Low-Carbon Small Business and Post-COVID Recovery

Workforce Wednesdays
Find out more about the briefings in this series below:
Sept 2	Preparing High Schoolers for Green Careers
Sept 9	A New Spin on Conservation Corps
Sept 16	Energy Transitions in Coal Country
Sept 23	Growing Green Industry and Innovation: Mass Timber
Sept 30	Low-Carbon Small Business and Post-COVID Recovery
Overview of the Workforce Wednesdays series

Small business owners and employees have a unique role in building a low-carbon and climate resilient economy. Many small businesses have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 downturn, especially in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. Speakers discussed both the persistent challenges faced by small businesses in low-carbon sectors and the additional problems brought on by COVID-19. Speakers also emphasized suggestions for the road ahead that will enable their companies to continue to grow a workforce centered on climate solutions. Leticia Colon de Mejias, the owner of Energy Efficiencies Solutions and the Policy Co-Chair for the Building Performance Association, discussed how she is working to address one of the foremost challenges in the energy efficiency industry—a trained workforce. Stuart Davies, Chief Executive Officer of the Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC), shared his experience as a small business leader in the marine renewable energy sector, which is poised to grow with investments in the research, development, and deployment of these innovative technologies. Jessica Cahail, Product Manager at Azavea, discussed how climate adaptation and resilience support tools help fill knowledge gaps in the workforce. All speakers described how their work has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Supplemental EESI materials:

• Innovations in River Renewable Energy Power Remote Alaskan Communities
• Emerging Marine Renewable Energy Tech Highlighted in Senate Hearing, Bill

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Leticia Colon de Mejias, Owner, Energy Efficiencies Solutions; Policy Co-Chair, Building Performance Association

• Energy efficiency can lower burdens on energy grids, lower energy costs, improve energy access, reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts, and create jobs.
• In 2018, 2.3 million Americans were employed in energy efficiency. It was the largest and fastest growing sector in energy with a 7.8 percent growth rate in 2019. That same year, 79 percent of energy efficiency companies were small businesses with less than 20 employees. Energy efficiency jobs are available in both urban and rural areas.
• COVID-19 has significantly impacted the energy efficiency industry, with 345,000 jobs lost, nearly 15 percent of all employees. Job growth was only 0.4 percent in August, and 40 states have double-digit unemployment numbers in the industry.
• Economic stimulus directed at energy efficiency would have many benefits. $60.7 billion in stimulus from Congress would add $254.7 billion to the economy and create 737,200 full-time jobs, according to a report by E2.
• Energy Efficiencies Solutions employs 22 people who were previously unemployed or underemployed, and has trained over 120 people for local workforce opportunities.
• The energy efficiency industry supports long-term careers in a wide range of roles, including installers, technicians, and scientists.
• The energy efficiency industry can be supported with new Department of Labor codes that better recognize the careers and benefits it can offer, and with additional funding resources for training programs.
• Some legislation introduced to Congress could benefit energy efficiency:
  • The HOPE for HOMES Act (S.4052/H.R.7325) provides $500 million in support for small business. This includes access to online skills training, grants for provider organizations to develop online training, up to $10,000 to contracting companies to cover training costs, and a $1,000 stipend for contractors. Its second major component is a $6 billion rebate for home energy efficiency programs.
  • The Blue Collar to Green Collar Jobs Development Act of 2019 (H.R.1315) would establish a workforce development grant program for renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses.
  • Other recent major bills with workforce grant programs include the Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2019 (S.2393), the American Energy and Innovation Act (S.2657), and the Green Neighborhoods Act of 2020 (H.R.8021).
  • The Weatherization Enhancement and Local Energy Efficiency Investment and Accountability Act of 2019 (S.983/H.R.2041) reauthorizes Department of Energy funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and supports workforce training.
• Energy efficiency businesses can provide good career paths and more easily hire from local communities when workforce development programs are available.
• Energy efficiency work can help advance underrepresented groups: 20 of the 22 employees at Energy Efficiencies Solutions are people of color.

