First the good news about green jobs in the United States: There are about 2 million of them. That’s roughly one for every man, woman and child in Houston, the fourth largest city in the States.

Now the bad: The 2 million – counted by the U.S. Department of Commerce in its April report - Measuring the Green Economy – is woefully short of what many clean energy advocates and economists say it should be. America is home to about 140 million jobs, so the figure (Commerce says it ranges somewhere between 1.8 million and 2.4 million) is only about 1.4% of the workforce.

From a jobs perspective, America has hardly transitioned to a ‘green economy’. And a good chunk of its green jobs could be short-lived, as much of the work has been funded by the soon-to-expire(?) US$80 billion that President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package earmarked for renewable energy.

A look at the types of jobs created reaffirms the shortcoming. More than 75% are in service, notes Commerce. As Sheeraz Haji, President of San Francisco research firm Cleantech Group notes: “The less sexy part of the eco chain has more of the jobs – weatherizing homes, caulking, putting meters in the home, lighting control. Efficiency has been a real driver in terms of number of jobs.”

Therein lies the impressive but underwhelming part of the story. While legions of workers are out replacing windows and putting insulation into everything from homes to New York City’s iconic Empire State Building, the jobs have not yet arrived full force into manufacturing and the supply chain.

And they won’t, say critics, until the Federal Government passes a Renewable Energy Standard (RES) that orders utilities to switch a minimum percentage of their fuel use to renewable energy.

RES Needed to Spur Renewable Energy

Many have called for a 25% mandate, and they fault Congress for failing to act on this. In July, the Senate abandoned an energy bill that would have set a minimum target of producing 20% of all electricity from renewable energy sources (the same bill also would have instituted a carbon cap and trade scheme in an effort to reduce carbon emissions).

Advocates from environmental, labor and business circles say an RES will generate jobs for workers making products up and down the supply chain for wind turbines, solar panels and other gear. Those products would include steel, sheet-metal, wires, nuts and bolts, motors, pulleys, pipes, you name it – traditional stuff that would reinvigorate core employment while also re-directing it from dirty industry to clean.

“There has been no action by Congress [on] climate or energy this year – at least do something,” implores Marchant Wentworth, Deputy Legislative Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), who identifies job creation as one of the main reasons for passing a minimum standard.

The UCS and a group of backers from the Blue Green Alliance of labor unions, science organizations and environmental groups are now pinning their hopes on a watered down RES proposed on September 21 by Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat, New Mexico. Bingaman calls for a minimum 15% by 2021, with 4% coming from building efficiency. As Bingaman noted when introducing the bill: “Shifting our country toward home-grown renewable energy will create jobs and help reduce carbon pollution.”

While 15% is below the UCS’ and others earlier 25% target, and below what other countries in the world including China have either achieved or declared as their intention, it represents hope for those pushing for creation of green jobs. With an anything-is-better-than-nothing conviction, the UCS is actively lobbying for it.

“We’re disappointed in the level of RES before us but it supplies a framework,” notes Wentworth. “In the political world we’re in here in Washington, it’s easier if you have a framework to build upon. The history of the environmental law is you put something in place and build on it over the years.”

There’s a similar pragmatism at the Blue Green Alliance – a group formed in 2006 when the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club joined forces. Such a combination might have once seemed unlikely, but the dual needs of workers and the environment have melded into a common cause.

Today, the Blue Green Alliance counts at least 9 labor unions and four environmental groups among its constituents.

Commenting on the modest 15% RES proposed by Bingaman, Blue Green’s Director of Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs, Yvette Pena Lopes, says: “It’s definitely not as high as we would like, but something lower is what will be able to pass. 15% – we’re not talking about getting rid of coal, oil or gas. We think it’s a very doable standard.”

Jobs Slipping Off to China

In the absence of a standard, they note, the United States is slipping in both jobs and renewable deployment behind many countries, not the least of which is China. In an August report, consultants Ernst & Young ranked China ahead of the Unites States as the most the most attractive location in which to invest in renewable energy projects.

Many thought leaders and market watchers back up the notion that China is surging ahead in production of solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines, as it gains control of rare earth minerals used in renewable products, as it pursues smart grid initiatives, and rapidly builds up an electric vehicle industry.

“China has seized pole position in the clean-energy race,” says Joseph Stanislaw, a Senior Adviser to Deloitte LLP and founder of The JA Stanislaw Group. “It is the leading producer of wind turbines; it is making massive investments in its electricity grid and has stricter fuel-emission standards than the US. It has positioned itself as the dominant manufacturer of components for renewable energy technologies.”

Stefan Heck, Cleantech Practice Director at McKinsey, agrees. “The US is falling behind China in deployment of renewables.” For example, he notes that China last year had 100 GW of wind production, more than the US and on pace to double by 2018. Wind farms tend to generate local manufacturing jobs because, among other reasons, the massive blades are easier to transport locally.

He adds that China is aggressively subsidizing its renewable energy industry, providing extremely low cost loans and free land to manufacturers.

That sort of financial backing has raised the ire of Leo W. Gerard, the International President of the United Steelworkers. In September, the USW filed a complaint with the US Trade Representative, alleging that China’s subsidies violate World Trade Organization policy.

“Green jobs are key to our future,” Gerard said in a statement when the USW filed the complaint on September 9. “Right now, China is taking every possible step – many of them illegal under international trade laws – to ensure that it will control that sector. America can’t afford to cede more of its manufacturing base to China.

“It’s a national priority to reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies. But if all we do is exchange our dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on Chinese alternative and renewable energy production equipment, we will have traded away our nation’s energy, economic and job security.”

Gerard filed a complaint through Section 301 of US trade law, which gives the Obama administration 45 days – until October 24 – to decide whether to pursue the matter further.

Should Chinese Renewable Imports Have a Tariff?

Some groups advocate tariffs on Chinese green products. “Green systems are just as vulnerable to offshoring as are non-green products. If the US is going to be a major producer, and just a user or installer, it’s going to have to start putting tariffs on products coming from overseas,” say Alan Tonelson, an Economic Policy Analyst for the US Business and Industry Council, a group that represents about 200 small-to-medium sized manufacturers such as those that make traditional industrial products in and around Ohio.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Washington D.C.-based Green For All, says that a tariff would be a step too far. “I think a global economy is important. It shouldn’t be us versus other countries. It will require interconnection with other countries.” Green For All promotes the transition to a green economy that includes jobs for minorities. It has helped develop many regional building retrofit programs across the USA – in part with Obama stimulus funds – and is also working to rebuild manufacturing jobs for the renewable energy supply chain.

She welcomes Chinese competition, noting: “We need to make companies competitive, with the best workforce in the world.”

For now much of the green workforce in America will stay focused on windows, insulation and the like. The Empire State Building, for instance, has created 140 jobs through a US$20 million retrofit of windows and heating and cooling systems designed, according to Andrew DeGuire, Vice President of Strategy and Acquisitions for Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, which is leading the project.

America is indeed painting its job market green. Specialist executive search and job placement firms like Bright Green Talent in San Francisco are busy placing everyone from stimulus-backed insulators to intellectual property specialists. But the shade of activity looks middling compared to what it could be. With the right policy at the federal level, the country’s landscape could turn emerald.

This article first appeared in Renewable Energy Focus U.S., Issue 2, September/October 2010.