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Comment by Chris Havrilesko on September 6, 2008 at 8:07pm

OMG a bike ride!!!
Our energy problems are solved!Why didn't I think of that?Tell me please, will the bikes be ridden by soccer moms? Will the kids be in tow? Will they have nanny's to bring them juice boxes? Will the high level corp.management father feel like his family has done something to help the environment because his wife, kids, nanny, and lexis went to the piss assed bike ride?
Hey people thats not my America.Every day I get up and strap on my tool belt go to small businesses that have outdated fluorescent lighting and tell the owner I will change this to new money saving ballast and lamps nonprofit just get the new technology materials I will have my crew install it nonprofit.That means for free.
Ya wanna do something today? When we connect the black wire it starts to save emissions that minute not ten years from now but that minute.When you go to the small business place like the cleaners or butcher shop or deli ask the owner if he has T 8 tech lamps or T 12 old lights. Tell him or her there are people how will change them for nonprofit and they will save 26%on every months electric bill.Tell them this is for real not estimates but Newtons laws of physics.Please dont get discouraged tho,I visited 32 shops in my hometown and offered my free services and 2 accepted.The other said oh our lights are fine like they are.Well my family will never darken those doors again.Tell the owners to get them changed or forget your smiling face and purse.

Thanks chris Great Eastern Lighting

Comment by Wind4me.com on September 6, 2008 at 6:18pm

ORGANIZING a Bike Around Wash Park in Denver 4 Green Jobs........we need help in every area so PLEASE invite/email your friends around Denver for Sept 27th from 12 Noon - 2pm=======TOGETHER WE CAN!! If you can help or attend, please email Skibare@yahoo.com or contact the Website
www.Wind4me.com
We must get in HIGH GEAR or else ...........Sept 27th====Start making a Difference and be part of the Solutions!

Comment by GEMTechnologies on September 4, 2008 at 8:09pm

Comment by Kathy Lee Hart on September 2, 2008 at 8:56pm

Actors, Directors & Production Artists for TBP PLAN (click here)
I leave this for you & those passing this way. Our new video "WE'VE HAD ENOUGH - NO TANKS!" The style is animated cartoon. Please feel free to attach it to personal emails, to attract others to the Plan.
Sit back, relax & have a giggle!


Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

Comment by Bruce Eric Montgomery on September 1, 2008 at 1:07pm

September 1, 2008


Green energy push provides job opportunities

Maury Dobbie
mdobbie@ncedc.com.

Colorado can't be a great state without working collaboratively toward a sustainable economy. This will require investment in our work force and economic infrastructure.

Can the push for a greener energy sector be good for the state and Northern Colorado?

Many people think so, and they are calling job creation an important side effect of the move toward renewable power and increased energy efficiency.

In the United States, we lost 24 percent of our manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2008, or almost 3.5 million. It also took a huge toll on Northern Colorado in those years, shedding roughly 3,397 jobs.

As times are changing, we have to change. NCEDC is working hard with our partners to bring back those higher-paying manufacturing jobs in the clean-energy sector. However, while doing so, we have a dilemma. If we don't have the skilled labor force, those companies cannot be successful.

Let's focus for a moment on the wind industry. The wind-power industry estimates it employs some 40,000 people in the U.S., with 20,000 of those jobs created in 2007 or growing 45 percent.

Wind farms are increasing, but the labor supply is not.

In 2007, wind farms installed almost 3,200 turbines, providing 5,200 megawatts, or enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes for a year. Officials see a large obstacle coming in the form of its own work force.

A highly specialized group of technicians that combines working knowledge of mechanics, hydraulics, computers and meteorology with the willingness to climb 200 feet in the air in all kinds of weather is badly needed.

And that creates an opportunity.

The American Wind Energy Association estimates the industry employed more than 20,000 last year. This doesn't include jobs making turbines and other equipment. They say future need is harder to quantify, given the uncertainties of the industry's growth. They project the need for at least 800 technicians to serve the turbines expected to be installed in 2008 alone.

So what is proactively being done in this region? Front Range Community College is creating technician certifications and two-year degrees that will offer opportunities to those who would find the $15- to $25-hour jobs a step up in their career paths.

These careers might be the first time a family has health benefits. In addition, the Northern Colorado Workforce Initiative spurred by NCEDC is gaining momentum.

This collaborative effort between primary employers, the educational system (K-12 and higher education) and organizations including the Larimer County Workforce Center, Chambers of Commerce, United Way and government are coming together in a common-sense, practical way to create training.

