion Much has been written on green jobs in the last ew years, but a ew works de-

serve special mention One is Raquel Pinderhughes book,Alternative Urban Futures:

Planning or Sustainable Development in Cities, which outlines the concept o green

collar jobs and helped rame The Democracy Collaboratives initial work in this

eld Another is Van Jones book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can

Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, which made a huge contribution in popularizing the

concept o green collar jobs among policymakers A third key work is a paper by

Phil Mattera o Good Jobs First, titledHigh Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New

Green Economy, which acted as the raming paper or a February 2009 Good Jobs,

Green Jobs conerence jointly convened by the United Steelworkers o America

and the Sierra Club

This work aims to build on those works and others by introducing the concept

oownership into the debate Ted Howard, Executive Director o The Democracy

Collaborative, played a key role in raming this project and the Kendeda Fund pro-

vided essential support that made this project possible

In researching and writing this report, we relied on the good will and contribu-

tions o several dozen individuals These practitioners, experts, and scholars par-

ticipated in interviews, suggested additional key people to interview, and helped

us track down important articles and inormation A ull list o interview subjects

and their aliations is included in an appendix

We also grateully acknowledge the help o the ollowing individuals who read

and commented on the entire drat or segments o this report: Dave Heidenreich,

Mark Kapner, Avram Patt, and Bill Stillinger reviewed the case studies on their

businesses, providing valuable eedback and act checking Hilary Abell, Martin

Bourque, Anne Claire Broughton, Courtney DeOreo, Carla Dickstein, John Farrell,

Ted Howard, Marjorie Kelly, Heather McCullough, Raquel Pinderhughes, Corey

Rosen, Bill Schweke, Dan Swinney, and Stockton Williams read and commented on

larger sections or entire drats o the report While it is not possible to ully incor-

porate all o the valuable eedback we received, the nal product is immeasurably

improved due to their contributions All responsibility or errors and omissionsremains, o course, our own

A ew individuals deserve special mention or their contributions Bob Schall,

Rob Sanders, and Mark Fick shared their institutions eorts as CDFIs engaging in


10/136

Growing a Green Economy or Allviii

green lending John Farrell contributed greatly to the development o the policy

sections o the report in particular and thoroughly reviewed the reports policy

section Stockton Williams also provided valuable eedback on the policy section

that resulted in substantial changes The late John Logue steered us to a set o Ohio

ESOPs that are working in the green economy Corey Rosen called attention to the

important eorts o Namast Solar in Colorado Jennier Grove identied power-

ul examples o community ownership in the Northwest Raquel Pinderhughes

persuasively urged us to look at businesses ocusing on local markets and hiring

the most disenranchised Carla Dickstein, in addition to sharing what Coastal

Enterprises has learned about the green economy, gave us her valuable insights

about potential ownership structures or new green enterprises Marjorie Kelly pro-

vided substantive comments that greatly improve the readability o the report Bill

Schweke and Dan Swinney called our attention to the need to highlight the role

o manuacturing in the green economy and to more clearly dene community

wealth building Courtney DeOreo and Heather McCullogh gave valuable sugges-

tions regarding ways to improve the overall presentation o the work

Thanks are also due to Hilary Abell, Martin Bourque, Jennier Cimperman,

Sonia Picardo, Mick Pulsier, and Bill Stillinger, who provided photos o their work

on the ground and to Tom Crot who shared an advance copy o his new book, Up

rom Wall Street: The Responsible Investment Alternative, which assisted us greatly in

our discussion o green investing

Lastly, we would like to thank our partners who watched us work on the report

rom beginning to end Debby Warren would like to acknowledge the patience and

support o Gregg Warren Steve Dubb would like to acknowledge the love, riend-

ship, and support o Barbara Berglund


11/136


12/136

Growing a Green Economy or Allx

The emerging green

economy . . . represents

an historic moment to or-

ganize those jobs so that

they signicantly broaden

ownership over wealth and

capital. In short:green jobs

you can own.

By building on numerous practical precedents and expanding our vision be-

yond green jobs togreen ownership, we can oer Americas workers living wage (or

better) employment and the chance to build their wealth and assets through an

equity stake in the businesses in which they work This report argues that joining

the vision o the green economy with practical and well-established mechanisms

and strategies o community wealth building and broadly shared ownership can

also result in new community-stabilizing strategies: innovations

that can begin to turn back the tide o disinvestment that has

overwhelmed our urban areas in recent decades

We believe that there has been ar too little discussion within

policy circles, the labor movement, and among environmental-

ists about how to join green jobs to ownership opportunities

Without such a strategy, the advent o the green economy may

result in business as usual: the use o public unds to subsidize

large corporations that invest in green industries and technology

That may help reduce the nations reliance on ossil uels But the

promise o a more equitable green economy will have been squandered At best,

activists may be able to ensure that some o these jobs will be high road by using

union contracts to enorce better wages, benets, and labor conditions

While supportive o such strategies, this report argues that there is another ap-

proach to creating an equitable green economy, one that can powerully com-

plement existing high road eorts The new approachwhich we call community

wealth buildinginvolves empowering workers and communities to become owners

in the new economy

The pages that ollow contain many examples and case studies o real-lie green

jobs and ownership strategies now growing around the country Simply by way o

example, they include: an Ohio employee-owned developer o hardware or the

solar and wind industries; a network o green housecleaning worker co-ops in the

San Francisco Bay Area that pays living wages and ownership dividends to their

worker-owners; a rural electric co-op in Vermont that gets 100 percent o its power

rom renewable sources owned by 10,000 local residents

Many o these eorts are in an early stage o development and only a ew have

moved to a signicant scale or are in the manuacturing sector, where jobs are typi-

cally higher paid and there are true career paths Nonetheless, building orward on

the basis o current experience, we believe there is now a real opportunity to createsignicant momentum around a genuinely new model o large-scale worker and

community-beneting green enterprises


13/136

Growing a Green Economy or All xi

The new approachwhich

we call community wealth

buildinginvolves empow-

ering workers and commu-

nities to become owners in

the new economy.

In our own community building work in Cleveland, Ohio, The Democracy

Collaborative has teamed with The Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Employee

Ownership Center, Shorebank Enterprise Cleveland and many o the citys ma-

jor anchor institutions to create a network o Evergreen Cooperatives that are

owned by their workers and anchored in the citys low-income neighborhoods

Each business is committed to being the greenest in its sectora commercial-

scale, 10-million pound, health care bed linen laundry; a community-based solar

energy generating company; the nations largest urban ood production green-

house These green jobs/green ownership companies are the rst o a projected

network o 10 Evergreen cooperatives planned or development

and designed to employ 500 over the next ve years A larger goal

is to create 5,000 such jobs in Cleveland in the coming years

Growing a Green Economy or All seeks to build on exam-

ples such as these and answer the question: How might green

jobs be developed to provide jobs that you can own in commu-

nities across the country? In this report, we examine the present

use o community wealth building orms o ownership in the

green economy and highlight 10 case studies in particular or more in-depth

analysis We then identiy some o the critical challenges that these eorts ace,

along with steps being taken to meet those challenges Finally, we suggest ways in

which policymakers, nonprot intermediaries, and oundations can assist and lend

a critical helping hand in ostering a new green jobs and green ownership rame-

work or the green economy


14/136


15/136

We dene community

wealth building enterprises

as entities in which owner-

ship is broadly shared, lo-

cally rooted, and directed

toward the common good.

