Last week, the Green Jobs Ready blog featured coverage of a New York school district making headway in the area of alternative energy innovation by utilizing wind energy as a source of power. As it turns out, they’re not the only ones who have realized the potential of renewable resources to alleviate the expensive costs of traditional forms of energy in addition to helping restore and preserve the earth’s environment.

According to news coverage via alternative energy news agencies and outlets such as BrighterEnergy.org, the United States Department of Energy has recently completed the finalization procedures to approve a $102 million loan guarantee to enact the erection of a wind power project in the central Maine area—more specifically, the Record Hill wind project, which is cited by BrighterEnergy.org as having the capacity to produce 50.6 megawatts of wind power with “an eight mile transmission line and associated interconnection equipment near the town of Roxbury, Maine.”

The wind power facilities will be developed and managed by the wind power firm Wagner Wind Energy I and Independence Wind LLC, the latter which finds its home base in Maine, further cultivating the green jobs culture there and enabling individuals to work fruitfully in environmentally friendly industries.

United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu had some words of support for the project: “This innovative project creates jobs in Maine while boosting domestic wind generation in order to achieve the Administration’s goal of doubling clean energy produced in America by 2035,” he is quoted as saying. “Clean energy is a major driver of American competitiveness, and investments like these are essential to secure our position as global leader.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.brighterenergy.org/25959/news/wind/doe-finalizes-102m-loan-for-maine-wind-project/

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According to recent coverage by journalist Mark Clayton for the Christian Science Monitor, the “detailed statistics” provided by the Brookings Institution and the Battelle Technology Partnership are paving the way for more in-depth examination of the United States’s burgeoning green industries, including not only numerical analysis of the country’s growth in terms of jobs but also on the sector level, as well.

Today, Clayton reports, the information provided by the Brookings Institution and the Battelle Technoloy Partnership indicates that the number of green jobs held by Americans now outweighs the number of gas and oil-related jobs in those industries.  The “clean-economy sector” possesses a total of 2.7 million jobs in comparison to the 2.4 million jobs in the industries that provide a majority of the energy used by Americans today.

Additional information from the American Petroleum institute locates the number of “direct jobs” in oil and gas industries at around 2.1 million, and the studies have specified that the biosciences industry—a sizable portion of which is dedicated to green and alternative energy solutions, including the development of biofuels—currently supports 1.4 million jobs. All of these areas, however, continue to change and grow.

Of note in the Brookings Institution and Battelle Technology Partnership data is the fact that hundreds of thousands of “green jobs” exist in conservation and public mass transit, more so than the number of jobs provided by the wind and solar power industries combined.

Government-mandated green technologies, such as the 12,500 jobs created by the 2007 light bulb standards adopted then by Congress, have also contributed to the growth of both the green economy and the nation’s economy at large.

For more information, please read Clayton’s article at the Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0718/Report-More-Americans-have-green-jobs-than-oil-or-gas-jobs

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In a digital edition of the Financial Chronicle today, journalist Debeshi Gooptu Bakshi reported that more than 10.5 million individuals may be employed in various green jobs throughout India by the end of this decade.

Among Bakshi’s many sources to support this exciting hypothesis is a report that an institution known as The Climate Group, “a global environmental think tank,” released in March. The report, which is referred to by the name India’s Clean Revolution, “indicates that enormous potential exists for generating new income and jobs by developing domestic renewable energy resources and clean technologies in India,” Bakshi writes in the Financial Chronicle.

India offers a variety of blossoming green jobs industries, including sustainable housing organizations and corporations, green agriculture entities, green transportation technologies and the traditional host of green energy suppliers: solar energy, wind energy, and other alternative approaches to energy.

Bakshi cites Damian Ryan, a senior international policy manager at The Climate Group, as endorsing the probability of substantive growth in India. “Education and training of both the current and future workforce is obviously critical to seizing the opportunities of the Clean Revolution,” Bakshi quotes Ryan as saying.

“The good news is that the India government has been increasing its investment in education and research over recent years, with a four-fold increase in funding in the 2007-2012 five year plan,” he continues. “This will, no doubt, help to boost the number of engineers and scientists that India is increasingly well-known for producing.”

To read more, please visit: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/india’s-clean-revolution-promises-employment-105-million-135

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According to a recent article on Fox Business online, while the number of green jobs increases, so does the array of variety within various renewable and alternative energy industries. The article cites a study that the United States Green Building Council released last year, which specifies that 7.9 million green jobs will be added to the American economy by the end of 2012, in addition to roughly $554 billion. With numbers like those, it’s hard to imagine the sheer number of possibilities for green employment—and as it turns out, there’s a job in the world of green energy for just about every skill set out there.

