Green Jobs Now!

Comment

Comment by Michael on February 1, 2009 at 1:23am

Wind energy jobs now exceed coal mining jobs
mongabay.com
February 01, 2009



Wind industry jobs now outnumber those in coal mining, reports CNNMoney.

According to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association, wind energy jobs increased 70 percent to 85,000 in 2008, 4,000 more workers than are employed in coaling mining (based of Department of Energy figures).

Wind energy accounted for 42 percent of of all new electricity generation installed last year in the U.S. Overall installed wind capacity increased 50 percent for the year to 25,170 megawatts.

Although President Obama has extended tax credits for the wind industry, growth is expected to slow this year due to the weakening economy and production delays

Comment by Michael on February 1, 2009 at 12:59am

Grant funds 'green' jobs training
By Peter Urban and Melvin Mason
STAFF WRITERS
Updated: 01/29/2009 10:57:14 PM EST

Students from several communities will benefit from a $200,000 Environmental Protection Agency job training grant recently awarded to the The Workplace Inc.

The two-year grant is expected to train 100 students from Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour, Derby and Norwalk to become certified as workers in lead and asbestos abatement programs, hazardous waste operations and emergency response programs, and as environmental technicians.

Recent assessments have identified 26 brownfield sites within the five towns.

Joe Carbone, president and CEO of the Workplace Inc., said he's excited about the grant, which he said will provide "green" environmental mediation jobs that will be in demand in coming years.

Trainees will be eligible for jobs as environmental technicians, hazardous waste managers, hazardous materials transporters, soil technicians, oil tank removers and lead and asbestos abatement technicians after competing the four-month program.

"It's providing training in a growing sector of our economy," Carbone said. "This means every eligible community in our area that has brownfields is being served by a job training grant."

Adrienne Parkmond, a vice president of the Workplace, said many of the jobs offer annual starting salaries between $35,000 and $40,000.

Although graduates are not guaranteed employment upon completing the training, previous training programs have an 80 percent job placement rate, she said.

Thirteen
Advertisement
communities in 12 states are sharing $2.6 million in job training grants geared toward cleaning up contaminated properties and turning them into productive community assets.

"EPA's Brownfields Program is helping revitalize and restore neighborhoods nationwide," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "These grants will help community members convert contaminated land into sources of public pride."

The program will consist of three training cycles of 340-350 hours each. Trainees who go beyond the basic course requirements may become certified in a number of other environmental areas with a potential for earning up to 13 college credits.

Students will be recruited primarily from among the residents of the five towns targeted by this program. The Workplace plans to institute an environmental jobs hotline, establish a job club, and work with members of the advisory board who are in the environmental sector to place program graduates.

The Workplace Inc., Southwestern Connecticut's Regional Workforce Investment Board, is a nonprofit organization that provides employment and training services for a 20-town region in Fairfield County.

Comment by Michael on February 1, 2009 at 12:32am

CALIFORNIA Green Jobs Outpaced Overall Job Growth 10 to 1

01/29/2009
SustainableBusiness.com News

The number of green jobs in California have grown ten times faster than the overall growth rate for jobs in California, according to the 2009 California Green Innovation Index.

The report, assembled by Collaborative Economics and published by Next 10 segments the green job growth as follows:

* advanced materials - 28%
* transportation - 23%
* air and environment - 22%
* green building 20%

The Green Innovation Index analyzes key economic and environmental indicators in an effort to understand the role green innovation plays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while continuing to grow the economy. Other findings of the report include:

* California has one of the lowest per capita GHG emissions and highest gross domestic products (GDP) in the nation. GDPis 68% higher per unit of energy than the rest of the nation.

* California is more energy efficient than the rest of the nation, though total energy consumption in the state continues to rise with population growth.

* California cleantech companies secured 57% of the nation's venture capital investments in the industry.

Learn more at the link below.



Website: http://www.next10.org/

Comment by Michael on February 1, 2009 at 12:24am

DWEJ gives Detroiters the chance

By Eric Campbell
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — While Michigan’s Governor and other state officials have spent time recently talking about the importance of preparing for the future job market, one local program is already placing skilled workers on the road from a pollution-based economy to a green one.

DWEJ (Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice) has developed Green Jobs Workforce Training Program, creating a skilled workforce that will in turn make Detroit more attractive to a brand new sector of industry, according to DWEJ Green Jobs director, Roshani Dantas.