Executive Summary

This study examines the potential o the growing green economy to support strate-

gies that build community wealth and thus ensure a more equitable distribution

o income and resources in our country Community wealth building strategies

spread the benets o business ownership widely, thus improving the ability o

communities and their residents to own assets, anchor jobs, expand public ser-

vices and ensure local economic stability We dene community wealth building

enterprises as entities in which ownership is broadly shared, locally rooted, and

directed toward the common good Community wealth building ownership orms

include cooperatives, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies, munici-

pal enterprises, non-prot social enterprises, community devel-

opment corporations, and community development nancial

institutions For this report we interviewed more than sixty key

leaders in the community wealth building, renewable generation

and energy eciency elds

We dene the green economy as those industries that con-

tribute toward ecological sustainability, especially through the

reduction o carbon emissions, as well as the adoption o broad-

er sustainable resource use practices In examining the potential o community

wealth building orms o business in the green economy, we look at six key sectors:

renewable energy, green building, clean transportation, waste management, land

use and green nancing

Encouragingly, we nd community wealth building enterprises in all six sec-

tors, including electric cooperatives that invest in renewables, municipal utilities

that support solar ownership, employee-owned businesses that engage in green

manuacturing, worker co-ops that install solar panels, social enterprises that dom-

inate the recycling industry in their communities and non-prot developers that

are taking the lead on greening aordable housing Ten o these examples are pro-

led in the reports Case Studies section We also nd non-prot intermediariesexperimenting with carbon markets, community development lenders re-directing

their portolios to seize new green opportunities, and state pension unds investing

in energy eciency

In addition to highlighting this activity, this report also identies signicant

challenges that those who seek to build an equitable green economy ace Among

these are the ollowing:


16/136

Growing a Green Economy or All2

Access to appropriate fnancing: The ederal governments reliance on tax

credits places public or nonprot rms that cannot use the credits at a consider-

able disadvantage

Regulatory barriers to community innovation: The process o approv-

ing a community-owned wind project, or example, entails thirty-three steps

This can take three to ve years o a non-prot or cooperative enterprises time

High ront-end costs: Whether it is an aordable housing developer seeking

to do its rst green building project or a new employee-owned business seeking

to raise start-up capital, ventures ace substantial ront-end legal, design and

coordination costs

Unstable markets: The lack o long-term and predictable policies and

programs that oster stable demand or renewable energy has hindered new

investment

Insufcient inrastructure. Intermediaries play a critical role in building

organizational capacity However, they have only begun to catch up with the

need to support green economic development in community wealth building

sectors

Hesitant philanthropy: To date, only a handul o oundations are active-

ly assisting community wealth building organizations to grow in the green

economy

The challenges more egalitarian orms o business ownership ace in gaining

ground in renewable energy and other sectors o the growing green economy are

real At the same time, there is also a real and historic opening at this time to ex-

pand economic opportunity and reduce wealth and income dis-

parities, while advancing environmental sustainability Among

these opportunities are:

Community ownership o wind production: In

Denmark today, roughly ve percent o the population

(which would be the equivalent o 15 million people in the

United States) owns a stake in a windmill guild or coopera-

tive This ownership pattern requires a eed-in-tari system

that provides guaranteed prices or renewable energy Such a

policy regime can be duplicated in the United States Indeed, in 2009,Gainesville, Florida and the state o Vermont both passed laws establishing

eed-in-tari policies

Public and co-op power company procurement o renewable energy:

Today, more than a quarter o all US electricity is distributed via cooperative or

public power companies These entities can use their market power to promote

there is also a real and his-

toric opening at this time

to expand economic oppor-

tunity and reduce wealth

and income disparities,

while advancing environ-

mental sustainability.


17/136

Growing a Green Economy or All 3

Solar energy is a growing

eld in which community-

oriented orms o business

have excelled.

sustainability, with the prots generated supporting their members In Austin,

Texas, or instance, Austin Energy has shited 12 percent o its energy purchas-

ing to renewables In other cases, co-ops and municipal energy companies have

become direct renewable energy producers

Employee ownership in solar energy and recycling: Solar energy is a

growing eld in which community-oriented orms o business have excelled

For instance, Boulder-based Namast Solar is a 100-percent,

employee-owned (ESOP) company that has gained an estimat-

ed 20-percent share o the Colorado solar installation market

Recycling also has strong employee-owned examples Employee-

owned Recology, based in San Francisco, is a recycling industry

leader that serves more than 50 communities in Caliornia

Leveraging existing employee-owned company assets: Employee stockownership plan (ESOP) companies today employ 137 million Americans or

roughly nine percent o the total labor orce They represent a much higher

concentration o workers engaged in manuacturing These businesses have

over $900 billion in assets which can be reinvested in growing green sectors

o the economy, capturing the economic benets or their employee owners

For example, in Sharon Heights, Ohio, the EBO Group, whose business once

ocused almost entirely on providing drive systems or the coal industry, now

does nearly hal o its business in the clean transportation, solar, recycling and

medical equipment sectors

Developing cooperative networks: Network building is a proven strategy

or supporting community enterprise In the San Francisco Bay area, Womens

Action or Gains in Economic Security (WAGES) has developed a network o ve

worker co-ops that provide housecleaning services that avoid petrochemical

cleaning agents, while providing living wages and ownership dividends to their

immigrant women owners

Leveraging the economic power o local anchor institutions: In Ohio,

the Cleveland Foundation has helped catalyze a network o green worker co-

operative businesses that aim to generate wealth or workers while promoting

area-wide sustainability goals Each o these Evergreen cooperatives is closely

linked to the procurement needs o the citys major educational and health sec-

tor institutions

The report concludes with a series o recommendations aimed at intermedi-

aries, policymakers, oundations, and practitioners to realize the promise o ex-

panding wealth-generating opportunities or working Americans Among the

recommendations:


18/136


Intermediaries (trade associations, regional organizations, and advocacy

and research institutes) can play an important role by gathering data, ostering

learning communities (ie, peer-to-peer networks and inormation exchange),

supporting research and development, engaging in advocacy, and acilitating

the building o new partnerships Intermediaries can also work across industry

lines at the national and state levels to orge advocacy coalitions or their mem-

bers that underscore the importance o community wealth building and equity

in ederal, state and local green economy initiatives

Policymakers can help redress the unequal playing eldin part, a result o

the nations current system o public subsidies that uses tax credits that only

or-prot entities can employ An obvious step to take would be to creatively

target some o President Obamas proposed $150 billion ederal investment in

renewable energy and energy eciency to adequately und the Clean RenewableEnergy Bond (CREB) program Policymakers could also help nance public and

nonprot investment, ensure equitable access to the grid, create stable markets,

and mandate set-asides or community groups in government-unded projects

Local and state governments can also use existing nancing tools, such as cre-

atively leveraging their pension unds and employing bonding and taxing au-

thority or similar purposes

Foundations can productively use their positioning and nancial capital to

support place-based community wealth building initiatives, promote policy

change, build capacity through intermediaries and use their mission-related in-

vestment tools to bring in private and public unders Foundations can advance

community wealth building in the green economy by seeding demonstrations,prodding and supporting intermediaries, sponsoring research, convening part-

ners to build cross-sector alliances, supporting advocacy, and helping leverage

public and private nancing

Practitioners are the leaders o the thousands o enterprises that together

orm the nations growing network o non-prot, public, cooperative, and em-

ployee-owned businesses To prevail in the green economy, practitioners will

need to act in an entrepreneurial ashion to seize the available opportunities

At an external level, this requires advocating or general policies that support

green job training or create opportunities or green business It also means en-

gaging in organizing, education, and advocacy with trade associations, ounda-

tions, and policymakers regarding the essential role that community wealth

building orms o ownership can play in ensuring that the wealth and income

resulting rom public investments in green economic sectors are widely shared

At an internal level, this requires making the essential investments in research

and development; training o boards, managers and sta; and business plan-

ning to identiy viable market niches


19/136

IntroductionMy vision now is a greencompletely green South Bronx, with businesses

throughout the area that are owned and run by people who are living in

the area together, where the workers are actually the owners o a business

together. And thats something that we can spread throughout.1

Omar Freilla, Founder, Green Worker Cooperatives (Bronx, NY)

We are looking at a new paradigm or creating wealth in the Cleveland

community. We will create a network o or-proft businesses that will hire

rom the neighborhoods and the employees will own the businesses that

are created.

