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In December 2011, two related projects on energy and Ohio’s economy, with a special focus on manufacturing, which High Road Strategies participated in, came to a successful end.

In April 2010, Ohio University Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs and The Ohio State University were awarded $500,000 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Energy Program to evaluate federal climate policies and their potential impact on Ohio’s economy, including the development an energy-economic modeling tool to carry out these assessments (click here). The contract was administered by the Ohio Department of Development, jointly with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the team headed by the two Ohio universities, which also included the Millennium Institute and Thompson Hine LLP, both of Washington, DC, High Road Strategies produced a report, Risks and Opportunities for Ohio’s Manufacturing Sector in a Carbon-Constrained World, which was incorporated into a final, overall project report, Assuring Ohio’s Competitiveness in a Carbon-Constrained World, now available online (click here for more information).

In a follow-up project, the Ohio University Voinovich School contracted with the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) to conduct an Advanced Energy Manufacturing Policy Study, to explore and evaluate options for Ohio manufacturers to take advantage of new and emerging opportunities in advanced energy manufacturing. This included working with OMA to:

• articulate an Energy Statement of Principles;
• conduct in-depth interviews with manufacturing executives concerning their energy use and views;
• develop an energy policy framework;
• create an industrial energy-efficiency “roadmap” to help guide Ohio manufacturers identify and achieve potential cost-effective IEE gains; and,
• a related document to help manufacturers identify the best financial and technical assistance opportunities to make energy savings.

High Road Strategies participated in most phases of this work, but its main contribution was in the production of the report, An Industrial Roadmap for Ohio Manufacturers: Potential, Barriers, and Opportunities.  In a separate report, it proposed new analytical and technical assistance tools to help manufacturers evaluate and respond to energy policy options (for more information click here).