After a length of time that many commentators have called a slow period or a “bubble” for the wind energy industry and all of the green jobs it has created and continues to create, recent statistics published by the American Wind Energy Association seem to demonstrate marked increases in generating capacity for 2011.

More specifically, the new numbers paint a picture of an industry experiencing numerous and successful developments, including the rapid creation and construction of new facilities all across the country and world. According to the report issued by the American Wind Energy Association, which was picked up by the Wichita Business Times, the wind energy industry as defined by the association’s report “installed 1,204 megawatts of generating capacity in the third quarter of 2011,” a 79 percent uptick from the identical period last year, according to the Times.

Along with news of greatly increased industry expansion and development, the American Wind Energy Association’s report also mentions that the wind energy industry is currently busy with the construction of facilities with more than 8,400 megawatts of generating power in total.

Daniel McCoy, a reporter for the Wichita Business Times, notes that BP Wind Energy announced in early October that it would seek to build a wind farm on four counties in southern Kansas that would provide an output of 419 megawatts. He also noted that state governor Sam Brownback hopes to encourage the industry’s maximization of the wind potential native to the state’s geography.

For more information, please read: http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/blog/2011/10/report-wind-energy-back-on-the-rise.html

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Recent developments in the state of the green jobs market and economy came on Thursday this week when the Obama administration made known further plans to cultivate growth in various sectors of the green economy, in particular for the furthering of efforts in the area of solar energy.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the International Business Times, and other publications, the Bureau of Land Management and the presidential administration aim to encourage the development of more than 20 million acres of the Mojave desert in southern California for use as a solar resource.

In keeping with the large scale effort to expand the range and scope of areas which have been targeted as fruitful for the development of solar energy facilities, 17 key zones have been indicated across six states in the western continental United States.

According to the Los Angeles Times, these zones are ripe for new green energy ventures that will provide more green jobs because of their lack of “major environmental or cultural conflicts.”

The publication also states that the Bureau of Land Management, which is largely responsible for the composition and proofreading of the announced plans to expand the green economy, has invested significantly in those processes. The LA Times cites Ken Salazar, U.S. Interior Secretary, as saying that the Bureau is attempting to expedite the process of solar energy development by directing firms to parcels of land that have already been environmentally certified.

For more information, please visit: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-desert-20111028,0,7889585.story

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In keeping with the steady stream of recent reports indicating that green jobs training programs offering to educate students and the future alternative energy workforce in skills pertaining to green construction, solar energy, and wind energy, the New Mexico Business Weekly and the New Mexico Independent have both recently ran stories on brand new programs of this sort sprouting up at New Mexico institutions of higher learning.

According to both papers, several New Mexico community colleges will receive $2 million in grant money as part of the Obama administration’s program in conjunction with the United States Department of Labor to cultivate the training of workers in green jobs areas. More specifically, the funding falls under the State Energy Sector Partnership Program, or SESP, which is bracketed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and is described by the New Mexico Independent as a “three year, six-million dollar bundle of funds.”

The three community colleges that will receive the grant money are Tucumcari’s Mesalands Community College, the Central New Mexico Community College, and the Santa Fe Community College. All three institutions will now receive the opportunity to develop curriculum and programs in areas ranging from the larger sectors mentioned previously—wind and solar energy—to research into biofuels and energy efficient practices.

According to the Independent, the state of New Mexico is one of the top states for green jobs, offering many in the solar energy industry. In recent years, several solar power firms have provided thousands of jobs across the state.

For more news about this development, please visit: http://newmexicoindependent.com/71870/green-job-funds-coming-to-new-mexico-community-colleges

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According to recent news coverage released by a number of outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Turnto10.com and others, the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, has completed the beginning phase of its campaign to deck out municipal buildings, school establishments and related institutions with solar panels, providing them with renewable energy.

The plan represents a major step forward in the national scene of green development on the level of city government, as New Bedford leaders have recruited the New York City based energy firm Con Edison Solutions and Blue Wave Capital, located in Boston, to participate in a project that not only supports the solar energy industry, renewable energy in general, and provides more green jobs to the area, but which also provides the city with tangible financial returns:  if the project is successful and ends up providing the city with 10 megawatts of solar energy, New Bedford could save ten million dollars over the course of the next twenty years.