“We think it’s key for Detroiters to be at the beginning of this green process,” Dantas told the Michigan Citizen. “Detroit is the place where this needs to happen.”

The program has its roots in a brownfield cleanup training program that DWEJ started in 1995. The Green Jobs program now has the support and funding of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It’s part of a consortium of urban environmental groups which includes the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans.

In its first year the DWEJ Green Jobs program accepted over 300 applications for a 13-week class that would only hold 25 members. This year the program will run two classes — interviews are already being conducted for the March session. A second class will be given in September.

The program stands out for targeting underemployed and unemployed Detroit residents. Applicants are not required to hold a high school diploma or GED. Nor does DWEJ discriminate against residents with criminal backgrounds.

Dantas says that the small class size is designed to give students a broad spectrum of tools and a generous amount of attention. The 25 applicants who make it through the application and interview process essentially receive a scholarship which may include bus passes or parking vouchers, and catered breakfast and lunch daily.

“We want to remove any barriers that would get in the way of learning in the classroom,” Dantas says.

The curriculum itself starts with six weeks of basic math and reading skills, job readiness and life skills training, counseling and computer literacy. Students are also exposed to environmental justice issues.

“Our goal is not just to get them a job, but also make them complete advocates in the community,” Dantas says.

The second six weeks involve technical training associated with jobs in environmental clean up and remediation. Students receive state-certified training in asbestos and lead abatement, confined space entry, OSHA 10 workplace certification, HAZWOPER certification, and environmental site assessment. A supplement to the program includes training in energy auditing, green landscaping, computer-aided design and geothermal technology.

The program also includes a comprehensive job placement component that includes input and training from potential employers themselves.

Kinnus Paul is the job developer and a recent graduate of the jobs training program. His mission is to seek out employers and market potential employees. He says that the Green Jobs’ focus on jobs skills in particular makes potential employees attractive to employers looking to the Detroit area. Graduates like Grayling Owens, who spent six years in prison, have been the “star students in the program.” Owens now works in lead removal for B & A Environmental in Livonia.

Cedric Dicus, 25, is a graduate of last years’ inaugural class. He now cleans storage tanks and performs clean air testing for Birks Works Environmental in Detroit. He says that the wide range of training led immediately to a variety of job opportunities.

“I just hung in there,” Dicus told the Michigan Citizen. “In the end, we got a number of certifications.”

Roshani Dantas says that the first stages of the greening process involve addressing the aging infrastructure, abandoned properties and decades of environmental neglect. Her expansive background in studying how chemicals affect the community has led her to the conclusion that, “You have to clean up before you go green.”

She’ll be pressing that point and others when DWEJ presents its successful programs to the State Green Jobs Conference in May. The region and Detroit in particular have an opportunity to be at the forefront of a revolution in industry while employing the services of those that need the work the most.

Dantas says that as the demand for environmental remediation and gainful employment increases, DWEJ would like to offer up to 12 classes a year.

“This program is for the individuals that didn’t go to college but just need a chance,” Dantas insists. “If you really know you can do this, than this is the program for you.”

For more on the Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice Green Jobs Training Program visit www.dwej.org or call 313-833-3935.

Comment by Michael on February 1, 2009 at 12:11am

Obama forms green task force

from msnbc.com



President Barack Obama today announced a task force that will work to boost the economic fortunes of American's faltering middle class, and its first order of business will be to find ways to create more jobs in areas that pay well, reduce pollution and lessen America's reliance on foreign oil.

Have an idea? The administration wants to hear from you.

Obama campaigned heavily on creating a greener economy, and visited alternative energy companies, including wind turbine manufacturers and solar panel producers, on the campaign trail.

The president appointed Vice President Joe Biden to lead the task force, which will hold monthly meetings, the first in Philadelphia on Feb. 27.

Obama said his economic stimulus plan now before Congress would double renewable energy to about 10 percent of the nation's total production, and would create 3 million jobs, many of those in green industries.

"With this we have a single, highly visible group with one single goal: to raise the living standards of the people who are the backbone of this country," Biden said at the White House ceremony to announce the task force.

Some industries are primed for green jobs: Utilities could enlist workers to build a more powerful and efficient energy grid, and developers could build more energy efficient homes, offices and schools by weatherizing them or building new structures to green codes.

Traditional jobs also could be retooled to go green. For instance, the automotive industry could build vehicles less dependant, or independent, of fossil fuels, which are tied to global warming, and oil from the Middle East.

Some Republican lawmakers have backed the focus on green jobs, but others question whether the government should be trying to direct the economy.

