Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Trends: Solar Panels on Utility Poles, Building Energy Efficiency Saves Money, Homeowners Get Upfront Money From Cities for Solar Panels

Petra Solar (located in South Plainfield, NJ) has a contract with New Jersey energy provider PSE&G for $200 million to install 200,000 solar panels on street light and utility poles in New Jersey's six largest cities and rural and suburban areas.  The energy created by the photovoltaic panels will go directly to the grid. Estimated installation time for each pole mounted panel is around thirty minutes. (They are hiring, apply through the website.)

By using existing products and processes, the US can reduce carbon emissions by 1.1 gigatons and could save $1.2 trillion with an initial investment of $520 billion in home and business energy efficiency according to a study from McKinsey and Company.  The Sears Tower and Empire State Building are undergoing energy retrofitting.  Hospitals and medical centers can also benefit from making energy efficiency changes.  Government stimulus spending on building energy efficiency will lead to more jobs too.

In order to cover the large up-front costs of reducing home energy usage through renewable energy installation and retrofitting,  cities and counties are funding the project and then adding a tax on the home.  Benefits to the home owner include reduction of energy bills, increased valuation, and being able to pass the added tax along to future homeowners if the home is sold.  Other benefits include reduction of green house gas emissions, increase in local green jobs/careers and increase in local economies. 

Green Career Tip - From Waste to Sustainability: Visual Ways to Explore Key Green Economy Topics

Do you want the quick, visual and accurate overview of sustainability?

While doing research for Green Careers For Dummies, I’ve come across several sites and videos that do a great job of describing some of the most critical concepts within the green economy.

If you are building your knowledge base regarding issues of sustainability in business, read or listen to this Tip of the Week to find videos and interactive websites that can give you the basics in a relatively short period of time.

Save the Clean Air Act, Contact Your Senators

The clean energy and security act (ACES) that was recently passed by the House of Representatives contained a hidden provision that would repeal a key part of the Clean Air Act.

Coal companies want to revoke President Obama's authority to crack down on global warming pollution from dirty power plants. This would let the oldest, dirtiest polluters off the hook and could pave the way for 100 new coal plants.

The Senate is beginning work on the energy bill, so this is a critical moment. We just signed a petition urging Congress to save the Clean Air Act. You can sign the petition here: http://pol.moveon.org/cleanairact/?r_by=16672-3248118-3lbAx3x&rc=confemail

To read more about this important issue, check out this New York Times Editorial  

Full Disclosure: The petition in sponsored by MoveOn.org. After the petition there is a request for a donation. Don't feel you must donate. You can definitely sign without donating. We thought about not sending the petition for this reason, but we believe that keeping the Clean Air Act intact is such an important issue that it was important to pass it on to you.

Follow the Green Money: First Solar to Build Thin Film Manufacturing Plant in France, DOE Awards $47 Million for Smart Grid, Two Smart Grid Companies Get VC Money

First Solar and EDF Energies Nouvelles will partner to build the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in France for an estimated $123 million.  First Solar (based in Tempe, AZ) will operate the thin-film solar plant at a location to be determined. 

Grants totaling $47 million have been awarded to eight companies by the Department of Energy for smart grid projects.  The DOE has a total of $3.9 billion available to award grants to companies making improvements to the power grid.

EMeter, based in San Mateo, CA, has secured $32 million from the venture capital market.  EMeter provides software for the smart grid and home energy management.  iControl, based in Palo Alto, CA., has obtained $23 million from venture capitalists and corporate partners.  iControl, already in the broadband home security business, is adding home energy controls.

Green Career Trends: Turning Onion Waste into Electricity, Agricultural Waste Could Become Biofuel, Smart Meters Have Large Potential

A Southern California onion grower has found a way to take 300,000 lbs.of onion tops and tails per day and turn them into methane gas to power a fuel cell making electricity. Although Gills Onions invested $9.5 million in an anerobic digester system to enable them to produce this power, they should recoup their investment in just six years.  Now the farm is not paying to have the waste hauled away nor are they paying as much for power to run the farm.  Will other large producers of produce follow?  Or any business that handles large quantities of agricultural waste?   