 

Stuart Davies, CEO, Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC)

• There is increasing discussion of the United States reaching 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 or 2035. Davies recently spoke to CEOs in the wind, solar, and hydropower industries who projected renewables would only reach 50 percent by 2030, even under aggressive assumptions for storage technology, because it is difficult for them to provide reliable baseload generation.
• Marine and hydrokinetic energy (MHK) is often claimed to have high costs, but wind and solar costs were also expensive and have dropped greatly over time. Davies expects significantly lower costs for MHK with engineering and supply chain improvements.
• ORPC installed its RivGen power system in the village of Igiugig, Alaska, 10 months ago. It has survived extreme weather events and continues to provide reliable baseload power.
• The Igiugig project was funded in part by Department of Energy grants. It uses a microgrid and energy storage system with a backup diesel generator. The village formerly relied on the diesel generator, but RivGen is projected to cut diesel use by 90 percent.
• Remote areas of Alaska have high energy costs but abundant moving water, so ORPC’s technology can benefit them greatly. However, research shows that hydrokinetic energy can also provide power to 100 million people in the “lower 48” states.
• Hundreds of thousands of job opportunities can be created for remote communities, the marine industry, and manufacturing.
• There are large potential global markets for tidal and river-based power. Remote communities in Chile and Canada located near robust tidal and river resources include 500,000 people paying more than 40 cents per kWh of power [the average retail price of electricity is 10.53 cents in the United States].
• The European Union has made large investments in marine and hydrokinetic energy. It has allocated 670 million euros from 2021 to 2025 to the sector. It forecasts the creation of 400,000 jobs by 2050, and projects that 10 percent of EU electricity will be generated from marine and hydrokinetic sources.
• What policies can support the development of MHK?
  • Community grants to provide direct funding and enable communities to buy and test devices.
  • Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 must be amended to treat MHK similarly to solar and wind, and a new funding basket for lower-cost projects must be created.
  • Investment tax credits, opportunity zones, and other tax incentives.

Supplemental ORPC materials:

• US Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, Sept 22, 2020 Hearing on Offshore Energy Technologies
• Murkowski’s Message, Episode 13 - features Lisa Murkowski speaking with Stuart Davies, ORPC CEO, and Alexanna Salmon, President of Igiugig Village, Alaska
• Sustainable, Off Grid Energy for Communities from Free Flowing Rivers Video - Produced by ORPC, tells the story of the Igiugig-RivGen® Project in Alaska (Video underneath)

 

Jessica Cahail, Product Manager, Azavea

• Azavea is a 50-person small business in Philadelphia that develops technologies for geospatial data analysis and visualization. It invests in technology development through Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grants from federal agencies.
• Azavea focuses on developing products for civic, social, and environmental impact. It works on climate change, conservation, disaster risk management, and other areas, supporting nonprofit, for-profit, and research organizations. It is a certified B Corporation.
• SBIR grants are specifically designed for U.S. small for-profit businesses with fewer than 500 employees that can develop products that will further the research agendas of federal agencies. The program incentivizes commercialization of products.
• The grant program has three phases: concept development, prototype development, and commercialization. The first two phases are funded by SBIR grants ranging from $50,000 to $1.5 million.
• Azavea has won 10 Phase I awards since 2006 and 8 Phase II awards since 2008, resulting in the development of 5 products. They have totaled $7.5 million in awards over the last 15 years. In 2019, SBIRs were 40 percent of its revenue. However, the company’s growth has been driven by commercialization and other R&D investment. Most of Azavea’s code has been open-sourced for use by others.
• Azavea’s “Temperate” application is based on a recognition that federal climate data is very difficult to access and interpret for non-experts. It has received Phase I and Phase II grants from the Departments of Energy and Agriculture. It provides community leaders and planners with accessible information on how a changing climate will affect their local areas. It is primarily designed for small- to mid-sized communities with limited planning resources, and is available with a $1,500 yearly subscription for any community of any size.
• The application includes interactive displays that highlight top hazards for local areas, assists leaders in prioritizing response actions; and offers a large database of adaptation strategies shared by other communities.
• SBIR funding can help communities build climate resilience and has broad benefits.

 

Q&A

 

How has COVID-19 impacted your businesses, and what steps are you taking to protect your workers? What kinds of state, local, and federal support would be most beneficial?