Wind and solar power showed tremendous growth in 2008 but it was fueled by soaring oil prices, which have since crashed. As a result, even those industries have seen layoffs.

Obama's stimulus package includes extending a tax credit for renewable energy companies, and even allowing them to apply for federal grants if they can't get enough financing to maximize the credits. Backers say that stability would eventually create 250,000 jobs.

While the Senate is still working on its stimulus bill, the House this week passed much of Obama's package, approving $80 billion in clean energy funding: $38 billion for energy efficiency, $28 billion for renewable energy and $15 billion for public transit and clean transportation.

Backers say $6 billion for weatherization, which falls under energy efficiency, would generate 465,000 jobs and insulate 2 million homes.

Biden defended Obama's approach, saying green jobs "pay well, can't be outsourced and will help us move to a cleaner, more self-sufficient energy future."

A White House statement touted other advantages, including lower energy bills, which would leave Americans with more disposable income.



The task force includes a Web site, astrongmiddleclass.gov, where individuals can submit ideas. The group's members will include representatives from Cabinet agencies that deal with middle-class issues, including the departments of education, commerce, health and human services and labor.

Biden promised that all information from the task force "will be up on our Web site. None of this will happen behind closed doors."

Biden said other topics would follow the first meeting on green jobs. They include making retirement more secure, affordable child and elder care, improving workplace safety, and making college more affordable for American families.
Submitted by Bill Dalton on January 30, 2009 - 3:14pm.
President Obama | login or register to post comments | 1093 reads

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on January 28, 2009 at 4:17am

Hi Mike Anthony, Here is a way to help and give tools to all of us for getting more RE projects started. I have been pushing for the sell of US Treasury "Energy Independence Savings Bonds". Savings bonds are normally purchased in $25 increments. This gives a way for just about any American to tighten their belts just a bit by skipping a meal at McDonalds or Pizza Hut and buying a RE savings bond to support a project. I need help pushing this project, I've faxed and emailed many in Congress/Senate already. My email is ke6cvh@yahoo.com. Here is a copy of a fax sent to Nancy Pelosi yesterday:
27FEB09

Honorable Speaker of the House Congresswoman Pelosi,

I am an Electronic Technician Chief in the US Navy with 27 years service stationed overseas. I’m outlying an idea to assist and work with current plans for achieving energy independence. I urge you, as speaker of the house and the driving force to form the select committee on energy independence and global warming, consider for discussion and introduction into the house US Treasury Savings Bonds for Energy Independance.
In WWII America sold war bonds supporting the war effort. When young, my mother told me her primary school raised enough money through bonds to build a tank to support troops. I am impressed with the patriotism and purpose of our greatest generation that accomplished so much.

Selling energy bonds for RE (Renewable Energy) development would lower foreign oil imports and assist with the complex problem of funding. Bonds sold as “Energy S” could support new solar trough plants, “Energy W” to support wind farms, Energy “H” to support hydroelectric plants, Energy “T” to support RE transportation such as electric bullet train routes powered by RE, Energy "C" COOPS for small communities only needing a small quantity of turbines, and Energy “I” for needed infrastructure high voltage power lines to the RE site. Bonds will have the project name and include an artist’s perspective of the project and an American flag. President Obama had great success with the internet during his campaign. In a similar manner, using the internet, energy bonds could have a website listing current projects and an “electronic checkout” could purchase a bond $25 or higher. Simpler methods of payment such as “PAYPAL” and credit cards would be available and after an electronic purchase is complete a color print out of the bond is available with a follow up of the bond in the mail. The website would limit quantity of projects for each category until funding is complete. After a project becomes funded, a new project will be available. A tab on the site will show history and status of previous projects. Purchasers may take great pride in “collecting” and displaying bonds of various RE projects and participating at different levels of financial support. Solar trough plants in the multi-hundred MW size capacity with molten salt energy storage in California, Arizona, and West Texas can provide a major portion of electric needs. North Dakota has potential to support 1/3 of our nations electric needs in it’s class 4 wind zone areas. There are plenty of suitable proposed wind turbine farms now around the nation to significantly increase our RE if funded. Mid sized hydro-electric has not been used in America to it’s full potential. Following the example of our neighbor, Canada, it would provide a significant increase in percentage of electric production. Developing all three we could provide the majority of our electric and heating needs through renewable energy in a "New New Deal" fashion allowing natural gas for transportation as T. Boone Pickens is working for. Bullet train routes have proven a viable alternative to commercial domestic air service and when powered by electricity provided by RE suppliers America would be in the forefront of world technology. Example, I heard of discussion for a commuter train from Denver to Colorado Springs. Such a route built as a renewable energy project with charter requirement legally requiring to only purchase electricity from available renewable energy sources would be a model example. There are many train routes, city bus systems, and government vehicles that can be converted to run from alternative energy sources and fuels. Jobs created would bolster the economy, lower trade deficit, and strengthen national security. I would take great pride in print outs of bonds with graphics of each project I supported and many other Americans would also. The energy bonds could have tax breaks. BLM lands may be a viable place to start for some projects.

