Stimulus Spending Creates Green Jobs in US Rust Belt Town
September 16, 2011
Like many Americans, Christopher Ziegelhofer is trying to raise his young family in uncertain economic times.
The chemical industry worker has lost a series of jobs over the past seven years, as factories closed due to hard times, or outsourced their workforces. But at the height of the recession, he was faced with extreme challenges in finding work.
"[I was] working part-time at a job, collecting unemployment, and just trying to get back in the industry," Ziegelhofer said.
Ziegelhofer was unemployed for months and says he began to worry about how he would care for his family.
But his luck changed when AE Polysilicon opened a production plant in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, the economically-depressed steel town that Ziegelhofer calls home.
"I actually got the job," recalled Ziegelhofer. "Getting that job was like hitting the lottery. It sounds a little crazy to say that I hit the lottery getting a job, but when you think of how the world's going right now, to be able to get a job that has an endless future, you couldn't ask for anything more."
In his new job, Ziegelhofer supervises the manufacturing of highly-refined materials for solar panels.
The company says its unique process produces higher-efficiency solar panels at increasingly lower costs.
AE Polysilicone got $44 million in federal tax credits as part of the 2009 Recovery Act, under a program aimed at creating "green collar" jobs.
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