There are many sectors of our work force that would welcome new opportunities to help families thrive financially.

We have data showing a large underemployed population exists. Many identified have chosen to stay here for various reasons but live on less.

We are hearing of companies shutting their doors, thus creating a chilling effect on our economy.

For the past year, you've been hearing about the rising poverty statistics in the region - caused by these and many factors.

There is no wringing of hands in Larimer County. We are looking for and working on sustainable solutions for re-skilling opportunities for our people. Progress in clean energy is being made.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080901/COLUMNISTS57/809010303/1046/business

Comment by Roy R on August 30, 2008 at 8:18pm

What are REPs?
Since 1991, Germany, Spain, Denmark, and over 40 other nations, states, and provinces, have pioneered legislation that have proven to promote the fastest, cheapest, and widest growth of renewable energy. In many of these countries these policies are called "Feed-In Tariffs" (FITs). Producers of renewable energy are paid a premium rate or "tariff" for each kilowatt of energy they "feed into" the grid. Here in North America FITs are being called, "Renewable Energy Payments" (REPs). The name has changed but the fundamental principles of these policies stay the same:
• Everyone who produces renewable energy is guaranteed that they can connect to the power grid and sell their energy to their utility company. There is no limit to the amount of renewable energy that can be sold to utility companies.
• Utility companies sign 15-20 year contracts with all their renewable energy producers. All contracts are transparent and open for inspection.
• The contracts include long-term agreed upon prices that the utility companies will pay for the energy they buy. The prices are set high enough to be an incentive to new producers and for existing producers to expand their production capacities. Prices vary according to the source of the energy (i.e, sun, wind, water, bio-mass, etc.) and the size of the energy-producing installation.
• The utility companies can recoup their increased costs of paying higher prices for renewable energy by spreading these costs among all their customers.
• An Independent Review Board is established by the government that periodically sets the prices and terms for new contracts.
How do REPs work?
Renewable Energy Payments are the mechanisms or instruments at the heart of specific state, provincial or national renewable energy policies. REPs are incentives for homeowners, farmers, businesses, etc., to become producers of renewable energy, or to increase their production of renewable energy. As such, they increase our overall production and use of renewable energy, and decrease our consumption and burning of fossil fuels.

Why REPs?
There are many reasons why Renewable Energy Payments (REPs), in Europe called Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), are the most successful renewable energy (RE) incentive in the world. Here are a just a few:

JOB CREATION Germany introduced this type of legislation in 1991 and it has made them the world’s leading producer of RE technology. FITs are credited with creating at least half of their quarter-of-a-million RE jobs. These jobs increased 40% between 2004 and 2006 alone. Most of these new jobs are in the former East Germany, an area being revitalized by their renewable energy economy. All levels of jobs are created including high-skilled positions in engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, and electronics.

SIMPLICITY One important reason REPs have been so successful is their simplicity. With REPs, when anyone generates power from a RE system that is passed through to their local grid, the utility company cuts them a check! RE businesses find this model especially appealing because it makes anyone with a viable RE site and a willingness to invest in their future an electricity entrepreneur. REP laws by their very nature are easy to support because they need little explaining and are relatively simple for utilities to implement and operate. This is true whether the RE producer is a residential homeowner with a small solar system or a huge commercial business with thousands of panels on their roof.

STABILITY & INVESTMENT SECURITY REP incentives also have massive appeal to investors and lenders. This is because the incentives are fixed for long time horizons, typically 20 years, which provides a guaranteed revenue stream that can be borrowed against easily. Unlike Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) which have annually fluctuating values through a trading mechanism, REP incentives never change and never require any administration or additional cost. As long as the RE system is generating electricity it continues to make the system owner a guaranteed return on their investment. With revenue stability of this caliber and a market that is not constrained in size, institutional investors can accurately model the financial risk and returns associated with investing in RE technologies and fund the industry where the best market opportunities exist in real time. In Germany, FIT policies have generated 3.3 billion Euros of investment in RE, with a return on the investment estimated to be 9.3 billion Euros.

STAY-AT-HOME REVENUE With REPS, the revenue from producing renewable energy will stay in the state or province where it is produced. This will create "local wealth" and stimulate the local economy.

