Green Tech and Research

Today I came across a very interesting article at the Cap Times about emerging industries in the state of Wisconsin and how the actions of our governor are hindering the process that they will be able to make. The focus of the article was on emerging green (clean or alternative, whichever term you prefer) energy technologies in the state. These were the focus of President Obama’s recent visits to Wisconsin to promote his energy policies by visiting two companies, Tower Tech Systems and Orion Energy Systems. These two companies, and many others in the state, are driving forward a revitalization of Wisconsin’s economy. The problem is that many of these companies, including Orion Energy Systems, are on the verge of collapsing. OES in its latest Security and Exchange Commission report even noted that,

We may continue to incur further net losses and there can be no assurance that we will be able to increase our revenue, expand our customer base or be profitable.

What this means is that the almost 250 employees of Orion Energy Systems will be laid off, and Governor Walker’s goal of creating 250,000 private sector jobs will be just as far away as ever. And that is only one company; many other companies invested in the work of the emerging green industry are in a similar boat as OES.

But while today’s immediate jobs is a problem to be grappled with, and should be justification in itself to invest in these companies, the long term implications of not investing in green tech could be far more catastrophic. According to the Thomas Reuters 2010 Money Tree Report, four of the top five fastest growing companies in the United States were GreenTech companies. The report also notes that the alternative energy industry is the largest growing industries in the country. Wisconsin cannot be left behind in these efforts. Director of the Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium and the Center for Renewable Energy Systems John Bobrowich says that with what he’s seen Wisconsin can become the center of new energy technology development and develop into the proverbial Silicon Valley of the industry. But this is only possible with investment by the state.

And finally we come to the UW System and UW Madison. This post is meant to be the first in an ongoing series (yet to be determined length) to highlight research ventures at UW Madison and across the system and about why investments need to continually be made by the state to the university system and how in turn the university can contribute, once again, to the development of industry in Wisconsin. Aspects of many research ventures of the universities, and that the universities are partners in, are directed towards creating new technologies to spur growth in the state.

One such technology is most definitely green technology. So many independent researchers and collaborations are working on the issue. The research of bacteriologist Cameron Currie on left cutting ants could potentially to new forms of bio-energy. Forums at the School of Business show how sustainability and entrepreneurship can intersect in the business world. Work at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the University Research Park, both of which are university collaborations with private enterprises, have many opportunities to find new sources of clean energy and improving upon current technology. Finally, a new collaboration between UW Madison, UW Milwaukee, Marquette University, and industry leaders called the Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium, mentioned above, promises to bring many new innovations to the field for private businesses to harness and invest into to make our state prosper.

As stated before, GreenTech is the largest growing industry in the United States, and also many other parts of the world, and it is time to take command of this fast sailing ship and not be thrown overboard. A dual approach of investment in current technologies in the field as well was investments into research to stimulate new technologies would be the best strategy to adopt. Although we are in tough economic times and our budget is currently in a disastrous state, investment into saving current jobs and in emerging industries would be the most appropriate action to take. I hope that Governor Walker is able to see that the university system can be a valuable partner in growing our economy, and that so called “liberal” industries can be just as impactful as Wisconsin’s old standbys, the dairy and manufacturing industries. This is just one of the many things that we as attendees of this great system need to communicate to the Governor, and I hope this blog can provide some sort of spark to that action. Until next time.

An Inexperienced Leader~Samuel Seering