Here are the five specific jobs laid out by the Fox Business online article as being viable career paths you might not have thought about within green industries:

• Home Energy Auditor – An individual responsible for comprehensively assessing the energy efficiency, or lack thereof, of someone’s home, and for recommending what changes should be made to the structure or systems of the house to result in both environmental friendliness and monetary savings.
• Green Teacher – As green job openings proliferate, certain skill sets need to be taught. That’s where green teachers step in, playing an crucial role in the next workforce generation of green industry.
• Green Engineer – Green engineers are qualified professionals and experts who tackle all the logistics of setting up the facilities that will house the technologies of tomorrow.
• Wind Power Salesperson – As wind power becomes increasingly appealing—and makes more and more common sense to adopt—the business of selling wind power systems is rapidly growing, and salespeople play an important role in getting any technology out and into the public’s hands.
• Weatherization Expert – Lots of energy is lost by improper or inefficient installation, and that’s where weatherization experts step in. These individuals help to make sure that homes and other buildings are properly weatherized so as to minimize their environmental impact.

For more information about these positions and about the current state of green jobs in general, please visit: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/22/5-green-jobs-saving-planet/

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Can you think of a better time to join the renewable energy industry, than right now? 

Let us recap what’s been going on in the world of energy this past year…. 

• April 9^th 2010: A mine in West Virginia exploded and killed 29 people.
• April 30^th 2010: An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and caused BILLIONS and BILLIONS of tax payer dollars to clean up the mess.
• September 10^th 2010: In San Bruno CA, a natural gas line erupted killing 8 people and incinerating an entire bay area neighborhood.
• March 10^th 2011: An 8.9 earthquake in Japan disrupted a nuclear power plant’s cooling system, causing a state of nuclear radiation emergency for the entire country.

The recent events at the nuclear power plant in Japan raised concerns in the U.S. government to re-evaluate the safety of all 104 nuclear power plants here in the U.S.   State legislatures in California have requested PG&E’s application to renew its license (regarding the Diablo Canyon reactor near San Luis Obispo) be denied or suspended until further seismic studies or mapping is completed.  These same requests were made of Edison’s San Onofre nuclear plant near San Diego as well.  Company executives claim that their plants are a lot safer than the one in Japan; designed to withhold any seismic activity that may occur. 

REALLY????

If this was the case, why don’t these executives live and raise their families’ near these power plants?   Maybe for the same reason why some Americans would prefer that they shut down… JUST IN CASE.  “Just in case” an accident occurs here, as it did in Japan.  Should we really have to wait until an accident happens before we reconsider where our energy is coming from?  No!  

The truth is, the government works at a snail’s pace and it’s up to the people…  Mr. Contractor, Mrs. Licensed Electrician– this is for you to consider.  The power is in your hands… literally. 

You have the ability to go out and educate residential and commercial owners to reconsider renewable energy sources.  Let them now know that we, as Americans, do not have to rely on oil and coal companies.  Let them know this– there aren’t any executives of these nuclear power plants living near their reactors because there is no such thing as a guarantee.  

Times are changing.  Help ensure that energy change comes with it!

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According to green news source SFenvironment.org and United Press International, the government of the city of San Francisco has taken major steps in pushing its residents toward the reduction of their energy usage and the consumption of more renewable and alternative sources of energy.

United Press International reports that just this Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that will “improve energy efficiency in existing buildings, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs and create green jobs.” The ordinance by the Board of Supervisors also apparently makes it a city standard that commercial buildings that inhabit over 10,000 square feet of space must hold audits every five years to determine their relative energy efficiency.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee expressed positive feelings over the Board of Supervisors’ ordinance. “San Francisco needs to increase the energy and resource efficiency of existing buildings if we are going to meet our aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets,” United Press International quotes Lee as saying. “This ordinance not only helps educate building owners about what they need to do to save energy and money, but it will also boost our local green jobs economy.”

Melanie Nutter, the director of San Francisco’s Environment Department, also stated that her department has learned that “up to 70 percent of businesses that have an audit will take action and conduct a retrofit,” according to coverage featured by United Press International.

For more information, please visit: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/02/10/San-Francisco-pushes-for-green-buildings/UPI-78421297390270/

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According to recent coverage by the news broadcast station KGTV San Diego, the local municipal utilities firm San Diego Gas & Electric announced today that it had reached the establishment of an agreement that indicates the San Diego Gas & Electric will acquire roughly one quarter of its total power from the future Imperial County windmill farm known as the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility over the next 20 years.

The article states that the power generated by the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility will be enough to produce electricity sufficient for 130,000 customers, and that the power will be transmitted from the Imperial County area to the greater San Diego locality through the Sunrise Powerlink transmission lines. The San Francisco energy firm Pattern Energy will construct the facility on 15,000 acres located west of the Southern California city of El Centro.

According to Jennifer Ramp, a representative of San Diego Gas & Electric, the firm is aiming to acquire another 400 megawatts of power generated through renewable resources to accompany the 600 megawatts it will have coming through the Sunrise Powerlink. “We’ve been working diligently to fill the Powerlink with renewable energy,” Ramp is quoted by KGTV San Diego as saying. Ramp has estimated that completion of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line, which is to be created primarily for the purposes of the agreement, should be complete by the middle of 2012, and that the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility is scheduled to be finished near the end of that year.

