Clean energy and construction are likely to be the next big industry coming to Tacoma. Thanks to a partnership between the William M. Factory Small Business Incubator, Marine View Ventures Inc. and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Tacoma will soon be home to a clean technology incubation facility that will help Pierce County become a leader in the development, manufacture and use of environmentally friendly products and services.
The facility will be part of Phase III of a larger expansion at the Incubator near the junction of Interstate 5 and Portland Avenue, with development timelines remaining hazy. The 30,000- to 40,000-square-foot facility would become a jewel of green building and design, aiming for zero net energy and zero new water use. In case you didn’t know, green building and green energy technologies are about the hottest economic trend around these days.

It’s also one of the few markets that Pierce County has a chance at cornering in the region, says Colleen Barta, assistant director at the Incubator.

“We’re not going to compete with Lake Union on biotech,” says Barta.

There’s a lot to this project, which would be aggressive in creating programs aimed at nurturing green business, and so-called green collar jobs. The incubator facility would serve as a teaching hub for people working in the building trades, who would learn how to use, build and install energy efficient technology, learn green building and design, and other skills that will allow them to fill a growing need for jobs in the world of green building. Those jobs, in turn, will feed local building companies, many of which are integrating green building technologies into standard business practices, or converting entirely to sustainable building practice. Eco-employees and the companies that put them to work will be supported by what Barta describes as a “living lab,” which would conduct research aimed at analyzing sustainable building practices, which would be shared with energy-industry partners worldwide.

Funding from industry partners has already been secured, says Barta. Project organizers are now working to determine how to get local government agencies to help come up with money to operate the facility.

“If anything, we need operating dollars from the county, city and Tacoma Public Utilities,” she says.