A recent press release publicized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency on April 29 indicates that the agency is adopting a new strategy to endorse and promote the actions of towns and cities to utilize green infrastructure in order to reduce runoff from storms that ends up polluting various important bodies of water, such as coastal waters, lakes, rivers, streams, and even small creeks.

“Green infrastructure,” according to the press release, “decreases pollution to local waterways by treating rain where it falls and keeping polluted stormwater from entering sewer systems.” The press release goes on to detail that runoff stormwater, which may contain a wide variety of harmful pollutants gathered from the rain’s contact with items that contain contaminants or substances such as greenhouse gases, is described as one of the foremost and pervasive obstructions to water quality in the country.

The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to work with the nearby governments of some cities, watershed organizations, and other associations and entities that are similarly interested in preserving the quality of runoff water. An additional way that harnessing the pollutants from stormwater save energy is by removing the stormwater from the general pool of water to be treated, which includes sewage. By removing stormwater and filtering it through a different process, traditional water treatment plants are able to spend less energy and electricity by working with lower quantities of liquid.

For more information about the Environmental Protection Agency’s statement, please visit: http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/EPA-to-promote-use-of-green-infrastructure-in-cities-and-towns-595497

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According to information recently published on Environmental-Expert.com, the Region 6 Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, is currently seeking to “support underserved populations” by offering grants totaling $100,000 each to various projects that assist in the cultivation of providing green jobs to the community or facilitating the placement of skilled individuals in green jobs positions in the alternative energy industries.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines for eligibility for the grant are that the applicant must be an “incorporated non-profit organization,” a Native American tribal government or an Intertribal Consortium or Consortia that is recognized on the federal administrative level, and the project must support the same state and locale as where the organization resides. The guidelines also stipulate that institutions must demonstrate an aptitude and track record for assisting their communities in environmental issues and finding green jobs.

Additionally, projects may only be performed in certain areas pertinent to Region 6 as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, which contains the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Environmental-Expert.com defines an “undeserved population” as, “for the purposes of this Request for Application, is a community, including minority, low-income, or indigenous populations or communities, that is disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and risks and has a local environmental and public health issue that is identified in the proposal.”

To learn more about the application, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region6/6dra/oejta/ej/ej_pdfs/green_jobs_rfa.pdf.

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Journalist Nichola Groom is reporting for Reuters that despite federal budget pressures and constraints, a major green energy technologies loan program put forth by the United States Department of Energy will live on, and that, in light of this, the United States Department of Energy “wasted no time announcing major commitments to fund two of the world’s largest solar projects.”

According to Groom, the Department of Energy conditionally stated Tuesday that SunPower Corp, a major solar firm, will receive a $1.187 billion loan guarantee in order to provide financing and support for the development of a 250-megawatt photovoltaic power facility located in California’s central area. The power plant’s estimated power is sufficient to generate enough electricity for 100,000 homes, Groom reports.

A day earlier, on Monday, the Department of Energy finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to support the Ivanpah solar thermal project put forth by private firm BrightSource Energy Inc., which is slated to produce 392 megawatts.

The allocation of loan guarantees comes amidst some contention, as the Republican-held United States House of Representatives in February approved legislation that aimed to reallocate funding for what Groom terms “innovative green technologies” via the loan guarantee program offered by the Department of Energy.

To read more information about how the Department of Energy will continue to support the development of alternative and renewable energy technologies, please visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/idUS362075786720110413

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According to an article that appeared recently on LowCarbonEconomy.com, leaders of the climate change awareness movement and alternative and renewable energy causes have commented on the current state of green jobs creation in the United Kingdom–and, when compared to the corresponding rates and ratios of other world powers, it isn’t necessarily something to brag about.

More specifically, according to LowCarbonEconomy.com, Meg Hillier–described as “the shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change”–has publicly stated that she feels Britain is not only behind in green jobs but that the nation’s government should be investing more funds toward their creation and the stimulation of companies and institutions that further growth in the green jobs sector, comments which came after the government’s creation of the National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies.

“If you look at Germany and the Netherlands, they put public money into things. In spite of the European competition rules, there are ways of investing,” Hillier is quoted by LowCarbonEconomy.com as saying. “We are behind that curve.”

Despite her comments, Hillier said that certain pockets of green industry developing on the country’s coast could prove promising for those seeking to become employed in the various green industries.

“The north-east coast is very important for offshore wind … you’ve got Wales which has got huge opportunity potentially for maritime and tidal. There’s some interesting marine stuff going on on the south-west coast as well,” she is quoted as saying.