India Pierce Lee, Program Director, The Cleveland Foundation2

Eorts to build a green economy are at the center o a growing movement to both

curb global warming and create good jobs and healthy communities President

Obama has called or a $150 billion investment in renewable energy and energy

eciency over the next decade The Apollo Alliance, a coalition

o labor, environmental, business and community leaders, argues

or spending $500 billion in this same period and claims such

an investment would create more than ve million high quality

green-collar jobs3

The green economy is growing in the United States despite a

lack o consistent policy ocus and investment A 2009 study by

the Pew Charitable Trust attributes more than 770,000 jobs gen-

erated by nearly 70,000 businesses to this sector A study written three years earlier

or the US Conerence o Mayors arrived at a similar estimate and projects that,

by 2038, an estimated 42 million jobs can be created, representing 10 percent o

new job growth Although green jobs represent only hal o one percent o all jobstoday, their growth outpaces overall job growth; according to Pew, between 1998

and 2007, green jobs grew at an annual rate o 91 percent versus overall growth

o 37 percent4

Eorts to build a green

economy are at the center

o a growing movement to

both curb global warming

and create good jobs and

healthy communities.


20/136


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel

Peace Prize with ormer Vice President Al Gore in 2007, has estimated that the

United States and other developed countries will need to cut carbon emissions by

at least 80 percent by 2050 in order to limit climate change to

minimally acceptable levels5 Such a transormation will be an

enormous challenge At the same time, it is also a tremendous

opportunity to both recongure existing industries and create

entirely new ones

It is well known that the United States economy, although

highly productive, has been markedly unequal in the distribu-

tion o the benets o that productivity Even today, poverty rates in the United

States remain twice as high as those o most comparable nations While economic

inequality decreased in the decades between the Great Depression and President

Johnsons Great Society, these numbers began to take a dramatic turn or the worse

by the late 1970s For three decades, wages have stagnated while wealth accumu-

lated increasingly at the top Today, income and wealth inequality in the United

States have approached levels not seen in America since the years immediately

preceding the Great Depression6

It is in this political and economic context that current policy eorts to create

green jobs must be scrutinized Our nation stands at an infection point The eco-

nomic reset that the nation sorely needs opens the possibility

or designing a new economy in which wealth, income, and eco-

nomic opportunity are more broadly shared

As noted above, the Obama administration has proposed to

spend $150 billion to promote green economic development

over the next ten years7 I it chooses, the nation can continue

on its present path o subsidizing multinational corporations to

invest in green industries But in that case, even i the use o ossil

uels is reduced, the likely eects on reducing wealth and income

disparities will be, at best, meager, as the prots earned through these enterprises

will accumulate at the topand the promise o a more equitable green economy,

as touted by Freilla and others, will have been squandered

The economic reset that

the nation sorely needs

opens the possibility or de-signing a new economy in

which wealth, income, and

economic opportunity are

more broadly shared.

Although green jobs

represent only hal o one

percent o all jobs today,

their growth outpaces over-

all job growth.


21/136


The Promise o Community Wealth BuildingThe need to ensure equity in the emerging green economy has attracted consider-

able attention The most common approach advocated to address this issue in-

volves the use o government-enorced project labor standards, job training pro-

grams, and unionization to create high road jobs Phil Mattera o Good Jobs First,

or example, writes that:

A prosperous green uture is possible only i public ocials make wider and

more aggressive use o the tools at their disposalincluding labor standards

or subsidy recipients, living wage rules or government contractors, prevail-

ing wage requirements, best value contracting, and project labor agreements

to hold employers accountable or creating good jobs Finally, government

must protect the right to organizea right that, or many workers, provides

their best hope o a air wage and a voice on the job8

Historically, unions and labor standards have played an important role in equal-

izing power at the workplace and reducing income disparities However, the rate

o unionization in the private sector in the United States has declined over the

past several decades rom 355 percent in 1945 to 72 percent in 2009 While this

decline may be bottoming out (beore the Great Recession reversed recent gains,

private sector unionization had climbed slightly in 2007 and 2008), the prospects

or a labor strategy by itsel to achieve equity in the green economy are limited

Indeed, Mattera notes that many green sector jobs, such as the manuacture o

wind blade components, can be shited oshore, making union strategies vulner-

able to the same management outsourcing strategies that have weakened labor

generally9

This report argues that there is another approach to creating an equitable green

economy, one that can powerully complement existing high road eorts This

approach, which we call community wealth building, involves empowering workers

and communities to become owners in the new economytangibly embedding

capital in community In short:green jobs you can own10

Community wealth building businesses take two primary orms First: local

publics can employ a variety o or-prot and non-prot institutional structure

to build assets in neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities Second: govern-

ment can act in an entrepreneurial ashion to help create anchored jobs (that

dont get up and leave to pursue prot maximization) and spur locally based capi-tal ormation In both approaches, individuals and various public groups gain di-

rect or indirect benets by building community wealth through direct business

ownership


22/136


Although largely unnoticed, over the past ew decades, there has been a steady

build-up o a wide range o new institutional models, orms o community-sup-

portive economic enterprises that anchor jobs in communities and, by broadly

distributing resources generated by these businesses, ensure that wealth is more

equitably shared throughout the communities in which these businesses operate

The growth o community wealth building in recent decades, discussed below, is

impressive, particularly when juxtaposed against the declining numbers or union-

ization cited above

Forty years ago, there were ewer than 200 employee-owned companies in the

United States with less than 250,000 members The community development -

nancial institution (CDFI) industry had not been launched Few community devel-

Needforgreenjobs

Wealthandincome

inequality

Enhancedcommunityeconomicstability&localtaxrevenues

Greenjobsyoucan

own

Supportgroupsthat

anchorbusinesseslocally

Commitmenttogrowgreeneconomy

Investpublicassetstohelpnanceeorts

Communitywind

Publiclyownedutilities

Consumerco-cops

Tribalenterprise

Workerco-ops

ESOPs

Socialenterprise

CDFIs

Nonprotintermediaries

Pensioninvestments

Public Policy

Issues

Green jobsand wealth

building

Figure 1: Green Community Wealth Building Model


23/136


opment corporations (CDCs) existed State public pension unds did not yet utilize

economically targeted investments

Today, the National Center or Employee Ownership reports that 137 million

Americans work at roughly 11,400 businesses where they own all or part o the

company through employee stock ownership plans The value o these accounts

was $9225 billion as o the end o 2006, or an average o $67,500 per worker There

are now over 4,600 CDCs nationwide that develop on average

86,000 units o aordable housing and 875 million square eet

o commercial real estate a year Between 1998 and 2005, CDC

business development eorts helped create an estimated 527,000

jobs Community development nancial institutions manage as-

sets o over $25 billion In 2006, these groups nanced aordable

housing or 69,000 housing units and helped create or maintain

35,000 jobs More than hal o the states now allocate a portion

o their pension unds to economically targeted investments, which now total

ten o billions o dollars Also, older orms o community ownership continue to

thriveeverything rom the 2,000-plus publicly owned utility companies span-

ning the nation to a cooperative movement in which 130 million Americans par-

ticipate, which has $3 trillion in assets, generates $650 billion in annual revenue,