• Davis: We’ve certainly been impacted. First, our ability to visit remote communities to determine if they have adequate river or tidal resources to do a project has been put on hold with travel restrictions. In Igiugig, typically we would have sent people from our Portland, Maine, office to do annual maintenance work, but fortunately we had people in Anchorage, Alaska, who were able to help. Our supply chain has been disrupted. We have a couple more devices on order, and there’s been shipping delays and shutdowns and that’s caused a great deal of disruption. In terms of policies, a lot of state and federal policies have been designed around established companies that have been impacted but they’re not thinking about early-stage and high-growth businesses. We had a plan to grow our workforce 35 percent and we were looking for a huge increase in growth this year. So instead of going from 5 to 25 we’re going to 5 to 5, but that’s not a loss in revenue year over year, so we don’t qualify for any state or federal financial aid. Two-thirds of new jobs are created by small businesses and those are the real engines of growth in terms of who's hiring. So there needs to be a shift in policy at the state and federal level to say, there are these fast-growing businesses, how can we help them stay in business? The Payroll Protection Program has helped us, we were able to keep our staff, but we have not grown our staff at all this year.
• Colon de Mejias: We had difficulty in accessing personal protective equipment (PPE) because of a need from healthcare workers. We have to have masks, gloves, and full protective gear because we’re going into people's homes. A lot of contractors we work with were not able to access Payroll Protection Program loans. There was a lot of confusion around them being forgivable or not forgivable and when you’re a small business and uncertain about your future, it’s definitely overwhelming. We had a lot of difficulty getting back to work even with the proper PPE, because of lack of child care or schools not being open. Hiring is a whole different game right now, because normally you could do a job fair or have a large opportunity to invite the community in. We’re not able to go out and attract people, so we’re trying to create new hiring methods. Funding for small businesses to market themselves to hire during the pandemic would be useful. Not having enough staff seems to be the number one problem in my industry, not being able to hire people who are trained to do the work. Small businesses often have big ideas, but often not a lot of people are willing to go out of their way and support them. But we are a huge economic driver.
• Cahail: Adaptation work has certainly ground to a halt. We applied for a PPP loan and we were successful, but hiring is a whole different game. As a B Corp, one of the things we use our space for is a lot of community engagement and that is not happening right now. A lot of nonprofits we work with in Philadelphia have no place to meet.

 

What kinds of work have you done in your local communities, and how are small businesses well positioned to help with community work?

• Cahail: Our local community in Philadelphia is one we work with a lot. We host a lot of after-hour meetings and coding academies. We also have a relationship with the Philadelphia Water Department and Sustainability Office, and we pride ourselves on that. We are also heavily involved in the open-source community and really believe in making things open and freely available. We host a number of technology exchanges and we’ve just hosted a data labeling conference with worldwide participation for machine learning training data sets.
• Colon de Mejias: We partner with nonprofit organizations, including Green Eco-Warriors, which goes to at-risk vulnerable populations and communities of color, and provides education on the environment, energy, and leadership, about how energy impacts the economy, health, and the environment. We have moved to a lot of online engagement since COVID-19. We are providing free educational content and books because so many kids are at home and don't have the learning resources they need. Climate information is difficult to understand, so we take complicated topics and break them down to a fourth-grade reading level. Not only are you engaging the child, but actually you’re engaging the entire family because kids are really good at driving home a message. We have a Switch It Off campaign, trying to defeat the Phantom Draw, who in our comic book series is an actual character who tries to steal all the power for himself. [Phantom load is the electricity consumed by electrical devices that are switched off or in standby mode]. The kids get to defeat him and save energy. We have been working with tools and online platforms, but we really miss going to schools and doing live presentations.
• Davies: We work with policymakers in the states we’re active in. We’re based in Portland, Maine, and active in the climate policy setting in the state. We’re active in tech innovation groups like NTI and CEI[1] [AOL2] . We hire local firms for a lot of our work. We’ll typically test our devices out at the University of Maine or the University of New Hampshire, and we hire local mariners to help with deploying and testing. On the remote communities' side, we get very actively involved. We've had a weekly call with Igiugig since we’ve started this project. It’s obviously a major change in how their community’s going to function, going from diesel-based generation with diesel getting flown in. So we do a lot of outreach and try to make sure our lines of communication are strong.

 

What skills do you think are necessary to work in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate resilience, and what resources do you think are available for those looking to develop those skills?