FAIRNESS Critics in the US often complain that REPs are too socialistic by design because they “fix the price” instead of letting the market dictate their value. Yet this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, REPs actually allow us to make a FAIRER comparison of the true costs for traditional energy sources such as nuclear, natural gas, coal, and oil. Rather than attempt to figure out how much environmental damage they each do respectively, the REP incentive simply allocates a fair “avoided cost” to RE technologies for the total environmental impact that would otherwise be borne by society by not using them. So in reality the REP is providing an incentive that brings parity to the incentives, tax breaks, and environmental damage done by traditional energy sources that are never reflected in their market prices.

EQUALITY REPs create a level playing field for all different sizes of renewable energy producers. It encourages individuals, small businesses and larger businesses to become RE producers and rewards them all. By ‘democratizing’ and spreading out energy production, REPs stimulate the green market economy and keeps a few large corporations from controlling the market and the profits. With REPs in place, everyone can profit from creating renewable energy.

REPs WILL SPEED UP OUR SHIFT FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY. IN THIS WAY, REPs WILL ALSO:

PROTECT OUR HEALTH We will be putting less particulates into the air since we will be burning less oil, coal and natural gas. This will mean less suffering from asthma and other breathing disorders and reduced medical and health insurance costs.

REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING Burning fossil fuels releases 75% of the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet. It is estimated that by switching to renewable energy we can cut CO2 emissions in half by 2030. In 2006, with REPs in place, Germany alone saved 100 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

REDUCE CONFLICTS OVER ENERGY The world’s demand for energy is increasing faster than expected, while our supplies of oil, coal and natural gas are declining. As nations compete for energy, there may well be more conflicts, wars and violations of human rights. Increasing the production of renewable energy will help states and nations meet their own energy needs.

CREATE ECONOMIC SECURITY Renewable energy production will lesson a community’s or nation’s vulnerability to increasing fossil fuel prices and will increase self-reliant economic growth. Those who install renewable energy the soonest will save the most. The prices of fossil fuels and nuclear energy are expected to rise as their supply diminishes, and the costs of extraction, environmental protection and cleanup increase. The costs for renewable energy are expected to decline due to economy of scale and technological progress.

INCREASE HUMAN SECURITY The natural disasters triggered by climate chaos are responsible for 150,000 deaths each year, and cause millions of people to seek refuge elsewhere. There are currently more ‘environmental refugees’ than ‘political refugees’. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), recipients of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, predict 50 million environmental refugees by 2010, and 150 million by 2050. The hardships and financial costs for the refugees and those who provide aid will be staggering.

STABILIZE ENERGY COSTS Communities that use locally produced renewable energy have more stable energy costs. Once the systems are set up, their renewable fuels such as sun and wind are low cost or free. Overall, energy costs will be more predictable and controllable, creating economic stability.

CREATE FLEXIBILITY Green energy resources such as sun, wind, water, geothermal, and biomass can be combined depending on their availability. They can provide heating, cooling, electricity, and fuel for machinery, vehicles and other transportation. Renewable Technologies can be flexibly designed to fit the landscape, architecture, machines, and vehicles—increasing efficiency and autonomy.

Comment by Bruce Eric Montgomery on August 29, 2008 at 8:10am

* Claim: Barack Obama says his energy policies would create 5 million new "green-collar" jobs in the economy.

* Rocky Truth Patrol says:

* This is shaky only because it's an economic estimate based on a job category that no one officially tracks - at least not yet. And depending on which economic models are used to make these estimates, Obama's forecast of 5 million green-collar jobs might actually be too low, some experts think.

Obama says his administration would invest $150 billion over 10 years in a "clean energy economy" and "help the private sector create 5 million new green jobs."

Obama takes his figures from two recent studies. The University of California at Berkeley said energy efficiency alone could create 5 million jobs nationwide in the next decade. Note that this study counts jobs created directly in this field, but also indirect jobs created by the demands of the new workers and "induced" jobs created by overall growth in the economy.

The University of Tennessee recently estimated that 5.1 million new jobs could be created by 2025 if the nation got a quarter of its energy from renewable sources. That job number also includes indirect jobs.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the nation should expect 15.6 million new jobs in the decade between 2006 and 2016. Adding 5 million "green" jobs would represent just a 3 percent boost in the total employment, which hovers at about 150 million.

The Apollo Alliance, a nonpartisan organization of business, labor, environmental and community leaders, has said they wouldn't count indirect jobs, as do the studies on which Obama relies. However, spokesman Keith Schneider said the alliance actually believes, based on analysis of these studies and others, that the 5 million figure might be too low.

"It's going to be more than that," Schneider said. "The demand for this sector of the economy way outpaces the capacity."