Not only can agricultural waste be turned into electricity, it can also be used in the production of second generation biofuels to produce "grassoline." Other cellulosic materials such as wood waste, and fast growing weed-like plants can also be used to produce grassoline.  Estimates are that the U.S. could produce 1.3 billion tons of non-food plant material that would generate 100 billion gallons of grassoline per year, currently about one-half of what is consumed now.  How competitive grassoline becomes is dependent upon the price of a barrel of oil. 

8.3 million smart meters with two-way digital communication have been installed in the U.S.representing just 6% of the market.  Public and private demand along with the $11 billion in smart gird initiatives coming from Washington D.C. are keeping the market active and moving forward.

Green Career Tip - Signs of Momentum in the Green Economy

Are you worried about the future of the green economy?

Is it worth training for jobs in the green economy, or will they vanish by the time we are ready to go to work?

Although we aren’t economists, politicians, or psychics, we have been tracking developments in the green economy for over two years. We continue to see signs of momentum in a variety of arenas. 

Read or listen to this Tip of the Week as we share our outlook on the stability and momentum of the green economy.

Follow the Green Money: $85 Million to go to Biofuel Development, Exxon Invests $600 Million in Biofuels, DOE Funds Wind Energy Projects, Phillips Buys Teltrol

$85 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds is being made available by the Department of Energy to develop algae-based biofuels and advanced, infrastructure-compatible biofules.  The goal of the funding is to accelerate the research and infrastructure building of biofuels by bringing together scientists and engineers from colleges and universities with private industry and government.

In related news, fossil fuel giant Exxon Mobil Corp.has decided to spend $600 million in a partnership with Synthetic Genomics Inc.(based in La Jolla, CA)  to develop fuel from algae.  Synthetic Genomics is led by J. Craig Venter, a leader in the race to map the human genome. 

The Department of Energy also announced that 28 new wind energy projects would receive funding of up to $13.8 million.  The money will be used for turbine research and testing, transmission analysis, planning and assessments. 

Teletrol Systems (based in Manchester, N.H.) has been acquired by Royal Phillips Electronics for an undisclosed amount.  Teletrol is in the hardware and software creation business to control lighting and other energy using systems in buildings and has more than 10,000 commercial and retail sites around the world.  The founder of Teletrol is Dean Kamen, the creator of the Segway.

Green Career Tip - A Visual Vacation Brought to You by Green Career Central

We are away on vacation this week…we hope you enjoy a few photos from some of our recent adventures.

Next week we’ll have a new issue on Wednesday, as usual.

Have a good week.

 

Green Career Tip - Prepare for Your Green Career: Improve Your Ecoliteracy

Are you up-to-date on your ecoliteracy?

Ecoliteracy is essential as you identify and build your green career. Familiarizing yourself with the topics of global warming, climate change and related issues provides you with a strong foundation of knowledge.

Understanding the issues, being able to sort out the ramifications of different actions, and following detailed scientific explanations not only give you credibility in your green career, it also helps you spot problems and opportunities that may align with your talents and interests.

This week's Tip of the Week will show how and where to brush up on the language and issues that are critical to landing your green job.

Follow the Green Money: $1.2 Billion Going to Clean/Green Tech Start-Up Companies, AT&T to Purchase Natural Gas Vehicles, SPG Solar Raises $13 million

More than $1.2 billion was invested in 85 start up companies by venture capitalists in the green/clean tech sector in the second quarter of 2009.  Investment in the solar sector totaled $330 million while automotive received $202 million and energy storage received more than $180 million.  In the first quarter of 2009 there were 59 deals that totaled $836 million.

AT&T will purchase approximately 8,000 vehicles, that have been converted from gasoline to compressed natural gas, from BAF Technologies (based in Dallas, TX).  The cost is expected to be $350 million.

SPG Holdings has raised $13 million in capital financing to expand its two companies, SPG Solar and Thompson Technologies Industries.  Enabling solar panels to be installed over water, called Floatovoltaics, is one of Thompson Technologies products that will get a portion of the funding.  SPG Solar (based in Northern California) installs and designs solar power systems.