• Colon de Mejias: The energy efficiency industry is so broad it’s hard to define every skill that’s needed. An understanding of energy systems as they relate to buildings is an important part of training (heat rise, HVAC size, lighting…). Understanding health barriers like asbestos or mold prior to making these upgrades is another growing area of knowledge that’s needed. Training on basic skills such as customer service is needed. Knowing how to use email or a tablet is also important. When we first started, all you needed to know was how to use an insulation machine, maybe a drill and a hammer. Now you’re going to have to be able to put all types of datasets into tablets and use tools to create reports that track energy demand reduction. One need we have is to define places in each state where people can receive this type of workforce training, a jobs funnel or program where people can pick and choose which certifications they need. These are really great jobs for people who need jobs right away. But if we don’t have funds or training centers in place it’s hard to hire.
• Davies: For us it’s a variety of different skill sets. Overall, I would say a passion for improving people’s lives through renewable energy solutions [is important]. Everyone who works at ORPC is passionate about our mission and the impact we can have on the communities we’re reaching out to. A background in environmental sciences is helpful so you can understand the issues communities are facing. We’re manufacturing devices, so an understanding of supply chains and how parts are made is useful. Permitting and approvals need to be done with states and localities so those skillsets are attractive to us as well. And, obviously, engineering, mechanical, electrical, fluid dynamics, things like that. Depending on the role we’re looking to fill, the criteria can move all over the place.
• Cahail: One thing we hear from a lot of the communities we work with that are trying to get adaptation plans or vulnerability assessments together is that they would much rather rely on an adaptation planner. There are a few programs throughout the country, but I would say the best resource is the American Society of Adaptation Professionals. We’re seeing the need increase tenfold. Some people just don’t have the competence to process this data. You can distill a concept down, but you still need the competence to know you’re conveying the correct information. People would much rather work with someone with the proclivity to understand the climate change indicators and to work with them to figure out what the policy change should be. We’re seeing a need for that bridge pretty much everywhere.

 

How do climate mitigation and adaptation come together in your business?

• Colon de Mejias: I just did a piece on National Public Radio (NPR) about the growing demand for air conditioning and how that impacts emissions. I come from a healthcare background and I learned about climate change and the impacts of burning coal in 2009. When I learned about it I was terrified that I wasn’t trying to do anything to stop it. Our environment has changed so rapidly since 2009, and I see impacts—like sea level rise—happening in communities that are vulnerable and at risk. The health impacts of air and water pollution relate to energy usage. As we draw down our demand for heating, cooling, and electricity usage, as we lower cost per kWh, it lowers the cost of meeting zero-carbon goals. Drawing down demand makes it easier to ramp up renewables because you need to use less of them. All things are truly connected. This is why I think education is such an important component of all this, especially simple education for the layman, because so many people are having difficulty making these connections.
• Davies: Resilience is the real challenge for a lot of these communities. A lot of remote communities, their cultures go back 5,000 to 10,000 years, and it’s only during a short window that they've become beholden to fossil fuels. I think there’s a lot of interest in going back to a sustainable type of energy, still using electricity but without the impact. Remote communities are seeing the impact more than anyone. In some of the coastal communities on the East Coast, there’s talk of building flood prevention systems, and I think there’s opportunities to put devices there to generate energy.

 

How do you put together adaptation, mitigation, and data communication in the communities you serve?

• Cahail: For the communities we work with, I think visualization, education, and outreach are critical. Climate change data is incredibly hard to visualize and we’ve tried a number of things. Some things stick, some things don’t. What we’ve seen is the most successful way to engage a community is to make it real and tangible and talk to them about things that happened in recent memory. "Do you remember Sandy? Do you remember Irene? These are the things that happened. How did we recover, what are we going to do the next time a Sandy or an Irene comes through and we have to rebuild after that?" That starts the conversation about resilience and can get through some of the barriers about hypotheticals. The further out the projections, the lower our confidence level in those projections, so you don’t want to jump to the most extreme potential future. You want to ground it in what we’re already seeing. Being able to distill that in a really easy and accessible way and have that conversation on equal ground is incredibly powerful. Equity plays a huge role in climate change adaptation, and, unfortunately, because these communities are already so budgetarily strapped, they sometimes have limited resources and time to do outreach. It would be so critical if we could increase the funding and opportunities for those people to engage.

 

Highlights compiled by Joseph Glandorf

 

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a series of online briefings on workforce development and policies and programs that can support a low-carbon recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. Speakers discussed major challenges faced in each area and solutions providing economic and environmental benefits to communities across the country.