08/18/2014 03:23 PM
BATON ROUGE – Most of the economic opportunities arising in energy-based manufacturing
will be concentrated in few areas of the country, with the South being one of those
preferred regions. In a presentation at the annual Southern Governor’s Association
conference in Little Rock Saturday, David E. Dismukes, executive director of LSU’s
Center for Energy Studies and professor in the School of the Coast and Environment,
explained that energy-based manufacturing differs from traditional manufacturing in
that it tends to pay considerably higher wages and uses energy in a variety of sophisticated
ways, the most important of which is as a feedstock for other products, fuels, and
energy resources.
“Abundant natural gas supplies have led to the development or announcement of more
than $65 billion in new capital expenditures,” Dismukes said. “Demand for the output
from these energy manufacturing facilities is not relegated to the U.S. or North American
market, but extends world-wide, particularly to the growing economies of Asia, some
of which are experiencing growth rates for the commodities and products produced at
these facilities at levels double to triple those in the U.S.”
Dismukes cautioned, however, that securing in-state investment in new energy-based
manufacturing will become increasingly more competitive, even for states like Louisiana
and Texas that have, to date, held a competitive advantage in new project announcements.
“Developers are increasingly exploring other locational opportunities,” he said. “The
key to new energy manufacturing investment often rests with any individual state’s
business climate, the stability of its regulatory environment, and its willingness
to facilitate the development of transmission and distribution assets needed to move
new energy supplies to locations that could support energy manufacturing.”
Dismukes’ presentation is available online at http://www.enrg.lsu.edu/node/512.
Marybeth Pinsonneault
Communications Manager
Center for Energy Studies
578-3948
mpinsonn@lsu.edu
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014