Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Trends: Lockheed Martin to Build Solar Plant, MIT Working On Storing Solar Energy, Purdue University Making Wind Energy Efficient, Green Packaging Growing

By building and operating a $1.5 billion dollar, 290 megawatt solar concentrated power plant, Lockheed Martin, is moving into the renewable energy sector.  The plant will be located  75 miles west of Phoenix and constructed in conjunction with Starwood Energy Group, which has a contract to sell the electricity to Arizona Public Service when the plant is completed in 2013.

Scientists at MIT are working on a distributed solar system that uses electricity from roof-top photovoltaic panels to power a water-splitting electrolyzer that will create and store hydrogen and oxygen. The stored hydrogen and oxygen then can be recombined later in a fuel cell for power at night.  The process is artificial photosynthesis, a bio-mimicry model that duplicates the chemistry of plants. 

By making the blades on wind turbines more efficient, scientists at Purdue University hope to increase the amount of energy each turbine produces.  With slight modifications to the blade, turbines would be able to operate when wind speeds are too low or too high for current models.

By 2013 the demand for green packaging, (material made of recycled content, reusable or bio-degradable material)  is expected to be $43.9 billion according to the research company, Freedonia Group.  In their study, the rate of growth of the green packaging industry is forecast at 3.4% per year.

Green Career Tip - The American Clean Energy & Security Act – The Good, Bad and Ugly

If you think this legislation is beyond you or doesn’t impact your green career, think again! Whatever this legislation becomes through the legislative process will shape the green economy in significant ways.

We encourage you to educate yourself on the issues involved in this legislation. Take action in any and every way you can think of. Communicate your thoughts to your representatives. Educate those around you who may not be aware of how important this legislation really is.

Read this week's Tip of the Week to learn about the American Clean Energy & Security Act that just passed the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and how if affects you.

Follow the Green Money: Solyndra Has Contract Backlog of $1.8 Billion, Recurrent Energy to Build Solar Plant for City of San Francisco, Digital Lumens Gets $6.3 Million in Funding

Solyndra, a manufacturer of cylindrical, thin film PV systems, has added a contract for up to $115 million, making the total of their contract backlog approximately $1.8 billion. The latest contract is with EBITSCHenergietechnik, based in Zapfendorf, Germany.  The panels for this contract will be made at factories in Fremont and Milpitas, CA.

The city of San Francisco has signed a contract with Recurrent Energy to install and operate a 5 megawatt solar power plant atop the city owned Sunset Reservoir.  When completed the system would use almost 25,000 panels and cover an area the size of 12 football fields.  The city signed a purchase power agreement in which they will buy the power produced at a fixed rate for twenty five years.

A clean tech company focused on low-cost LED lighting, Digital Lumens Inc, has received $6.3 million in venture capital funding.  The Salem, MA company will focus on high efficiency LED lighting.

Green Career Trends: Cisco, Oracle Enter Smart Grid Sector, Google Launches Power Meter, Obama Announces Mileage Standards, Diamler Buys a Portion of Tesla, VW May Build Electirc Car

Two major players in the IT systems and networks industry have announced their plans to enter the smart grid business.  It has been estimated the value of the smart grid communications market at $20 billion a year as systems are built over the next five years.  Cisco Systems would like a portion of that market.  And what happens to all that data sent from smart meters?  Oracle has launched an end-to-end software solution for electricity distributors that want to use smart grid technologies.  (There are job openings across the U.S. for Oracle. Cisco has job openings across the U.S., but most are in the Bay Area, CA) 

Google has entered the smart grid business with its announcement of "Power Meter," a secure software device that will interact with utility installed smart meters.  Utility customers with Power Meter will be able to monitor their home energy usage on their own computer.  By monitoring their usage, Google studies indicate that consumers can reduce power anywhere from 5-15%.

President Obama recently announced plans to increase national auto mileage standards.  Beginning in 2011 the standard for cars and light trucks will be 27.3 miles per gallon with an increase of five percent each year thereafter.  By 2016 fleet standards for cars would be 39 mpg and light trucks would be 30 mpg.  By having a national standard, the plan would eliminate the patchwork of standards individual states now have. 

Obama stated the plan would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the cars' lifetime.  That would be the equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road or shutting down 194 coal-fired power plants.

German auto manufacturer Diamler has taken a 10% stake in electric car maker Tesla, worth an estimated $50 million.  The deal also gives Diamler access to Tesla's battery and power train technology which may initially be used on Diamler's Smart car.  Another German automaker, VW, may soon announce it too will produce an electric car.  