and employs over 850,00011

Community wealth building can take many orms: Non-proft social enter-

prisesare non-prot organizations that develop businesses both to make money

and to urther their mission; social enterprise has oten been pursued by non-

prot organizations as a strategy to develop environmentally benecial businesses

Community development corporations (CDCs)originated in the 1960s as a revitaliza-

tion strategy that would employ non-prot, community-based rms to develop

locally controlled assets; an increasing number o CDCs, led in part by the action

o CDC intermediary organizations such as Enterprise Community Partners, have

been active supporters o green building in aordable housing and transit oriented

development

Community development fnancial institutions (CDFIs) have developed more re-

cently than CDCs CDFI is a general term that reers to a range o community-based

nancial institutions including community development banks, credit unions,

loan unds, venture capital unds, and microenterprise loan unds CDFIs aim to

ll capital needs that are not served by conventional sources o nance, a problemthat historically has beenparticularly severe in minority communities where bank

redlining has made raising local capital dicult Today, an increasing number o

CDFIs are providing nancing or the development o new green sector businesses

The growth o community

wealth building in recent

decades is impressive, par-

ticularly when juxtaposed

against the declining num-

bers or unionization


24/136


Figure 2: Growth o Community Wealth Building

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0

3

6

9

12

15


25/136


Employee ownership has dierent roots than some o the other community

wealth building approaches Unlike the approaches named above, which are large-

ly dominated by nonprot rms, employee ownership is a or-prot orm o busi-

ness that provides an important tool or building local community wealth In these

enterprises workers own either all or part o the company The most common in-

volves nancing by workers pension contributions in the orm o an employee stock

ownership plan (ESOP).

The ESOP is owned in whole or part by its employees through an employee pen-

sion plan An ESOP is a tax instrument created by a 1974 ederal law that enables

employees to acquire shares o their company over time as part o their retirement

benets For employees to acquire shares, they do not need to purchase stock

Rather, the company unds the stock ownership plan by making tax-deductible

contributions out o uture prots Oten ESOPs are ormed when a amily busi-

ness owner wishes to retire, as the ESOP provides a tax-advantaged way to exit

while preserving the company in the hands o the amily business owners ormer

employees Federal tax law provides incentives or owners o closely held compa-

nies to sell to an ESOP, as well as to the companies maintaining them A 100-per-

cent ESOP-owned company, or instance, can elect to be an S corporation and not

pay any income tax As a business, the ESOPs primary responsibility is to earn a

prot Yet the ownership structure o the ESOP itsel promotes critical social pur-

poses In particular, the ESOP mechanism has enabled thousands o amily busi-

ness owners to sell their companies to their employees, thereby both expanding

employee assets and helping preserve the long-term economic (and tax) base o

their communities12

Not all community wealth-building strategies have emerged in recent decades

The rst modern cooperative was ounded in Rochdale, England (near Manchester)

in 1844 Cooperatives, which have existed in the United States

or over a century, have begun to show renewed vitality in recent

years Based on the principle o one member, one vote, co-ops

can be structured in many dierent ways, including worker co-ops

(where workers own the business), consumer co-ops (or instance,

most grocery co-ops ollow this orm), producer co-ops (most com-

mon in agriculture), or purchasing co-ops (typically used to pool

the purchasing power o small businesses, such as hardware stores) In recent years,

growth among purchasing co-ops has been particularly strong, with the number opurchasing co-ops increasing more than ve-old over the past 15 years13

Another older orm o community wealth building that has been active in the

green economy is the municipally owned enterprise Combined, cooperatives and

Combined, cooperatives

and public power compa-

nies currently control one

quarter o the U.S. elec-

tricity market.


26/136


public power companies currently control one quarter o the US electricity mar-

ket, making them well positioned to lead the transition to renewable sources o

energy, with prots accruing to the benet o their member- or citizen-owners

Related to all o this is a dramatic change in how state and local governments

deal with capital investment to achieve public goals, and how they steer invest-

ment capital to promote local asset building Municipalities and states are increas-

ingly becoming active community investors through economically targeted invest-

ments The Caliornia state pension und CalPERS, or example, through its Green

Development Fund, had, by the end o 2008, placed $725 million in high per-

ormance and sustainable oce buildings, $419 million in envi-

ronmental screened public equity unds and $11 billion in 112

private clean energy companies14

The community wealth building approach oers some critical

advantages rom a policy perspective First, it makes sense in a

period when government aces growing scal constraints Because community-

wealth strategies generate their own income, they are able to make ecient use

o limited public resources and, indeed, in the long-term can help generate jobs,

wealth, and tax revenue to help nance public services

A second advantage o this approach is that most o these eortsemployee-

owned rms, community development corporations, municipally owned business-

es, social enterprise, or co-opsare deeply tied to the stability o specic localities

Such companies also contribute to the local tax base, thereby helping to provide

resources or local services in a time o great scal pressure

Moreover, because the jobs created are literally owned by those who do them

or by the larger community, there is ar greater certainty that the jobs and enter-

prises created, once generated, will stay in the community, greatly reducing the

likelihood o uture outsourcing For similar reasons, these enterprises are very

likely to provide living wages and decent working conditions to their employees

Such enterprises, i encouraged and supported by appropriate government policy

could play an important, even central, role in building the green economyand in

ensuring that the green economy truly does reclaim our nations so-called throw-

away communities15

Employee-owned rms are

deeply tied to the stability

o specic localities.


27/136


Mapping the Green EconomyAlthough denitions o the green economy vary, or the purposes o this study, we

dene the green economy as the group o sectors that promote overall ecological

sustainability, especially through their contribution to reducing carbon emissions,

but also more broadly through the incorporation o sustainable resource use busi-

ness practices16 For the purposes o this analysis, we have chosen to employ the

typology provided by green industry consultant and writer Karl Buckart and o-

cus on six specic key industries that contribute to this emerging green economy:

renewable energy, green building, clean transportation, waste management, land

management and green nancial markets17

The renewable energy sector includes industries that produce electricity

rom natural resources such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass

