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Archive for the ‘Green Jobs News’ Category
The Center for American Progress and Energy RM jointly released a ground-breaking report this month advocating a conprehensive, sustainable energy efficiency initiative to help get America back to work. The initiative has the potential of creating 625,000 jobs over the next decade with $500 billion in new investments to improve home/office building energy efficiency resulting in $64 billion in energy savings.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 59% of residential buildings and 54% of commercial buildings in the USA were built before 1980. Buildings consume more energy than any other segment of the economy. That’s more than either transportation or industry. The potential market for energy efficiency is opportune to retrofit and improve existing buildings to save valuable resources and support programs for sustainable development, energy independence, and environmental protection.
However, the energy efficiency initiative will not happen on its own. States need to make the first move. They need to implement energy policies to initiate, encourge, develop and sustain energy efficency programs. The 50 page report highlights ten key energy efficiency policies that “are already providing numerous real-world examples of how policy-driven energy efficiency markets can create a new industry to power job creation in the construction sector profitabily and sustainably”. However, “no state has fully developed the potential of their energy efficiency market to create clean energy jobs, let alone the federal government”. The report recommends that the states lead the way.
The construction industry has been especially impacted by the recession with unemployment around 25%. Residential construction unemployment hovers around 38%. Additionally, construction related businesses in retail and manufacturing are significantly impacted as well. The report, “Efficiency Works – Creating Good Jobs and New Markets Through Energy Efficiency”, addresses a core problem with the economy today. Housing burst the economic bubble. Housing and commercial energy efficiency programs can help get us back on track. 
Wind Farm near Lyman, Wyoming
The United Steelworkers, BlueGreen Alliance and American Wind Energy Association jointly released a report this week outlining their vision for a national long range plan to create tens of thousands of additional jobs in wind energy. The report, titled “Winds of Change: A Manufacturing Blueprint for the Wind Industry,” acknowledges the significant growth in wind energy but states that growth could be significantly greater with responsive, long-term incentives and policies in place. The authors of the report strongly advocate that Congress take decisive action to attract the investment needed for long-term wind industry growth and jobs creation.
In a recent survey, 246 out of 300 corporate executives plan to invest in making their companies more energy efficient within the next 12 months. The CEO’s see this as an opportunity to create revenue, the side effect I see will be the creation of jobs needed to help make these companies more environmentally friendly.
Investment into climate change initiatives will create opportunities for several career fields associated with energy efficiency. They include HVAC technicians, energy engineers, financial analysts and energy auditors. O*NET, an online database of careers created for the U.S. Department of Labor, lists these career fields as not only green but specifically marks them as having a bright future.
Just think – only 300 CEO’s responded to this survey. With climate change being an ever present topic and corporations seeking out revenue opportunities in a down economy, you could probably add thousands more to the above mentioned 246 corporate executives who plan to invest in energy efficiency. The resulting career opportunities could be astounding!
We all expect certain job categories like recycling, mass transit, organic foods and renewable energy are green jobs. They are. But how about nuclear power, manufacturing lead free bullets and environmental films? The answer is yes. What about designing jewelry out of discarded factory waste? The Department of Labor has composed a roster of job categories it considers green . Currently, green jobs comprise 1 to 2 % of the today’s workforce. A green job is defined as any job that creates, supports, maintains or regulates recycling, energy efficiency or renewable energy products and services.