To read the original article, please visit: http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/community_content/_low_carbon_blog/13248/uk_behind_the_curve_in_green_job_creation

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As the United States House of Representatives – at the time of this writing, a largely Republican entity – considers the possibility of slashing funding for the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee program, Senator Diane Feinstein (D) of California has issued public statements importuning her fellow politicians to support and save the public service, which “make[s] it easier for developers of large-scale renewable energy projects and renewable energy manufacturers to secure funding for expansion,” writes Chris Meehan of Clean Energy Authority.

If the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee program is cut, numerous green industry firms currently in the process of leveraging guarantees on crucial loans that would support their projects financially or fund expansions would be at risk, Feinstein warned, according to Meehan in an article.

Meehan specified that if the House of Representatives did decide to withdraw funds from the loan guarantee program, private companies – which do not have access to specific areas of funding – would be at a greater risk than public ones.

Pavel Molchanov, an analyst for the investment firm of Raymond James & Associates, was interviewed by Meehan. “There are some manufacturing companies that have manufacturing facilities in the U.S. that would not get off the ground without federal loan guarantees,” Molchanov warned.

In a public address, Feinstein gave reasons, via examples, of why cutting funding for the Department of Energy’s program would have negative consequences on the country’s green economy.

“Five conditional loans already issued to renewable energy projects would have to be withdrawn, while 26 loan agreements with final-term sheets in hand could never be completed,” Meehan quotes a letter from Feinstein as saying. “These 31 projects are seeking $15.5 billion in loans to finance $24.2 billion in new energy infrastructure, which would put more than 35,000 Americans to work.”

For more information, please visit the original article at: http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-news/sen-feinstein-sends-letter-to-congress-over-solar-loans-022111/

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According to a press release hosted by PRWeb and reprinted by the San Francisco Chronicle’s online edition, SFGate.com, the California city of Berkeley’s Inter-City Services, Inc. (ICS) is set to offer various training programs for citizens to both master green technologies and the skills necessary to obtain employment in any of several rapidly expanding green industries, such as solar installation procedures and the process of LEED certification.

The press release cites a report from Next 10 and Collaborative Economics, entities which conducted and published a study that concluded green jobs are growing three times as fast as other employment sectors in California. The San Francisco Bay Area lead the growth primarily, with an 8 percent growth between January 2008 and January 2009.

“The green job data is significant because these jobs are growing in every region across the state, outpacing other vital sectors, and generating business across the supply chain,” Next 10 founder F. Noel Perry is quoted as saying in the press release.

Among the various educational options made available by Berkeley’s Inter-City Services, Inc., are a Photovoltaic Solar Energy Training Course, which educates its students in the fundamental elements of photovoltaic solar production and installation. Additional classes include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and certifications made available from the Building for Performance Institute, North American Technical Excellence, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

To read the release, please visit: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/18/prweb8141312.DTL

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Recent journalistic coverage, from sources such as The State Column, has indicated that United States Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from the state of Vermont, chaired a hearing in the U.S. Senate yesterday that aimed to examine how the United States is “competing with other nations for green jobs” and facing the growing demands of the burgeoning green industries.

The consideration of the United States’s place in the larger international scheme of things is particularly pertinent given news in the past year that countries such as China and some European nations have already made significant headway into the development of environmentally-friendly and lucrative innovations.

In addition to being the chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, Senator Bernie Sanders was named to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress earlier this month, on February 4.

Despite the increasing challenges to the United States’s various green energy industries, Sanders expressed optimism for the sector in the future.

“We can create good-paying jobs by investing in efficient and sustainable energy technologies,” Sanders is quoted by The State Column as saying. “Moving toward green jobs is terribly important for our economy, it’s important for our environment, and it’s important for from the perspective of not getting us into wars for oil.”

One of the witnesses of yesterday’s hearing, John Danner, the Chief Executive Officer of Northern Power Systems, testified to say that he believes his company is in the process of growing “into a leader within the global wind turbine industry” that will create “thousands if not tens of thousands of jobs.”

Senator Sanders’s website describes him as the longest serving independent member of Congress in the history of the United States.

For more information about the hearing, please visit: http://www.thestatecolumn.com/state_politics/vermont/sen-bernie-sanders-chairs-hearing-on-green-jobs/

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According to such news sources as NewsOK, a subsidiary of The Oklahoman, six educational institutions located in the state of Oklahoma have been selected to receive over $3 million in federal funding via stimulus grants for the expressed purpose of training “more than 4,700 people for careers in emerging green industries.”