Green Career Tip - Map to Your Green Career - New and Improved Plan

Most of the people we talk with know they want a green career, but they don't know how to find that new career.

When you look for a new career, what's your first action?

What Steps Should You Take to Find Your Green Career?

In February we gave you the first Map to Your Green Career. Today, in this week's Tip of the Week, we're sharing the New and Improved Plan to help you realize your green career dreams.

Follow the Green Money: GE to Build Battery Factory, Schott Solar Open in New Mexico, Biofuel and Wind Get Stimulus Money and Win

GE has announced it is planning to build a $100 million factory in upstate New York that will produce sodium-based batteries to power hybrid locomotives.  The batteries could also be used to store energy from intermittent sources like wind turbines and provide backup power to data centers.

Schott Solar has opened a solar panel and solar concentrator manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, NM.  Long term plans call for spending $500 million on building expansion and the hiring of up to 1,500 more employees.

$786.5 million in stimulus funding from the U.S.Department of Energy is being made available to advanced biofuel development.  Of the $786.5 million, $480 million is going to pilot and demonstration scale refineries, $176.5 million for commercial-scale refineries, and $130 million for research. 

$25 million in stinulus money is also going to Massachusetts to develop the states Wind Technology Testing Center.

Green Career Trends: Vets Get Help Getting Green Jobs, Ergolight Can Reduce Power Usage, Desalinization Plant to Open Near San Diego, CA

If you are a returning veteran, you may be in demand by companies in the green economy.  Companies such as Lucas Group, and Veterans Green Jobs, are assisting vets with training and getting jobs at various levels of green companies. 

In an attempt to reduce power usage in office buildings, Ergolight has developed a system that connects light fixtures to the buildings power supply and networks them together.  Using a master control computer with proprietary software, daylight and room sensors, Ergolight claims it can reduce lighting energy consumption by 65-85% depending upon the system.

Poseidon Resources has won a contract from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board to open a desalinization plant in Carlsbad, CA.  Once completed, the plant will take 100 million gallons of seawater, remove the salt by reverse osmosis, and produce an estimated 50 million gallons of drinking water by 2011.

Green Career Tip - Flexibility Leads to Success in the Green Economy

As you think of your steps to moving into your green career, I’m willing to guess that the majority of you believe that your goal is a full-time position, with a salary, full benefits, and vacation time. Although I understand your reasoning and desire, I suspect that you haven’t considered other possible paths into the green economy. If you limit your goal to full-time positions, your list of opportunities may be small.

Although it’s bound to bring a bit of discomfort to the surface, I invite you to expand how you envision your future. Opening yourself to a wider variety of work formats beyond full-time allows you to take advantage of a broader range of opportunities that cross your path.

This week's Tip of the Week will show you opportunities to keep you moving toward, and prepare you for, that perfect green job.

Green Ventures Conference

Green Ventures Conference: featuring the theme, “Jumpstarting the New Green Economy.” According to conference organizers, the goal for the event is to help participants help “create a vision for business and work within a new paradigm. Upon leaving, they will be armed not only with a clearer vision for the future, but their next steps to move sustainability forward in their homes, their place of business, and their immediate communities and broader communities.”

 

Carol will be speaking virtually at 6 pm Eastern Time on May 21st at the Green Jobs Networking Event about the Six Things You Must Know to Land a Professional Job in the Green Economy

• Tuesday, May 19th through Thursday, May 21st
  
• Fairleigh Dickinson University’s College at Florham, Madison, New Jersey
  
• Registration for the Conference, which also includes workshops, panels, and a free expo and networking fair, is available online at www.jumpstartgreen.org.

Follow the Green Money: DOD Funds Jet Fuel from Cellulose Research, Funding for High Efficiency Diesel Fuel Injection, Energy Storage Gets a Boost

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research arm of the Department of Defense, has given Logos Technologies up to $35 million to create military-grade jet fuel from cellulose.  Some of the other companies receiving funding are SAIC and General Atomics. The U.S.military's annual budget for jet fuel is $12.6 billion.

Transonic Combustion, based in Camarillo, CA, has announced a new round of funding to develop it's high efficiency fuel-injection system to increase the miles per gallon of diesel engines.  More fuel efficient diesel engines can reduce emissions of nitrous oxide by up to 50%. (They have some job openings in Southern CA.)

Deeya Energy, based in Fremont, CA, has received funding from venture capitalists to develop its energy storage device.  The device is intended for three major applications:  replacing diesel generators (think cell phone towers in remote areas), storing energy from green sources like wind and solar and stabilizing the electric gird. (They have some job openings in CA and India)