Current estimations set the completion date for the whole project sometime in 2013. Major headway and significant progress, however, have already been made. According to Con Edison CEO Jorge Lopez, the private firm is contributing two million dollars to the development and culmination of the project, which has been praised by U.S. Representative Barney Frank.

“This is a refutation of people who say, ‘Oh this alternative energy, this sustainable energy that’s somehow a dream’. No it’s a very real thing in a very real city,” Frank is quoted as saying.

For more information, please visit: http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2011/oct/21/4/new-bedford-announces-solar-panel-initiative-ar-797095/

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According to journalist Joseph Baker writing for EnergyBoom.com, an east coast wind energy provider is partnering with the westernmost state in the United States to spearhead and develop another wind energy project. First Wind, a wind energy firm based out of Boston, Massachusetts, is working with Siemens AG in order to complete the installment of another wind energy facility in Hawaii.

The wind turbines provided by Siemens AG will contribute to a project known as the Kawailoa Wind facility, which can be found on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. In addition to marking the first time the Boston group First Wind has worked with Siemens, which is based in Germany, the project more generally embodies the increasing number and frequency of international business partnerships with regard to green projects, generating green jobs across countries and borders.

Currently, the Kawailoa Wind facility is project to furnish a total of 69 megawatts of alternative, wind-powered energy, a number which entails Hawaii to work further toward its goal of deriving a significant percentage of its energy from renewable resources by the year 2030. The facility also marks the third such wind energy plant established in Hawaii by First Wind. Other facilities owned and utilized by First Wind include Utah, Maine, New York, and other locations in the easter United States.

For more information about this new wind energy project in Hawaii, please visit: http://www.energyboom.com/wind/first-wind-bringing-more-wind-energy-hawaii

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According to a recent study released by McGraw-Hill Construction as part of the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo located in Toronto, green construction and all of the subset industries it entails have reported a marked increase in the number of projects and employees who are working with materials and in contexts they consider green.

The study, which he gained attention from blogs and publications all over the internet ranging from the International Business Times to EarthTechling, states that roughly 35 percent of “architects, engineers, and contractors (AEC)” have worked on green building or design projects, constituting roughly 661,000 jobs and approximately a third of the industry’s workforce.

Equally important and significant is the study’s prediction that by 2015, that market and industry share of 35 percent will increase to around 48 or 50 percent—nearly half of the entire construction market. Additionally, AEC companies—firms that feature employees working as architects, engineers, and contractors as part of their main arsenals—are predicted to likewise boom in the area of green jobs. The study estimates that by 2014 45 percent of these companies will contain green jobs in some respect or another.

The study specifies that the specific areas of green building and construction where the greatest growth was experienced include carpentry, HVAC, electrical work, plumbing, masonry, and other similar industries. The increase of green jobs in these industries is expected to rise from 15 percent now to 25 percent in 2014. The study also pointed out that almost one third of individuals in green job positions today claimed that specialized green jobs training helped them to obtain their current positions, a finding that validates the creation of numerous green jobs training programs at educational institutions across the country.

To read more, please visit: http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20111017/green-jobs-gain-in-construction-study-says.htm

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Recent reportage conducted by Jose Santamarta for evwind.com has indicated that the nation of the Dominican Republic has recently completed construction on a wind energy farm that will provide the country with 33 megawatts of wind power in total.

The clean energy power, Santamarta reports, will come mainly from two dual wind energy facilities, referred to as Los Cocos and Quilvio Cabrera, both of which are located in Pedernales. Another segment of the project to bring more wind energy to the nation may be completed in 2012, and would bring more than 52 megawatts of extra power to the country in addition to that which the two recently-completed plants will provide.

More significantly than actual amounts of megawatts, however, is the fact that these two facilities constitute the first wind energy farms in the Dominican Republic since the country itself was established. The company responsible for the construction of the facilities, which provide the country not only with green jobs in the upkeep and maintenance of the structures themselves but which help to cultivate a larger and more diverse section of green industry in the country, is known as Haina (EGE Haina) and has invested more than 100 million dollars in the comprehensive process.

The development of wind projects has so far received a positive response from the Dominican Republic government and administration. Santamarta writes that the opening ceremony for the facilities was attended by the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez,  who “pressed the button that symbolically marked the commissioning of the wind power project, in the presence of the President of EGE Haina…”

Santamarta also indicated that the wind energy farms constructed by Haina would utilize turbines from the Danish company Vestas, another industry leader, thus making the project a multinational one as well.

