Source 29: Green jobs in Michigan

Green jobs:  United Solar Avonic featured on NBC Nightly News (Youtube.com, 2/9/09)

Summary:

This video news story gives an example of how a solar company is helping the economy by bringing new jobs to Michigan.

Topic:

Should the Obama administration allocate large amounts of money ($150 billion) in this time of economic crisis to alternative energy sources?

Category:

Journalistic- mainstream

What is it?

It is a video news story found on youtube.com of a report done for NBC Nightly News.

Author:

Anne Thompson

Accessed:

3/5/09

Support:

Mark Morelli, United Solar Ovonic CEO

Jennifer Granholm, Michigan governor

Anne Thompson, reporter

These sources represent the CEO of United Solar Ovonic who talks about what his company manufactures and what the benefits of their products are, the governor of Michigan who explains how bringing green businesses into Michigan is helping the state rebuild after the economic issues of the auto industry, and the reporter who brings the story together and gives it an angle.

Audience and Agenda:

NBC Nightly News is a nightly television news program.  It is the number one national nightly news program.  It averages around 9.5 million viewers per broadcast.  The NBC network is owned by NBC Universal which is a unit of General Electric.  GE is a publically traded company.  The station makes its money from television advertising and public investment.  NBC.com gets about 12.8 million hits per month.  It is a national news company so it caters to a broad audience from all walks of life.  This video has 547 hits on youtube.com.

Usefulness:

This video gives an example of how green jobs can be used to stimulate the economy.  While other companies are cutting back their workforce, the company in this story is expanding.  This shows that these companies can be an ecnomically viable option in the future.  This story tells how these workers are being trained and how working for this company benefits them.  It also speaks about how this company is keeping jobs in the US and manufacturing a product that is being exported to foreign markets.  80% of the products produced at the plant are exported.  The rest of the world’s demand for these products could give the US a product made domestically that has a huge margin for growth.  Investing in companies such as these could bring states like Michigan a much needed boost to their economic infrastructure.  However, this story does not say how many other companies there are like the one in this story.  This could be an unique case, but it does stand as an example of a company that could be a model for other green companies in the future.

About NBC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC

http://www.quantcast.com/nbc.com

About NBC Nightly News:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/nbc-nightly-news-with-bri_n_168000.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/

About United Solar Ovonic:

http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=113

Source 28: Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab (interview)

Interview with Frank Vignola, senior research associate Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab (conducted 3/5/08, University of Oregon campus)

Summary:

This is an interview conducted by me with an expert in the field of solar technology about the advances being made in the field and the possible impacts that they may have on the future of solar energy as it seeks to become a more prominent solution in the search to solve our growing energy and economic issues. 

Topic:

Should the Obama administration allocate large amounts of money ($150 billion) in this time of economic crisis to alternative energy sources?

Category:

Citizen- expert

What is it?

This was an interview conducted by me with Frank Vignola, a solar technology expert at the University of Oregon.

Author:

Joey Jackson

Support:

Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab database

Frank Vignola

Support Network for Research and Innovationin Solar Energy (SuNRISE)

recent academic studies

Student thesis paper on direct solar radiation increase

Frank Vignola is the senior research associate for the Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab.  He is also part of SuNRISE.  He used statistics from his and his colleagues research that can be found in the Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab’s database.  He also used information gained from his membership in  SuNRISE.  He quoted a former student’s thesis paper that used data from the lab’s database about a 5% yearly increase in direct solar radiation.

Audience and Agenda:

The Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab was established in 1975.  It is the largest solar information database in America.  It is funded by investments from local utility companies such as EWEB, EPUD, and BPA.  They have also just recently applied for government grants.  The database is meant to educate people and provide statistical analysis to companies in order to promote the use of solar energy technologies.  It also creates tools to facilitate the use of solar radiation data.  The database is accessed more than 780 times a day from 146 countries.  SuNRISE is a shared instrumentation facility open to industrial and academic clients on a fee-for-use basis.  It is a network of experts in the solar field who share their research with each other in order to more effectively advance the innovation of solar energy technologies.  Professor Vignola is a member of both of these groups and he is also a physics professor at the University of Oregon.  He has been working with the lab since 1977 and is its senior research associate.

Usefulness:

The information gained from this interview is a compilation of the most expansive database of knowledge about solar radiation research and technologies available in the US.  Professor Vignola’s knowledge of solar energy has helped to promote legislation that requires every building built in Oregon to dedicate 1.5% of its overall budget to solar energy products.  This legislation is a huge step for the promotion of solar energy in that it will require builders to investigate solar energy technologies. This creates a local market in Oregon for solar companies to thrive.  The reserearch being done at SuNRISE and the Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab could lead the way in solving some of the issues that are facing solar energy as it seeks to become a viable economic alternative to fossil fuels.  The lab could be instrumental in solving the some of the problems that have hindered solar energy such as its integration into existing energy grids and  storage to combat fluctuations in the supply.  This could lead to a growth in the use of solar power for large scale energy use in the future which would create jobs and strengthen a weakened economic infastructure.  The government could encourage these companies to manufacture their products in America through tax incentives and investment which would give America a viable export for the rest of the world’s growing energy needs.  Professor Vignola addressed solar energy from all angles and backed it with sufficient data that came directly from cutting edge research.  This interview is a great indicator of all facets of the solar energy puzzle and it provides an insight into what role solar energy may play in the world’s future energy needs.  It comes from the perspective of someone who has been doing research in the field since very early on and shows, with the right type of investment, solar energy could have a bright future.

Works Cited:

About Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab and Frank Vignola:

http://solardat.uoregon.edu/FV.html

More about Vignola:

http://pmr.uoregon.edu/science-and-innovation/technology-transfer-innovation/technology-transfer-archives/tech-transfer-innovation-2007/vignola-honored-for-his-push-to-put-solar-energy-into-public-buildings

http://www.uoregon.edu/~uocomm/newsreleases/latest/aug97/T080597.html