In addition, the agreement must also be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission before it goes into effect.

For more information, please visit: http://www.10news.com/news/26736352/detail.html

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According to the online business journal for green industries SustainableBusiness.com, there may be a frequently overlooked category of sustainable and environmentally-friendly businesses that actually create a marked amount of green jobs and provide lasting employment to workers within the renewable and alternative energy industries. The article on SustainableBusiness.com cites a recent report released just this week by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in conjunction with an institution referred to as the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP).

Coverage by SustainableBusiness.com indicates that the study issued to the public by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project claims that in 2010 alone, roughly 340,000 jobs were created through the enforcement of national appliance energy efficiency standards, which accounts for a total of 0.2 percent of the nation’s jobs. The study also foresees rapid growth for not only the energy standards industry but the clean energy industry as a whole, estimating that by 2030 the amount of clean energy jobs produced will rise to about 380,000, a number it equates to the amount of jobs in the state of Delaware currently.

Steven Nadel, the Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, shared positive sentiments regarding the study’s findings in a statement when it was released. “Our new study shows that cutting energy waste with strong appliance standards is a proven way to increase domestic jobs and strengthen the American economy for the future,” Nadel is quoted by SustainableBusiness.com as saying.

For more information, please visit the original coverage of the study at SustainableBusiness.com: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/21781

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Reports issued today, such as an article issued in the Pratt Tribune, indicated that the United States Environmental Protection Agency has taken a significant step toward weaning the United States off its dependence on foreign oil sources for the majority of its transportation energy.

According to the Pratt Tribune’s coverage, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a decision approving a raise of the “blend wall,” or amount of ethanol fuel relative to the total fuel consumption market, from E10 to E15 for vehicles made in 2007 or later, which means that the agency has essentially deemed 20 percent of the United States’s current population of passenger cars and light-duty trucks made in that time frame fit to run on ethanol.

“…While this is an important first step, there are many more steps we can take toward strengthening our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs here in the United States and improving our environment,” Tom Buis, Chief Executive Officer of Growth Energy, is quoted as saying in the Pratt Tribune’s article.

“Extensive testing from government, industry and academia proves there is no reason to limit E15 to only 2007 and newer vehicles. We urge the EPA to quickly follow today’s announcement with the approval of E15 for all vehicles, so that the American people can choose a blend of fuel that is proven to be better for our economy, our security and our environment,” Buis continued.

The article also notes that the United States Department of Energy has concluded that for every billion gallons of American ethanol that is produced, 10,000 to 20,000 permanent green jobs—jobs impervious to outsourcing—are created.

The coverage in the Pratt Tribune notes that America currently holds the capability to manufacture up to 12 billion gallons of ethanol annually through over 170 plants at a variety of locations nationwide.

To read more about the changing future of ethanol and the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent decision, please visit: http://www.pratttribune.com/news/agriculture/x934174576/EPA-greenlights-ethanol-increase

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While Californian voters demonstrated a consistent sense of commitment to upholding legally established environmental regulation standards, in particular the greenhouse gas regulation measures that measure AB 32 is set to implement, according to former California legislator Tom Hayden, Brown must now “figure out how to pay for California’s alternative-energy future and ensure that all the state’s residents benefit from new opportunities in the field.”

In an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, Hayden–who served on the legislature of the state of California from 1982 to 2000, and was also selected to act as the chairman of Gov. Brown’s SolarCal Council during Brown’s first term in 1979–articulates that the prevalence and acceptance of the idea of alternative energy technologies in the state owes “a large debt to Brown.” He goes on to state that, while Brown was serving his first term as Governor of the State of California during the years of 1975 through 1982, nuclear industries were estimating a need for nuclear power plants to be installed consistently and frequently along the California coastline, and that power players supported the creation of a “liquefied natural gas terminal” at Point Conception in Santa Barbara.

According to Hayden, Brown’s initial refusal to abide by the requests of these corporate power interests paved the way for the state of California’s current leadership in many sectors of the green economy. With two existing green powerhouses, the San Francisco bay area and the Los Angeles area, California is also poised to gain another mass producer of green technologies and consumer of reusable resources: the central, or San Joaquin, valley. Hayden claims that the state currently holds roughly 1.5 million jobs based in clean energy industries that have “accumulated savings of $50 billion to $60 billion to California consumers,” and that Brown has pledged to create half a million, or 500,000, new green jobs over the course of his second term as Governor.

The two main challenges Brown faces, Hayden states, are how to pay for “a cleaner energy future,” and how to include both advantaged and disadvantaged Californians in his plan to expand green industries. Hayden’s observations and insights are apt, but only time will tell if Brown’s policies and promises produce a measurably advantageous effect on the green economy of the state of California.

To read Tom Hayden’s op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, please visit: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hayden-green-california-20101104,0,3281381.story

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