I contacted the US treasury department and was told that the marketing department for savings bonds closed several years ago. I was told there would be problems because savings bonds are at the federal level while the projects will be at the state and local level. I disagree and believe that these can easily be figured out in the way of grants to the state and local level using money from the bonds for those specific projects. I was told to check out auctions on the www.treasurydirect.gov website and found them to not apply to citizens wanting to buy savings bonds to support a cause such as energy independance. I was told by the treasury department to look into CREB (Clean Renewable Energy Bonds). I found CREB to be large scale funding that a citizen would not be able to participate in as a US Treasury Energy Independance Bond would provide. If given the tools to participate directly, the power of the citizens of the United States to help achieve energy independance could not be denied. Americans mean well and the Energy Independance Savings bond program will give citizens the power at their level to make it happen. If marketed through a web page, commercials, and to federal employees the word would get out and participation would spread like wildfire.

Mr. Paul Gipe, a resident of Bakersfield CA, an author of several books about wind energy, and recipient of multiple awards as a pioneer in the industry since the 1970's has put a letter I wrote to Senator Dorgan on this subject as well as an older letter I wrote on wind COOP in JAN07. These websites are:

http://www.wind-works.org/coopwind/RenewableEnergyBondsforEnergyIndependence.html

and

http://www.wind-works.org/articles/AmericanEnergyIndependencethroughCooperativeInvestmentinWindEnergy.html

Sincerely and very respectfully,

ETC(SW/AW) Mike Kendall USN

Mailing address: PSC 476, Box 879, FPO AP, 96322 USA

Telephone (803) 265-4756, Email: ke6cvh@yahoo.com

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on January 26, 2009 at 9:51am

Comment by Eric Koch on January 25, 2009 at 8:33am

Choosing What Cities Will Look Like in a World Without Oil

http://www. worldchanging. com/archives/009304. html

Choosing What Our Cities Will Look Like in a World Without Oil

Sarah Kuck

As we draw nearer to reaching the point of Peak Oil, it benefits us to imagine what our cities will look like in a world without oil.
Does this conjure up images of cities turned into urban farms just to produce enough food for us all? Do we devote all our energy to growing, bartering and trading the food we grow? Or will the city become divided, with the wealthy moving to the center while higher costs of living force lower-income families to the outer-ring suburbs, where access to goods, services and transport will be limited?

If we start now, we can choose what we want our cities to look like in the future. We can make them the resilient, sustainable centers of culture, justice, art and creativity that we hope they will become.


Author and Professor Peter Newman is asking us to imagine and then get to work building these urban centers. His book and talk, both titled Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change, ask audiences to honestly look at what will happen to our cities when we reach Peak Oil. During his 90 minute presentation last night at Seattle's City Hall, Newman explained to the full house how peak oil will soon change reality as we know it; and how if we choose to make it so, we can take this challenge as our opportunity to create a functional, just and sustainable world.


Picturing a future where we do nothing resulted in some frightening scenarios: ones where we are barely getting by and injustice is running rampant. But, as Newman explained, picturing a future in which we respond to the challenge by building resilient cities results in images of a flexible and supportive, flourishing society.


In order to build the new resilient city of the future, Newman said that “we need to stop building extra urban road capacity and urban scatter; we need to start building electric renewable cities with much greater localism in the economy and infrastructure.
”

“We need both at the same time," Newman said. "Or they will undermine what we need to do together.
”

Here are a few exceptional points, summarized from Newman's worldchanging presentation:

End Agglomeration Diseconomies
The freeway is a failed technology. Freeways don’t actually ultimately help people get where they want to go any faster; they simply scatter people and economies. Freeways fail as public spaces; as infrastructure, they are dinosaurs. Their impact on cities is not good for economics or people. So we should stop building them. We should instead organize and advocate for rail systems so we can reclaim and rehabilitate our open spaces. Car-dependent cities can begin to reclaim freeways by investing in rail transit and building up local economies around station hubs.


