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Pittsburgh showcases green economy at G20 summit

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-20 21:20

PITTSBURGH/NEW YORK: The collapse of the US steel industry forced Drew Mihalek in 1977 to leave Pittsburgh, a onetime capital of industry that US President Barack Obama will show to world leaders this week as a "bold example" of a new green economy.

Plextronics device technician Jared Schillinger works in one of Plextronics' labs, testing ink that is used to coat solar panels, in Pittsburgh September 16, 2009. The lights in the lab are yellow because the inks are sensitive to blue light. Climate change and tackling high unemployment are other issues on the G20 agenda, tying into Obama's vision for a green economy and why Pittsburgh is hosting the summit. [Agencies]

Mihalek, 58, recalls bubbling caldrons of metal during summer jobs at US Steel as a college student. Now he works in a dust-free workplace as environmental health and safety manager at Solar Power Industries, a maker of solar cells.

Mihalek calls the change in his hometown "kind of like my own personal revitalization." That shift will be in the spotlight this week as leaders from the Group of 20 nations meet in various "green" buildings - a visible image of the new economy touted by the Obama administration.

Debate before the Pittsburgh summit of leading developed and developing countries has focused on bankers' pay, regulation of the financial sector and how governments should withdraw from the enormous stimulus packages enacted to blunt the global economic crisis and spur growth.

Climate change and tackling high unemployment are other issues on the G20 agenda, tying into Obama's vision for a green economy and why Pittsburgh is hosting the summit. But hopes for millions of new green jobs in the US economy may prove more ambitious than many advocates and investors dream of.

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Central to a green economy are education, innovation and research, which Pittsburgh offers through schools like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Also key are an educated work force and plentiful raw materials.

Andy Hannah, chief executive of Plextronics, a company that makes organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes and uses photoactive inks to print solar cells, said Pittsburgh offers the right mix of corporate and university talent.

Hannah also said Pittsburgh was a prime location for setting up Plextronics because raw materials such as aluminum, glass and plastics are produced locally.

Patrick McCarthy of ATRP Solutions, a polymer maker using technology developed at Carnegie Mellon, also said the key elements for a green company come together in Pittsburgh.

"In this city, we have a history of materials companies commercializing products. This expertise is not everywhere in the country," McCarthy said.

Despite all its strides - Pittsburgh has one of the largest green collar work forces for a US city its size - some doubt green jobs will be a major engine for the economy.

Lester Lave, an economics professor and director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon, said neither oil nor coal will be replaced any time soon. He also said politicians were overly optimistic in their assumptions about new jobs.

"You are not going to be overwhelmed with (green) jobs in energy," Lave said. "I think the vast majority of jobs are going to be in the retrofit area and those can be good jobs."

There has long been debate along left-right political lines about the viability of green energy and the large government funding needed to get renewable energy off the ground.

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