The institutions that will receive the millions in federal funding designed specifically to support the development of an able and skilled workforce for the up-and-coming green industries—including solar power, wind power, biofuel, ethanol, and innovations in energy efficiency technology—are the Eastern Region Green Consortium at Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee, the State Department of Career and Technology Education Green Consortium, the OSU-Oklahoma City Green Jobs Consortium, East Central University’s Southern Oklahoma Green Jobs Consortium, and Rose State College’s Green Healthcare Training Consortium.

Oklahoma Project Green Director Shawna McWaters-Khalousi expressed her high hopes for the allocation of federal funding toward the cultivation of green industry in Oklahoma. “The really exciting news for Oklahoma is that instead of training our goal of 1,000 people, we will be able to train nearly 5,000 Oklahomans for 21st-century jobs,” McWaters-Khalousi is quoted by NewsOK as saying. She continued to say that with these programs, “we [Oklahomans] can create a pipeline of workers with the proper education to have access to quality jobs in the green economy. Many of those kinds of careers pay above the state’s average wage.”

Others, including Stan Greil, the Vice President of Workforce Development at Rose State College, have also offered their praise for the green jobs development programs. “The Oklahoma Project Green grant will be the pacesetter jobs program in 2011 and the years to follow,” Greil is quoted as saying by NewsOK.

To read more, please visit: http://newsok.com/state-groups-earn-money-for-green-training-efforts/article/3539570

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Recent journalistic coverage by reporter Jessica Lillian for SolarIndustryMag.com points toward a “potentially significant boost” for the state of California’s manifold solar companies and their corresponding industries should a compound newfound energy policy and business proposal with four main features be signed into law this week.

Introduced by Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative “is designed to both accelerate renewable energy deployment in California and aid the budget beleaguered state in resolving its persistent fiscal crisis,” Lillian writes.

For a state that is already considered the leader in United States solar development, many have wondered what the passage of such legislation would mean for the progress of the solar industry at the national, and not just state, level.

The four components of the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative, as proposed by Perez and Steinberg, include a one-third renewable portfolio standard (RPS), a measure that Lillian claims is “intended to expedite the siting and construction of large-scale renewable energy projects,” funding for clean energy jobs training programs, and the establishment of a loan entity to support guaranteed loans for small-scale installations of alternative energy technologies.

In announcing the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative and reporting its aim, both Perez and Steinberg maintained that they would put forth the legislation “to the governor’s desk as quickly as possible in order to remove the bureaucratic red tape hampering construction of clean energy facilities and burnish California’s position as a global leader in developing and sustaining the emerging market of clean technology,” Lillian quotes.

To read the original article, please visit: http://solarindustrymag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.7214

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Recent coverage by Susan Ferriss, a journalist who covers information and happenings regarding the state capitol of California, Sacramento, for the renowned newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, has pointed out a new trend in statewide politics: in the California legislature, a significant number of Democratic representatives are supporting the resurrection of the proposed bill that would require the state’s utility entities to purchase, at minimum, 33 percent—or one third—of their total energy purchases from renewable or alternative energy sources by the year 2020.

The ambitious goal comes hand-in-hand with numerous efforts statewide to increase the dependence of different communities on viable clean energy utilities, or more efficient solutions for the usage of available resources such as fossil fuels if it is not possible to develop alternative energy facilities.

According to Ferriss, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat and a Sacramento native, clarified the recent commotion over the importance of developing California’s green jobs market and various green industries in light of the state’s burgeoning budget crisis.

“The budget is and remains our top priority,” Steinberg is quoted by Ferriss as saying. He went on to say that “we must also continue to provide state and national leadership in our ongoing efforts to strengthen California’s economy by supporting emerging industries, improving public education and creating jobs for Californians.”

As this blog has attempted to illustrate, all three of Steinberg’s target areas have seen growth in the past six months along. Green industries are, quite literally, sprouting up all across America, and those institutions responsible for training the next generation of workers—vocational schools, trade schools, and numerous colleges—have all accepted the importance of developing green jobs training programs to prepare workers for the needs of an energy economy based on renewable resources.

Conversation regarding the revival of the bill specifying that a total of one third of California’s energy must come from alternative sources like wind power or solar power is ongoing and controversial.

For more information, read Farriss’s complete article in the Sacramento Bee at: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/03/3373329/democrats-launch-green-energy.html

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