Renewable

EnergyEnergygenerationfromsolar,wind,geothermal,biomass

GreenBuildingNewconstruction,retrotting,weatherization,waterrecycling,

lowenergyuseappliances,stormwaterplanning

Clean

Transportation

Low-carbonfuelR&D,hybridvehicledevelopment,ride-share,

publictransit,transit-orienteddevelopment

Waste

Management

Recycling,municipalwaste,materialssalvageandreuse,

deconstruction,toxicsremediation,browneldsclean-up

LandUseLocallygrownfood,organicagriculture,carbonsequestration,

urbangardening,farmersmarkets

GreenInvestmentCarbontrading,greenbanking,clean-techinvestments,green

investmentservices

Sector Selected induStrieS within Sector

Figure 3: Green EconomySix Leading Sectors


28/136


and biouels such as ethanol and biodiesel18 In 2009, renewable energy was re-

sponsible or nearly ten percent o US energy production with hydropower ac-

counting or about one-third o that amount Excluding hydropower (the produc-

tion o which dates back to the Great Depression and is dominated by large ederal

projects) and ethanol, wood waste accounted or 543 percent ollowed by wind

at 191 percent, geothermal at 10 percent, solar at 25 percent and biodiesel at 18

percent, with other renewables making up the remaining 123 percent19

The green building sector: The built environment has an enormous impact

on our energy and raw materials use, waste output, carbon emissions and water

consumption Buildings in the United States consume 72 percent o all electricity

used, produce 38 percent o all carbon emissions and account

or 14 percent o potable water consumption Green building is

the practice o creating structures and using processes that are

environmentally responsible and resource-ecient throughout a

buildings lie cycle rom siting to design, construction, operation,

maintenance, renovation and deconstruction Green buildings

eciently use energy and water, protect the occupants health

and improve worker productivity and reduce waste, pollution

and environmental degradation The US Green Building Council has developed

the most common standards used to assess building resource development through

its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system20 Both

retrotting and weatherization are subsets o the green building industry Also sub-

sumed under the green building industry category are water management activities

ranging rom water recycling, low-use xtures and appliances, gray water recovery,

low-water landscaping and irrigation, and stormwater planning

The clean transportation sector is a critical part o the green economy since

transportation contributes approximately one third o all US carbon emissions

Included in this industry are the research, development and dis-

tribution o uels that are lower in carbon (ethanol and biodie-

sel, or example) and cleaner and more ecient vehicles (electric

and hybrid cars, among other innovations) Increasing transpor-

tation choices is another primary component o this industry

This strategy ocuses on improving and expanding public transit,

encouraging more compact communities with access to transpor-

tation alternatives, and the development o ride-share and fexprograms21

Waste management is a diverse sector within the green economy includ-

ing recycling; municipal waste; materials salvage and reuse; deconstruction; toxics

The clean transportation

sector is a critical part o

the green economy since

transportation contributes

approximately one third o

all U.S. carbon emissions.

The built environment has

an enormous impact on

our energy and raw materi-

als use, waste output, car-

bon emissions and water

consumption.


29/136


remediation; brownelds clean-up; and related businesses that ocus on waste and/

or energy use reduction through the use o energy- and resource-ecient produc-

tion processes Sustainable packaging is also a major component and is the astest

growing segment o the global packaging industry, expected to corner 32 percent

o the total market by 201422 Much o the increased activity in green packaging

has been driven by Wal-Mart, which unveiled its Packaging Scorecard in November

2006 Implemented in February 2008, this set o metrics is used by the giant retailer

to evaluate the packaging used by suppliers, including transportation costs23

The land use sector o the green economy is ocused on three strategies: pro-

moting locally grown ood, reducing/eliminating the use o chemicals in growing

and harvesting resources rom the land and air, and promoting the sequestration o

carbon through natural sinks. While organic agriculture has been an increasingly

common practice in the United States since the 1970s, the promotion o locally

grown ood is a ar more recent phenomenon, particularly the practices o urban

gardening and the extraordinary growth o armers markets Financial and techni-

cal activities that enable landowners to preserve and restore natural carbon sinks

such as orests and soil remain a very recent sectoral strategy24

Green investment: The lack o consistent policy ocus on and investment in

the green economy by the ederal government has made the development o in-

novative and fexible nancing tools by the private and non-prot sectors dicult

Though venture capital, at least until the current recession, has been very interest-

ed in clean-tech enterprises, philanthropic and pension invest-

ments have been quite limited Activities that have developed in

the green nancing sector include carbon trading, green banking

and green investment services25 A recent innovation in this area

is the introduction o an Energy Eciency Opportunity Fund, a

collaboration o Living Cities and Green For All Announced in

September 2009, the partners aim to raise a $20 million und,

which they estimate could leverage $200 million in nancing or

building energy retrots26

An important set o activities that is still too recent to call

a sector is the growing educational inrastructure or training

workers in the green economy, within community colleges and

through job-training apprenticeship programs specically A pioneer here is the

Oakland Jobs Corps, a project o the Ella Baker Center and the Oakland ApolloAlliance, based on thePathways out o Povertygreen collar job training and place-

ment model developed by Raquel Pinderhughes, that graduated its rst class o

40 low-income adults rom a nine-month training program or jobs in the energy

The lack o consistent

policy ocus on and in-vestment in the green

economy by the ederal

government has made

the development o in-

novative and fexible

nancing tools by the

private and non-prot

sectors dicult.


30/136


eciency, green construction and solar industries in June 2009 Another early

adopter o green training, ollowing a similar model, is Cuyahoga Community

College in the Cleveland, Ohio area, which in 2008 launched its Green Academy

program27

Potential or Community Wealth BuildingThere is no question that the green economy is markedly growing, although pro-

jections widely diverge on the actual number o jobs that will be createdrom as

low as 42 million jobs28 to as high as 37 million jobs over the next thirty years29

A large percentage o these jobs will be in manuacturingmaking components

or renewable energy generation; construction and weatherization; waste manage-

ment; and reight transportation Wind energy, or instance, currently provides

less than two percent o the nations electricity, but it is also the nations astest

growing renewable energy source A 2007 study by the US Department o Energy

concluded that with appropriate policies and the use o appropriate technologies,

the United States could realistically generate 20 percent o the nations electricity

rom this source by 203030

Large sums o public unds are slated or investment in clean energy and en-

ergy eciency projects and programs The 2009 economic stimulus bill provided

or $59 billion in energy spending, including unds or greening ederal acilities

and weatherizing publicly owned as well as subsidized aordable

housing stock The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP),

which is administered by nearly a thousand non-prot commu-

nity action agencies across the country, has received a twenty-

old increase in resources31

What are the opportunities or investing these resources into

policies, programs and enterprises that can substantially create

wealth-building opportunities or a broad spectrum o people

and communities? In Denmark, about ve percent o the population now owns a

stake in a windmill guild or cooperative32 I we extrapolate those numbers to the

United States today, we could expect to see 15 million people owning a piece o

the wind generation industrysaving on their energy bills and selling watts back

to the grid These projections are not unoundedtoday nearly 25 percent o ournations population buys its electricity rom publicly and/or cooperatively owned

utilities

There is no question thatthe green economy is mark-

edly growing, although

projections widely diverge

on the actual number o

jobs that will be created.


31/136


32/136


33/136

Community WealthBuilding in the GreenEconomy Today

[Community wealth building enterprises] get it rom the mission perspec-

tive and they are accustomed to being good stewards o . . . environmental

resources.

Dana Bourland, Vice President, Enterprise Community Partners

Beneath the radar screen, community wealth building orms o ownership

are gaining ground in the green economy. Community wind has established

a strong oothold in Minnesota. Many publicly owned utilities and consumer

co-ops, which combined presently control one quarter o the U.S. electricity

market, are shiting to renewable energy. Overall, a broad range o commu-

nity entities are involved, including tribal utilities, worker co-ops, employee

stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies, social enterprises, community devel-

opment corporations (CDCs), community development fnancial institutions

(CDFIs), and public pension unds.

