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Building Clean: Improving Efficiency, Health, and Equity in Housing and Creating Good Jobs

When buildings are designed, built, and maintained to protect the health of people and the environment—and if the manufacturing of building products and materials create good-paying union jobs in the U.S.—then the wellbeing of people and communities will improve, especially for people of color. Building Clean works to increase the use of building products that are more efficient, less toxic, and manufactured in the U.S. We aim to improve the physical, environmental, and economic health of communities and promote a more equitable future for all.

Good Jobs

Solidarity for Climate Action: The Plan We Need to Get American Manufacturing Back on Track

Manufacturing towns dot the nation, and advanced manufacturing helps provide the foundation for the economy in major regions of the United States. Industries like the steel and automotive industries supported good-paying jobs, middle-class families, and prosperous communities for decades, while also spurring American leadership in innovation and technology. That’s still true in some areas. But in many others, factories have closed or new industries offer jobs that all too often are poorly paid, insecure, or unsafe.

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Blog / Advanced Manufacturing

Bridge the Gaps: How the Federal 48C Program Can Help Build a Strong Manufacturing Base for Clean Energy

Clean technology manufacturing is having a moment. In order to address climate change, we are going to need to produce a lot more solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, building efficiency products, electric vehicles, batteries, and other clean energy goods. Since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, manufacturers have already announced more than $200 billion in private investment for solar, wind, energy storage, and electric vehicle projects in the U.S. The 48C tax credit is particularly well suited to build U.S. manufacturing capacity in specific segments of clean energy supply chains where we face the biggest gaps—gaps that are reflected in our new supply chain analysis.

Blog / Good Jobs

The Platform that Boosted Washington State’s Workforce

The Washington BlueGreen Alliance took on its largest, most diverse advocacy effort yet for the 2023 Legislative Session. One of the principal themes in our agenda was the importance of developing the net-zero workforce that Washington will need to meet our state’s clean energy goals. The following bills—all of which passed the State Legislature this year—represent progress towards that goal in one of three ways.

Blog / Buy Clean

Buy Clean and Steel’s Tricky “Standards” for Environmental Performance

After concrete and cement, steel is one of the most commonly used materials in the world. With applications from construction and infrastructure to transportation and manufacturing, its necessity in modern society is unmistakable. BUT—there’s always a but—making steel is energy and carbon intensive. Without action, emissions from steelmaking are going to be a bigger problem. Until recently, no mechanism existed to incentivize or reward U.S. manufacturers for producing some of the cleanest steel in the world. Enter BUY CLEAN!

Blog / Advanced Manufacturing

Washington State Takes Charge of its Clean Manufacturing Future

The road to net-zero emissions requires rapid acceleration of clean energy technology and low-carbon materials production. The Evergreen State is well-positioned to lead this clean manufacturing revolution and grow a new generation of high-road jobs. Washington is already home to world-class production facilities for materials like steel rebar and aluminum plate, and its strong climate commitments and highly-skilled manufacturing workforce are two cornerstones of a robust low-carbon industrial economy.

Blog / Clean Infrastructure

A Guide to Methane Mitigation Part 2: How EPA’s Proposed Methane Rule and the Methane Emissions Reduction Program Work Together

The following blog is part two of a two part series authored by Sean Gordon, BlueGreen Alliance Associate Policy Advisor In part one of this blog series, we explored the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 proposed rule for methane pollution from the oil and gas industry and the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) established…

Blog / Methane Mitigation

A Guide to Methane Mitigation Part One: A Primer on EPA’s Proposed Methane Rule and the Methane Emissions Reduction Program

The following blog is part one of a two-part series authored by BlueGreen Alliance Associate Policy Advisor Sean Gordon.  With the threat of catastrophic climate change looming on the horizon, policymakers in the United States are making a concerted effort to mitigate methane pollution. Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is nearly 80 times more…

Blog / Clean Infrastructure

Don’t Workers Deserve the Everything Bagel?

Within six months of President Biden’s signature on the Inflation Reduction Act, companies announced a wave of solar, battery, and other clean tech manufacturing investments that will create more than 100,000 jobs across 31 states to make the nuts and bolts of clean energy. Many of the job openings will be in communities that have endured decades of divestment, deindustrialization, and economic insecurity. That response to the Inflation Reduction Act’s unprecedented federal funding is faster than anyone predicted. It offers an early validation of the strategy behind the law: to wield public investments to support climate action, good jobs, and greater equity at the same time. But some prominent commentators argue this is trying to do too much. Ezra Klein, for example, writes that such multi-pronged goals suffer from “everything bagel liberalism” that threatens the success of these landmark investments. 

Blog / Advanced Manufacturing

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Smart Industrial Policy in the Updated Clean Vehicle Credit

By Reem Rayef, Senior Policy Advisor With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year came Congress’ framework of an updated clean vehicle consumer tax credit that strikes a tough balance. It accelerates the deployment of clean and electric vehicles (EVs), while incentivizing automakers to secure and bring their auto manufacturing supply chains to…

Blog / Water Infrastructure

World Water Day Part 2

Our nation’s drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure is vital to the protection, treatment, and distribution of clean water. However, age, strain from population growth, lack of investment, the pervasiveness of lead pipes, and emerging threats from climate change have increased the burden on the current water infrastructure system and health risks to communities. The nation’s wastewater and drinking water infrastructure received grades of “C-” by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), respectively. 

Blog / Clean Infrastructure

State of the Union 2023 BINGO!

Congress and President Biden have passed major landmark legislation that will dramatically address climate change as well as racial and economic inequality. In addition to significant executive action, we expect President Biden to tout three pieces of legislation in his State of the Union address: the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. These bills will support and create millions of good union jobs, rebuild and modernize our infrastructure, revitalize domestic manufacturing, and make our planet, our workers, and our communities safer and healthier.

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