Density, Walkability and Affordable Housing
High quality, high rise developments in the city will increase walkability, and decrease the number of trips taken by car. These developments will function best if developers work in partnership with land use planners. To end the division and disagreements that high density development creates, we have to require all developments to allot 15 percent of space to social housing, and require 5 percent of the value of a development to go toward social infrastructure, like landscaped open-to-the-public space, public art, community centers, schools, arts facilities.


Complete Streets, Smart Grids
Cars won’t go away completely, even though the oil we currently use to power them will. The cars of the future will run on alternatively produced electricity. We can link the extra energy produced from solar and wind production systems to the batteries in our cars with Smart Grids. These energy linking systems help buildings and transportation power each other. (Read more about Smart Grids on Worldchanging here and here.
)

Eco-villages colonizing the fringe
Build eco-villages on the outskirts of the urban ring. Built with their own water, power and sewage systems, we can turn the crumbling suburbs into self sustaining eco-communities of the future.


What We Need to do Now
Newman gave vibrant examples of each of these ideas happening in cities all over the world, from Seoul to London, Copenhagen to Vancouver, B.C., these cities are proving that this is possible.
All we need now, said Newman, is imagination, post oil strategies, partnerships and demonstrations, and above all HOPE!

Let’s get to work.

Comment by Faye on January 22, 2009 at 6:49pm

Please forward this to anyone you can / see fit! THANK YOU!

CONFERENCE IN TALLAHASSEE FEBRUARY 3rd, 2009!

The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), with support from the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) and the Alliance for Renewable Energy (ARE) are pleased to invite you to join us for a discussion on:

Effective Renewable Energy Policies: Stimulating Job Creation, Long Term Investments, and Improving Energy Security

Featuring discussions on Feed in Tariffs, Net Metering, Rebates, and Gainesville, FL., the first municipality in the United States to introduce a Feed in Tariff policy.

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
12-7 pm in Tallahassee
Doubletree Hotel
101 South Adams Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301
(850) 224-5000

The focus of the conference is the deployment of renewable energy in Florida resulting in jobs and energy security. Experts from around the world and participants from various stakeholder organizations will discuss policies to stimulate vast investment in renewable energy to increase energy security and job creation in Florida. Building on Governor Crist’s vision of 20% renewables by 2020, this event will provide first hand experiences from Florida, other states and European countries on what policies are most effective in achieving renewable targets.

Solar on every rooftop!

Panels will include:
· ‘Lessons from Europe and US States’ – Deployment of successful renewable policies.
· Costs vs. Benefits – The potential opportunity if policies are right.
· What energy policies will drive the market and bring jobs to Florida?
· Florida based implementation.
· Legislative Roundtable.

Key objectives:
· Explore green jobs and long term investments.
· Discuss Renewable Energy Payments, also known as Feed in Tariffs, regarding their significant potential to address climate change, create new jobs and support the renewable energy industry
· Further develop policies that have driven the clean technology markets.
· Update on the Renewable Portfolio Standard rules from the PSC.
· Strengthen and Support legislative initiatives in Florida.
· Explore various levels of initiatives adopted by utilities.
· Build coalitions and network.
· The Gainesville Solar Feed in Tariff.

Who will attend: State legislators, environmental and energy advocates, renewable energy industry representatives,local and state utilities, local government officials interested in green job economic development, nonprofits and foundations committed to a renewable energy future.

Speakers will include: leading environmental organizations, Florida State legislators, investors, renewable energy industry organizations and leading energy companies.

Featuring:
· Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan
· Florida State Representative Keith Fitzgerald
· Paul Gipe, Alliance for Renewable Energy
· Toby Couture, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
· Dr. Murray Cameron, Phoenix Solar
· Jerry Karnas, Environmental Defense Fund
· Barry Moline, Florida Municipal Electric Association
· Ed Regan, Gainesville Regional Utilities
· Christy Herig, Solar Electric Power Association
· Jerome Guillet, Head of Energy, Dexia

For registration and hotel info on this event please contact Faye Roller at faye@FAREnergy.org or visit www.FAREnergy.org

Comment by soandso2008 on January 18, 2009 at 8:29pm

Hello all,

Please check out this discussion. "Do we need a Jib-Jab type video or not?"

http://push.pickensplan.com/forum/topic/show?id=2187034%3ATopic%3A538013

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last