Community wealth building enterprises can be ound throughout the growing

green economy As Bourland emphasizes, in some sectors, such as the green build-

ing sector where Enterprise Community Partners works, community enterprises

play a leading role Figure 4 highlights some o these eorts

Community WindThe concept o community wind encompasses locally owned wind projects thatsell or oset energy to the electric grid Community members must have a direct

nancial stake in the project beyond land leases or local tax revenues Denmark,

the world leader in per capita wind production, generates about 30 percent o


34/136


Figure 4: Community Wealth in the Green Economy

Communitywind27%oftotalMinnesotawindenergy

production

PubliclyownedutilitiesUsepolicy&nancialcapitalinvestmentto

raiserenewableenergydemand

Consumer&producerco-ops11%oftotalelectricityforco-opsis

renewable

Tribalenterprise Siouxwindturbine:80%ofcasinospower

WorkercooperativesBusinessgrowthingreencleaning,solar,

re-use

ESOPcompaniesHigh-visibilitybusinessesinsolar,recycling,

environmentalmonitoringsystems

Socialenterprise Prominentindeconstructionandrecycling

Communitydevelopment

corporationsLeadroleingreenaordablehousing

Communitydevelopmentnancial

institutions

Buildingcapacityinenvironmentallending

lines

Non-protnancingintermediariesUsegreentagstonancesolar&wind

energy

Publicpensionfunds$2.444billioninvestmentthroughCalPERS

GreenDevelopmentFundalone

community wealth Strategy Selected highlightS


35/136


its electricity rom wind, almost entirely produced by small clusters o mid-

sized turbines primarily owned by community residents and collective entities

Consequently, about ve percent o the Danish populationwell over a quarter

o a million peopleown a stake in a wind turbine or wind arm Germany is

second to Denmark in per capita wind production, and like Denmark, has encour-

aged this wind ownership model with the result that about 30 percent o installed

turbines are owned by associations o landowners and local residents Community

wind turbines power generation also provides a valuable return to their owners In

Denmark, or instance, mandated pricing (eed-in-taris) ensures

that community owners earn back the value o the wind turbines

in eight years and earn a 25-percent return ater 10 years34

In Minnesota, where state policy encourages local ownership,

27 percent o the states wind capacity is owned by community-

based enterprises, according to Senior Researcher John Farrell o

the Institute o Local Sel-Reliance This compares to a national

average o just one percent In Oregon and Iowa, the state governments have tar-

geted incentives to community wind projects35 Community wind projects come in

a number o orms These include ownership by landowners, school districts, local

governments, non-prots, cooperatives and Native American tribes

The largest community wind project in the United States is located in

Washingtons Columbia River Gorge and is a cooperative comprised o publicly

owned utilities and non-prot organizations Costing $360 million, this wind in-

stallation creates enough electricity to power 38,000 homes More typical is the

Minwind Energy Farm in the southwest corner o Minnesota, which is owned by

about 300 area armers and other community members Consisting o 11 turbines,

it produces enough wind power to almost supply all o the power needs o nearby

Luverne, Minnesotas 5,000 residents36

Community wind is oten touted as an eective rural development strategy A

2004 study by the US General Accounting Oce ound that local ownership o

wind systems generates an average o 23 times more jobs and 31 times more local

dollars compared to absentee ownership Outside o rural communities, WindShare

and the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative have created North Americas rst

urban-based turbine Generating enough power to meet the needs o 200 homes,

the 30-story ExPlace turbine in Ontarios largest city also serves a critical education-

al unction, visible to hundreds o thousands o downtown commuters every day37

The concept o commu-

nity wind encompasses

locally owned wind projects

that sell or oset energy to

the electric grid.


36/136


Publicly Owned UtilitiesAlthough the point is rarely made, more than one-ourth o Americans today own

their own electric companies, either as members o one o the nations 900 electri-

cal cooperatives or as citizens o the 2,100 cities or counties that own their own

utility company On average, public power costs about 10 percent less than elec-

tricity provided by private companies According to an American Public Power

Association (APPA) study o 573 public utilities, the median net revenue transer to

municipalities was 58 percent o revenues By contrast, the median tax payment

o investor-owned utilities was 18 percent less or 49 percent o gross revenues

This means that public power contributes close to $23 billion a year to their pub-

lic owners or approximately $350 million a year more than those same localities

would likely receive in taxes i they had investor-owned utilities instead38

Public power companies exist in large cities ranging rom Austin, Seattle, Los

Angeles and Sacramento; to mid-sized cities, such as Gainesville (Florida); and

small towns such as Waverly (Iowa) These publicly owned rms have used a va-

riety o investment and policy tools to participate in renewable energy genera-

tion Some cities have decided to pursue outright ownership o renewable energy

generating acilities while others are devising ways or their cus-

tomers to help nance small scattered or distributed generating

installations39

In Florida, the Gainesville Regional Utility recently partnered

with a privately owned company to build, own and operate a bio-

mass plant ueled by orest and urban wood waste The city will

buy and own all o the energy produced rom this acility, which

is also expected to produce signicant tax and job creation benets This publicly

owned utility openly declares its intention to make Gainesville the nations lead-

ing Solar City and recently became the rst utility in the nation to oer a eed-

in tari program or solar photovoltaic installations Gainesvilles eed-in taria

system now being used in 45 countries across the globe that mandates guaranteed

minimum prices or residents providing power to the grid in order to encourage

renewable energy productionoers customers a higher price or solar than cus-

tomers pay or power rom the grid A 20-year contract, and the abovemarket-rate

price or renewable power that the eed-in-tari policy guarantees, helps home-

owners secure nancing or the panels, which can cost up to $40,000 The rest o

Gainesvilles customers pay a surcharge o 40 cents per month to subsidize thosewho go solar40

Another innovator has been the small town o Ellisburg, Washington (popula-

tion 16,000) Here the city has taken the initiative to bring together investment

Although the point is

rarely made, more than

one-ourth o Americans

today own their own

electric companies.


37/136


capital rom community members to nance and directly install 200 solar panels

that are providing electricity or 20 homes This pilot project marks the nations

rst community solar project Each citizen-investor gets credit on their electric bill

or the solar power produced by their share o the investment Similarly, Ashland,

Oregon recently installed a solar electric system on a public acility Citizens can

purchase a panel or a portion o one, securing the right to purchase its output or

20 years and get a credit on their electric bill41

Public utilities can also promote renewable energy use (and position their com-

munities to control renewable energy production) through policies and programs

In Texas, Austin Energy is known or ambitious renewable standards that rely on a

comprehensive conservation, energy eciency and renewable purchasing agenda

In Seattle, Seattle City Lights Green Power Program enables customers to add on

$3 increments to their utility bills to help nance public projects powered by re-

newable energy42

In other cases, public utilities directly invest unds to increase production ca-

pacity Waverly Power and Light in Iowa was the rst municipal utility to own and

operate wind turbines in the Midwest and now has three turbines that can power

more than 250 homes Residents o Columbia, Missouri, voted in 2004 to adopt a

local Renewable Portolio Standard which requires that 15 percent o the munici-

pally owned utilitys power come rom renewable sources by 2017 Responding to

the voters mandate, the city built a biogas energy plant on its landll in 2008

and is hoping that this acility will supply two percent o its total power needs in

200943

Consumer and Producer Co-opsThere are 882 electric consumer co-ops in 47 states today, covering 75 percent o