For example, Schneider said, wind energy - a big issue for Coloradans - is facing a capacity crunch because there is currently a three-year backlog for the plate steel needed to make the wind turbine blades. The industry needs people to make the steel, then the blades, then install them, then maintain them, he said. But federal policies - including a tax credit that has expired before and is about to expire again - have made business bumpy, he said.

"The Apollo Alliance's research on the jobs question shows us clearly that if the United States pursues a new national economic development strategy to replace fossil fuels with clean sources of energy and the tools to use them, the economy will generate 5 million new jobs, and likely much more than that," Schneider said.

Comment by Julie Ann Shapiro on August 28, 2008 at 1:05am

I'm also in North San Diego County. I would like to either work with clients in the green space on a freelance or job basis in marketing communications.

Comment by Bruce Eric Montgomery on August 27, 2008 at 12:42pm

Clean-Tech Venture Capitalist Speaks to the Democrats

Venture capital got a prime-time spot at the Democratic National Convention when Nancy Floyd, founder and managing director of Nth Power, a San Francisco clean-tech venture capital firm, addressed the crowd Tuesday.

She argued that Barack Obama’s energy policy would help energy entrepreneurs and the nation’s economy. Ms. Floyd lobbied on behalf of start-up companies with technologies that address the energy crunch. “There are thousands of entrepreneurs with new solutions and investors are lining up to back them,” she said. “What’s missing is leadership from Washington.”

She compared green technology to the early days of information technology. “Green technology is where the computer industry was in 1984, the year the Macintosh computer was introduced,” she said. “Think about how far we’ve come since then, and that’s how far-reaching and transformational green technology will be.”

Investments in solar and wind companies have already paved the way for the creation of 2.4 million new jobs, she said, but only 10 percent are in the United States, and alternative energy companies in the United States are turning to countries like Spain, Germany and China to manufacture and sell their products.

“That’s because other countries have smart, stable, forward-looking energy policies,” she said. Ms. Floyd, who is based in Portland, Ore., founded Nth Power in 1997, long before alternative energy became the hot sector for venture investors. The firm has $420 million under management in four funds.

Ms. Floyd founded one of the first wind development companies in 1982 and sold it three years later.

Watch a video interview with Ms. Floyd here: http://gallery1.demconvention.com/Default.html?VideoID=496#

Comment by Bruce Eric Montgomery on August 26, 2008 at 8:07am

Native American nonprofit to focus on green-collar careers
Posted: August 26, 2008
by: Staff Reports / Indian Country Today


AUSTIN, Texas - A new Native-operated 501(c)(3) is turning its focus on green-collar careers for American Indians and veterans.

Native Workplace is officially announcing its new effort to help the community connect with the thousands of careers created by growth in renewable energy industries.

Its mission is to promote green-collar careers and to develop an American Indian and veteran work force for green industries.

Making www.nativeworkplace.com a hub for information regarding green growth in Indian country as well as an educational site is also in the works.

''We realized that there wasn't a place where people could learn about the different types of careers in green energy and the skill sets involved,'' said Cristala Mussato-Allen, founder and executive director of NWP. ''People have no idea what these jobs require or how they are defined.''

The nonprofit is focusing on two main goals: educating the community and recruiting tribal members and veterans into training and employment nationwide.

The organization will be hosting ''Green Collar Career Day'' events where the community can learn about these new jobs. Events will be a combined effort with on-site recruitment into local training, on-the-job training employment, and certification opportunities.

Affordable entry-level training is already available at some schools near tribal communities, and expansion into tribal colleges is under way. Many of the employment opportunities are on-the-job training, so tribal members can be working, learning and receiving a paycheck from day one.

''Indian country is poised to fill the work force void the renewable industry is currently experiencing. Tribal communities, both rural and urban, are located near growing opportunities,'' said Lee Ann TallBear, who chairs the board of directors. ''These careers are a perfect fit for who we are as Native people.''

The organization hopes schools use the site as a place for creating green education and career projects.

Additional resources provided include nationwide listings of Native chambers of commerce, urban Indian centers and tribal colleges, as well as green Native businesses, green grants for tribes, green tribal news and links to other Native environmental organizations.

''We are excited at the possibilities of our community being in the forefront of these new jobs. Besides the obvious contribution we will be making to save our sacred sources, it gives us a chance to learn trades that provide secure income and an opportunity for business development,'' Mussato-Allen said.

For more information, visit www.nativeworkplace.com

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