Powerspan CEO Frank Alix will participate in the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth hosted by the Obama Administration on December 3rd.  President Obama and his economic team will hear from CEOs, finance experts, economists, small business owners, and labor leaders on how to grow our economy and accelerate job creation.  Breakout sessions will focus specifically on green jobs, innovation, infrastructure, exports, and retooling our American workforce. 

This invitation comes on the heels of Alix's November 16th trip to China where he participated on a Clean Coal including CCS panel at the U.S.-China Clean Energy Roundtable held in Beijing.  The meeting was held during President Obama’s visit to China and was jointly hosted by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the Chinese Minister of Science and Technology, and the Vice Administrator of China’s National Energy Administration.  Over 100 experts attended the event including government officials from the U.S. and China, as well as executives from some of the world’s leading clean energy technology companies.

Job creation and economic growth opportunities exist within the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology market, and pending climate change legislation – with its resulting regulatory certainty and economic incentives – is essential to the early deployment of CCS technology for coal-fired power plants.   The deployment of carbon capture technology like Powerspan’s ECO2 technology will not only reduce our CO2 emissions (33 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions come from coal-fired electricity generation), but will also positively impact the economy by:

• Creating jobs – CCS projects require three to four years to implement and create significant economic activity over their duration.  For example, a single CCS project would cost between $250-750 million in capital expense and create up to 500 jobs at its peak, with the majority of materials and labor sourced in the U.S. 
• Promoting economic growth – By incenting early deployment of CCS, the U.S. can assume a leading position in this critical sector and create a thriving, high-tech export business, and the quality jobs that come with it.

For the full announcement on the December 3rd jobs forum, visit the White House website.