Green Career Central Blog

Follow the Green Money: HelioVolt Borrows $8.5 Million, Envia Systems Receives $7 Million From GM Ventures, EnerNoc Purchases M2M Communications

Austin, TX based HelioVolt has borrowed $8.5 million to continue developing its thin film solar panels.  HelioVolt uses CIGS panels that apply the solar cells to a thin film of material rather than the other common technology of building panels using photovoltaic solar cells. 

GM Ventures, the funding arm of the automaker, has invested $7 million in Envia Systems.  Envia is developing high energy density materials for batteries to be used in electric vehicles.  Other venture capital investors added $10 million for a total investment of $17 million.  Envia is based near the Silicon Valley in Newark, CA.

EnerNoc, the demand response energy management company has expanded their business to include agriculture with the purchase of M2M Communications.  By turning down water pumps and other irrigation systems, M2M is able to reduce energy use and save money for farmers.  The purchase price of the acquisition was not disclosed.  EnerNoc is based in Boston, MA.

SD Forum Presenting the State of Corporate Sustainability on Wed. Feb. 2nd

At this event, representatives from major Silicon Valley companies will be speaking about early adoption of sustainability practices for financial rewards rather than costs.  Come hear Michael Beutler, SAP, Scott Coleman, Google, Joyce Dickerson, Stanford University, Brian Goncher, Deloitte, Bruce Klafter, Applied Materials, Inc., Andrew Williamson, Physic Ventures, and the moderator Mitch Zuklie, Orrick, speak about corporations embracing sustainability.  The event on Wed. the 2nd will begin with networking at 6pm, speakers from 7pm until 8pm, and QandA and networking from 8-8:30pm.  The location of the event is at the offices of Orrick, 1100 Marsh Road, Menlo Park, CA. 

If you reside in the Bay Area of CA and have identified corporate sustainability as your green niche, this is a great opportunity to network and learn about what is happening within corporations as they begin adopting sustainability practices. To register for this event, click on this link. 

The SD Forum is a non profit organization that fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership in Silicon Valley.

 

Green Career Trends: Green IT Expected to Grow to $32.4 Billion by 2020, Climate Corps Now Works With 31 Employers, Siemens Investing $6.2 Billion in Greentech

By 2020 utilities will need to manage nine times the amount of data as today.  According to Lux Research this will drive the amount of investment in IT and Smart Grid from $12.8 billion today to $32.4 billion by 2020.  Millions of smart meters will be delivering daily and hourly updates, as well as other information requiring critical decision points.  Smart meters have begun to be installed in North America and Europe, but are still lacking in one of the world's largest markets, China.

Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps 2011, the program that connects corporations wanting to reduce their environmental impact with MBA students, is working with 31 leading companies thisyear.  Among the companies signing on to reduce their energy bills are:  Dunkin' Brands, JP Morgan Chase and Co., Facebook, Microsoft, Carnival, Yahoo!, addidas, and Proctor and Gamble. Since its inception in 2008, Climate Corps has saved enough energy to power 85,000 homes and a net benefit to all the companies participating of $439 million. 

Siemens AG, the German based multi-national corporation, has indicated it will spend $6.2 billion in 2011 on research and development into a wide range of energy saving equipment.  Siemens competes head to head with the US based, General Electric, in wind turbines, products for the renewable energy industry, and equipment used in health care.

Green Career Tip: Are You A Triple Bottom Lline Trailblazer?

"The innovator doesn't necessarily start with a roadmap of how to get there.
If you know the direction in advance, it's probably not a good enough goal.” Huffington Post interview with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak

As I listened to the State of the Union address, I was pleased to hear Obama's commitment to clean energy, innovation, and investing in the future. A number of his themes mirror this week's article about Triple Bottom Line Trailblazers that I wrote. Are you committed to being part of the solution?

Nearly 20 years ago I started working with people to guide them in identifying their unique passions and interests and weaving them together to create a compelling career.

At first people wanted more interesting jobs. Then I noticed my clients wanted more meaningful careers. Since 2007, when I launched Green Career Central, most of my clients wanted to make a difference and have an impact on the issues of our time.

In the last nine months I've seen a new trend developing. More than ever before I'm interacting with people who have or want to create innovative ways to approach the problems of our time.

Triple Bottom Line Trailblazers

In the last month I coined this phrase—Triple Bottom Line Trailblazers—as a way to begin talking about and thinking about these innovative clients.

Triple Bottom Line – Although this term is usually used to describe values based companies that are looking beyond profits to also assess their impact on people and the planet, this term also applies to people who want work that is values-based.