Americas landmass and serving 12 percent o the nations population44 According

to a recent report released by the cooperatives national trade association, 88 per-

cent o all electric co-ops oer renewable power to their customers Moreover, 11

percent o the electricity that electric co-ops deliver to their members comes rom

renewable sourcescompared to 85 percent or investor-owned utilities Although

two-thirds o the rural electric cooperatives are looking to build their own renewable

energy programs or work with their power supplier (since most co-ops are in theenergy distribution, not generation, business), today most co-ops direct their green-

ing eorts to energy eciency and conservation, ranging rom education, ree en-

ergy audits, nancial incentives and weatherization services As Brian Crutcheld,


38/136


renewables manager at Blue Ridge Electric in North Carolina notes, We ocus on

the low-hanging ruits o conservation and demand-side management Instead o

purchasing power rom renewable sources to meet North Carolinas portolio stan-

dards, his co-op sells more ecient light bulbs to their consumer members at a sub-

sidized price as well as water heater jackets and low-fow show-

erheads The 10,000-member Washington Electric Cooperative

in Vermont provides one powerul example o the potential or

co-ops to own their own sources o renewable energy In the past

decade this co-op has moved rom purchasing nuclear-generated

power to relying entirely on renewable sources45

For rural electric co-ops in the Midwest, Northwest and Texas,

wind power is the most popular renewable source, ollowed by

biomass and solar Almost 150 electric co-ops either own wind acilities or have

agreements to purchase power rom wind power companies Western Farmers

Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma powers more than 20,000 homes with wind en-

ergy harvested rom the 45-turbine Blue Canyon Wind Farm, a Limited Liability

Company (LLC) The 20-year purchase agreement provides wind power to its 19

distribution co-op members, serving over two-thirds o rural Oklahoma46

Rural electric cooperatives are also in a strong position to explore biomass

technologies because they already serve the local arming and orestry sectors

Nationwide, there are 105 co-ops in 22 states that use biomass in their power sup-

ply WisconsinsDairyland Power Cooperative owns three animal waste-to-energy

acilities on dairy arms in its service territory Each anaerobic manure digester a-

cility produces sucient methane to power at least 600 homes The East Kentucky

Power Cooperative, a wholesale generation and transmission cooperative, owns

three landll gas-to-electric plants, each o which supplies electricity to about 2,000

homes Fourteen members o this eastern Kentucky wholesale co-op sell the energy

produced rom the landll gas plants to retail customers through their EnviroWatts

program with customers paying a modest surcharge each month to purchase one

or more 100-kilowatt blocks o green power47

Seeking national impact, 24 Generation-and-Transmission and our unali-

ated electric cooperatives in 2008 ormed the National Renewables Cooperative

Organization In this rst phase, NRCO is serving as a clearinghouse or inorma-

tion, packaging potential renewable projects and aggregating investment requests

rom members Executive Director Amadou Fall intends to engage members in twoto three renewable projectsmost likely involving wind and/or biomass He an-

ticipates a second phase o development in which NRCO will play a developer and

owner role or its members The challenge or co-ops, Fall noted, is our size

11 percent o the electricity

that electric co-ops deliver

to their members comes

rom renewable sources

compared to 8.5 percent or

investor-owned utilities.


39/136


Only a handul o electric co-ops are suciently large to have a voice NRCO can

provide that voice on an aggregate basis48

With a history o activism during the 1990s era o electricity deregulation, the

Northeast has spawned several urban consumer electric cooperatives Massachusetts

Co-op Power is experimenting with a range o community energy projects rom

sponsoring barn raising solar water installations to oering installer sponsored

rebates or hydro, solar and wind systems to raising more than $2 million to build

a bio-diesel processing plant49 In the mid-Atlantic region, Philadelphias Energy

Cooperative, originally organized to provide its members with cheaper home heat-

ing oil, now sells electricity to its 6,500 members, all rom renewable sources In the

West, another consumer co-op is CCEnergy, a 450-member San Raael (Caliornia)-

based solar installer that saves its members money by buying solar equipment at

volume discounts, connecting them to qualied contractors, and managing more

complex installation projects; members are required to purchases three shares at

$100 apiece

Cooperatives have also played a major role in growing the biouels sector, espe-

cially through armer-owned ethanol production and sales producer co-ops Until

recently, this industry was locally owned In 2003, 50 percent o all existing etha-

nol reners and nearly 80 percent o all proposed plants were majority owned by

armers, generally structured as hybrid cooperatives and limited liability compa-

nies Since 2005, however, the ownership equation has dramatically changed with

80 percent or more o new ethanol production coming rom externally owned

plants50

Nonetheless, co-ops maintain a sizeable market share One co-op survivor

o this structural shit is the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company in Minnesota,

a cooperatively owned corn ethanol plant with 975 local own-

ers Committed to retaining its independence, this cooperative

not only used ethanol to produce energy, but has also developed

unique products like Shakers Vodka Chippewa derives their

ethanol rom wheat and rye grown in elds near the plant it-

sel Its main use or ethanol is or energy generation Chippewa

produces 48 million gallons o ethanol a year The company is

partnering with technology companies to burn corncob waste to

provide thermal energy or its corn ethanol process When its acility is completed,

the company estimates that 90 percent o its natural gas energy inputs will havebeen replaced by biomass power rom corncobs and other agriculture residues,

grasses and wood Chippewa decided to enter the vodka business when a marketer

that had launched Petes Wicked Ale approached them with the idea Launched in

Cooperatives have also

played a major role in

growing the biouels sector,

especially through armer-

owned ethanol production

and sales producer co-ops.


40/136


2003, by 2006 Chippewa was producing approximately 45 million gallons o uel

ethanol and shipped 15,000 cases o Shakers51

Another large cooperative eort is Ag Processing, Inc (AGP), a joint venture

between the cooperatives Land OLakes, Farmland Industries and Boone Valley

Processing Association with over 250,000 armer-owners in the Midwest This ed-

eration is converting soybean oil into biodiesel and corn into ethanol In Fiscal-

Year 2008, the cooperative produced a record 57 million gallons o soy biodiesel52

At the other end o the economic spectrum is a growing number o biouel

purchasing cooperatives, similar to the natural ood-buying clubs o the 1970s

In Oregon, Bend Biouels Cooperative has over 200 members and collectively

purchases uel rom wholesalers The Piedmont Biouels Co-op in central North

Carolina sells uel to its more than 500 members who pay a $50 membership ee53

Tribal EnterpriseThe nations Indian tribes alone could produce enough wind power to satisy about

14 percent o US demand while solar resources on tribal land could generate 45

times the energy needed to power the entire United States But ederal policy has

largely precluded tribal ownership o these vast resources Like non-prot and pub-

lic entities, Indian tribes are not able to take advantage o the ederal tax credits

essential to develop competitive wind and other renewable energy projects And

unlike landowners in Iowa and Minnesota, the tribes have been

reluctant to structure wind ownership and nancing deals that

fip ater ten years rom outside investor to member ownership

Its because o sovereignty issues, explains Lizana Pierce, Project

Manger or the Tribal Energy Program at the US Department o

Energy Tribes are usually hesitant to relinquish that much eq-

uity interest to non-Tribal partners Oten tribes resort to negoti-

ating an economically unappealing ground lease and option to

purchase the project ater the ederal tax benets have expired

Other major barriers, says Pierce, include the additional com-

plexities in an already cumbersome regulatory process created by

ederal permitting and Bureau o Indian Aairs requirements, as well as diculties

securing access to the grid Transmission access is a major barrier, notes Pierce54

One prominent tribal enterprise success, however, involves a project on the

Rosebud Sioux Tribes reservation in South Dakota Erected in 2003, the Alex Little

Soldier Wind Turbine project took eight years to complete, getting its rst major

The nations Indiantribes alone could produce

enough wind power to

satisy about 14 percent o

U.S. demand while solar re-

sources on tribal land could

generate 4.5 times the en-

ergy needed to power the

entire United States.