For more information, please visit: http://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?id_not=14106

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While numerous efforts to establish various sources of green energy—including wind energy, solar power, and hybrid technologies—for use within municipal grids flourish in the United States, some of the major companies responsible for the provision of such green energy are expanding their efforts overseas, beyond the borders of the United States, as well.

The Economic Times recently reported from Bangalore that GE Energy Financial Services has partnered with Greenko Group PLC, a noted developer of clean energy technologies, in order to pool a collective sum of $115 million to foster the beginning of wind energy projects located in India, which will provide the targeted regions with both clean, renewable sources of power as well as both temporary and permanent green jobs.

The wind energy facilities would be constructed as part of a “pipeline of wind projects,” The Economic Times describes. The pipeline would entail such facilities in the cities of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, beginning with Maharashtra.

In a statement released recently, GE claimed that 500 megawatts of wind energy power could “generate enough renewable electricity to power” nearly nine million “average Indian households.”

Raghuveer Kurada, Managing Director and leader of the India sector of GE Energy Financial Services, mentioned publicly his confidence in the partnership between GE and Greenko.  “This investment expands GE’s presence in one of the world’s fastest growing power markets with a local, proven renewable energy developer.”

For more information, please visit: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/oil-gas/ge-greenko-announce-usd-115-mn-wind-energy-venture-in-india/articleshow/10301952.cms

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Recent news reports and press releases from such outlets as MarketWatch indicate that as of today, October 7, ostensibly one of the largest solar energy systems on the eastern seaboard of the United States has been completed. Constructed by the energy firm Perdue Incorporated, today Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and numerous other diplomats attended a ceremony marking the completion of the construction of the new solar energy facility.

The installation spans more than six acres of property owned by Perdue Incorporated, and will contribute along with several other of the company’s facilities to a total of 12,000 panels spread across two of the firm’s centers of operation. Two of these solar energy systems together will produce a “combined average” of 3,700 megawatt hours of electricity on an annual basis, equivalent to the power necessary to supply electricity to approximately 340 typical households in the United States. When the solar panels have reached their maximum output, they will provide nearly 90 percent of the electricity in use for each facility at Perdue Incorporated.

Steve Schwalb, Vice President of Environmental Sustainability for Perdue Incorporated, stated in the press release that the clean and green energy produced by the solar panels will help to reduce emissions of carbon by 3,000 tons a year, or “the equivalent of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from 300,000 gallons of gasoline per year,” in addition to other comparisons and measurements.

“We are pleased to begin powering our operations with clean, renewable energy while lowering our energy costs, demonstrating that environmental responsibility is also good business,” Schwalb is quoted as saying.

For more information, please read the original press release online at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/startup-of-solar-installation-completes-one-of-the-largest-solar-power-systems-in-the-east-2011-10-07

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Recent announcements from various green job industry related websites indicate that the wind energy subsidiary of BP has made public its long term plans to construct a wind farm across 66,000 acres in Kansas, which will provide significant amounts of green energy to the surrounding areas. In doing so, BP states, 500 transitional green construction jobs will be created, and—once the construction of the structure has been completed—30 permanent wind energy jobs will be established across the area that the wind farm inhabits.

The facility, which is to be known as the Flat Ridge 2 wind farm, will not only constitute various structures over 66,000 acres, but also four counties. The wind farm costs $800 million to build, and will be capable of producing an output totaling 419 megawatts.

According to SustainableBusiness.com, a website focusing on news pertaining to green construction, green jobs, and green businesses, the Flat Ridge 2 wind energy farm follows its serial predecessor, Flat Ridge 1, another similar facility based out of Barber County in Kansas.

According to the BP Wind Energy Chief Executive Officer, John Graham, the state of Kansas was chosen specifically for a number of reasons, including what is seen as the state’s “pro-wind business climate,” according to SustainableBusiness.com.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback recently commented on the effectiveness of tax credits in keeping businesses growing in the state.

“It really buys down the price of the wind power. It’s key for the state of Kansas if we want to continue to develop wind energy,” the Wichita Eagle quotes Brownback as saying. Although the costs and prices of wind are falling as the industry grows and technology improves, it’s not competitive yet.

To read more, please visit SustainableBusiness.com at: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/22996

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