41/136


break in 1999 when the US Department o Energy awarded a $500,000 grant

ollowed by a loan (the rst tribal commercial wind loan made) rom the Rural

Utilities Service o the US Department o Agriculture The two million kilowatts

o electricity generated cover 80 percent o the power needs o the tribes casino/

motel operation A key partner was the private Native Energy consulting rm that

provided 25 percent o the nancing through the sale o these renewable energy

credits55

More than 14 percent o Native Americans have no access to electricity An

o-the grid project is under construction on the lands o the Ramona Band o the

Cahuilla Indian Tribe near San Diego The rst o its kind, this project will be an

eco-tourism resort that uses multiple alternative energy technologies to meet all

o its energy needs and recycle much o its waste Jointly unded by the Ramona

Band, the US Department o Energy and the US Department o Agriculture, it

has contracted out the job o overseeing multiple renewable energy vendors to a

private rmCatalyx, Incthat hopes to replicate this o the grid project in third

world countries56

We see many great projects in the pipelines, says Pierce o the Tribal Energy

Program at the US Department o Energy The agency awarded 14 grants total-

ing $3 million in 2009 to support research and easibility studies or renewable

energy projects on tribal lands The tribes are becoming more aware o options,

particularly i they dont have oil and gas The early projects had many barriers to

overcome They set a precedent57

Worker CooperativesWorker co-ops are a growing and vibrant sector in the economy, particularly in the

Northeast and the San Francisco Bay Area According to Melissa Hoover, Executive

Director o the US Federation o Worker Cooperatives, the green economy pres-

ents ewer challenges to worker co-ops than traditionally organized businesses

These rms are used to struggling with multiple bottom lines, she noted We are

seeing the growth o co-ops in labor-intensive sectors o the green economy such

as green cleaning, deconstruction, solar PV installation, recycling, landscaping and

lead abatement where start-up costs are minimal58 There are emerging examples

o worker co-ops in more capital-intensive sectorseg, a green commercial laun-dry and a biodiesel plantand in these cases, oundations and the public sector

helped to capitalize the enterprise


42/136


An example o a worker co-op in a new sector is PV Squared, an employee-

owned rm that designs and installs solar systems or homeowners, businesses,

churches and other institutions in the western New England area o Connecticut,

Massachusetts, and Vermont Originally intended to manuacture solar panels, the

early worker owners recognized that capital entry costs would be too great Their

business substantially benets rom avorable state policies that help homes and

businesses subsidize the cost o solar installations in their three

target states59

Another green worker co-op is Toxic Soil Busters in Worcester,

Massachusetts With 17 worker-owners ages 1418, the co-op

cleans up yards long contaminated by lead paint that faked o

the exterior o buildings Successully advocating or city unds

rom HUDs lead abatement programs, this worker co-op is being

incubated by a local environmental justice organization60

Five green house-cleaning worker co-ops in the San Francisco Bay Area have

been organized over the past decade by the non-prot WAGES (Womens Action to

Gain Economic Security) These co-ops use green cleaning supplies, protecting the

health o their workers and that o their clients, while reducing the use o petro-

chemicals They also use green as a major marketing tool The community wealth

building potential o the cooperatives is signicant In 2007, or instance, Natural

Home Cleaning Proessionals, one o the ve WAGES cooperatives, announced a

year-end prot o more than $90,000 Workers voted to distribute 70 percent o

the prot as bonuses (roughly $4,000 per worker-owner), with the remaining 30

percent reinvested in the business61

On the East Coast, another example o a worker co-op in a traditional economic

sectorsalvage and reuseis Rebuilders Source This south Bronx enterprise oper-

ates a discount retail store or surplus and used building materials, and brings to the

business a passion or worker ownership and the lens o environmental justice62

In the Midwest, yet another example is provided by Clevelands Evergreen

Cooperatives, a growing network o worker cooperatives that aim to be the green-

est in their sectors To date, two cooperatives have been launched (a green com-

mercial laundry and a solar installation co-op), with more co-operatives, including

a 5-acre, 230,000-square-oot urban greenhouse, planned or development

Worker co-ops are a grow-

ing and vibrant sector in

the economy, particularly

in the Northeast and the

San Francisco Bay Area.


43/136


Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) CompaniesThere is no reliable national estimate regarding the participation o ESOPs in

the green economy63 John Logue, late Executive Director o the Ohio Employee

Ownership Center at Kent State University, however, pointed to a range o exam-

ples in Ohio One o these, the 100-plus year-old Chilcote Company, employs 450

people in our locations The company manuactures and distributes a wide range

o photo albums, picture rames, and other book and menu packaging As part o

their product mix, this ESOP takes paper trimmings rom the landll and processes

this common waste into photographic packaging products64

Another Ohio employee-owned company, The EBO (Excellence By Owners)

Group, is creating new lines o green business Traditionally a manuacturer o

drive systems or the coal industry, this ESOP now does nearly hal o its business

in non-coal dependent sectors, including both medical equipment and recycling

In both Chilcotes and EBOs cases, company-nanced research in product design

and new business opportunities led them to shit operations toward more sustain-

able industries

A third Ohio company that is 30-percent ESOP-owned and ully situated in

the green economy is YSI (ormerly Yellow Springs Instruments) Clearly commit-

ted to environmental sustainability in all aspects o its operations, this companys

nearly 300 employees design and manuacture environmental monitoring systems

to protect natural resources and aquatic lie This is not just a product lineYSI

annually publishes a sustainability report ocused on their bottom lines o prot

and the environment

Outside o manuacturing, ESOPs are requently ound in the engineering, de-

sign, and construction sectors One example is Janotta and Herner Inc, a design-

build contractor in Monroeville, Ohio with $50 million in sales and deep experi-

ence in LEED construction65

ESOP companies are also active in the green economy outside o Ohio One lead-

ing example is Urban Ore Urban Ore, which began operations in 1980, recently

converted to employee ownership Based in Berkeley, Caliornia,

the rm started with three individuals dedicated to reusing mate-

rials, but has since grown to 38 employees66

The employee stock ownership plan orm o ownership has

also been a key player in the solar industry Based in Boulder,

Colorado, Namast Solar is a 100-percent, employee-owned com-pany that has an estimated 20-percent share o the Colorado solar installation mar-

ket Founded in 2005, Namast Solar has grown rom three to 55 employee-owners

In 2008, its revenues totaled $145 million and it has become a market leader in

The employee stock owner-

ship plan orm o owner-

ship has also been a key

player in the solar industry.


44/136


Colorado, with a portolio o more than 750 projects totaling that generate more

than our megawatts o energy In the our year period o 20052008, Namast

Solar was the 56th-astest growing company in the nation overall, had the 4th-

astest rate o growth o all energy companies and ranked number-one in growth

in the solar industry67

Another prominent ESOP rm in the green economy is San Francisco-based

Recology (ormerly Norcal Waste Systems), a leader in recycling since its start as a

scavenging operation in the early twentieth century Converted

to an ESOP in 1986 and 100-percent employee-owned or more

than two decades, Recology operates over two dozen subsidiaries

and handles about two million tons o waste each yearhaul-

ing, recycling, reusing and composting or over 50 jurisdictions

in Caliornia Today Recology employs 2,200, and serves 570,000

residential and 55,000 commercial customers To date, $557 mil-

lion has been paid out to employee-owners in ownership benets

since its And ownership is clearly dispersedthe largest ESOP

account at Recology represents less than one third o one percent

o total shares

Recology is also a unionized company; wages start at $20

an hour and maintenance workers with ten years ex

Documents

Growing a Green Economy For All