Although some have a stronger leaning toward environmental issues, others feel more of a pull toward social issues.

In the world we live in, for a solution to work over time, it must work for the environment, the people, and the company. This Triple Bottom Line approach allows for new levels of effectiveness that lead to sustainable results

Use this link to read the article in its entireity

News Media Gets Global Climate Disruption Right Again!

Here is the video from ABC News that dared to ask 10 Climate Scientists about what is happening to the weather and then report their findings. 

 

Follow the Green Money: DOE Makes Loan Guarantee of $967 Million to NRG Energy, US Gov't Agencies Make Loan Guarantees of $250 Million to Three Biofuel Companies, Scientific Conservation Receives $15.7 Million

The Department of Energy has made a conditional loan guarantee of $967 million to NRG Energy for their 290 megawatt Agua Caliente solar project in Arizona. NRG has a 25 year purchase power agreement with PG&E.  Based in Princeton, NJ, NRG has career openings throughout the U.S.

Three biofuels companies are getting loan guaranties from US governmental agencies  The USDA will make a $250 million loan guarantee to Coskata, and $80 million to Enerkem.  The DOE will make a loan guarantee of $241 million to Diamond Green Diesel (a joint venture between Valero and Darling International). 

Based in San Francisco, CA, Scientific Conservation has received $15.7 million from venture capitalists.  Scientific Conservation uses software as service to monitor energy consumption of commercial and governmental buildings in real time and use that data to predict the buildings energy use in the future.

 

Green Career Trends: Green Job Sector Fastest Growing, Bloom Energy Offering Fuel Cell Power to Businesses, Wells Fargo Supporting Employee Green Teams

A new report from the non-profit organization, Next 10, shows the green job sector in California growing faster than total employment in 2008.  The report, entitled Many Shades of Green, estimates that the core green economy now accounts for 174,000 jobs in California.  The founder of Next 10, F. Noel Perry, explained that very few job sectors have as much growth in as many regions as the green sector.  The primary drivers of this growth are the history of innovation in California and legislative policies regarding energy efficiency.  

Bloom Energy, maker of the Bloom Box, a power generating fuel cell about the size of a large refrigarator that takes natural gas or biogas and turns it into electricity, is now offering to install their product for no charge in return for businesses making a ten year purchase power agreement. Corporations and large businesses would benefit from not having to purchase the box up front (an investment of $700,000 to $800,000) and receiving a lower per kilowatt hour price of electricity than is being offered by utilities while Bloom would take care of all maintenance.

As a portion of their Environmental Affairs division, banking giant Wells Fargo encourages employees to join green teams.  The fifty volunteer teams are organized around a line of business or geographic region.  Wells Fargo supplies the resources, structure and encouragement to the teams to enable them to tackle their chosen green issue.   

Green Career Tip: 5 Secrets to Greening Your Resume

If you are hoping to transition to a green career or you are in the process of searching for a green job, it’s likely you are spending time thinking about the state of your resume.

In my conversations with clients and audience members, I often hear these questions as people express their concerns about developing their resumes:

• Is my resume green enough?
• Do I have enough green experience?
• How do I gain the experience I need?
• How do I communicate my commitment to sustainability in my resume?

Although any ebooks, Web pages, and books provide detailed information about the mechanics of developing a resume, few provide tips on how to prepare to write your resumes and your cover letters.

Read this weeks Green Career Tip of the Week

Media Gets It Right, ABC News Links Floods and Weather Extremes to Global Warming

It has been a while since a mainstream media outlet has had the courage to take on the subject and to make the case for human caused global warming, but ABC News has. Check out their video.

 

Follow the Green Money: GridPoint Has Received $23.6 Million, SoloPower Gets $20 Million Loan, Mascoma Receives Up to $50 Million Investment

Smart grid start up, GridPoint, has received $23.6 million from venture capitalists.  Gridpoint creates software for building energy management and other solutions.  In May of 2010, GridPoint announced a contract with the US Post Office to install and operate energy management services at 750 locations.  GridPoint has several North American offices.

Using a $20 million loan from the State of Oregon, SoloPower, a maker of thin-film solar, will open a 75 megawatt manufacturing plant in Wilsonville, OR. The San Jose, CA based company has openings for engineers and technicians. 

Based in Lebanon NH, Mascoma has entered into an agreement with petrochemical company Valero that allows them to invest up to $50 million to build a biofuels plant in Kinross, Michigan.  Mascoma develops microbes that can turn wood waste and grasses into cellulosic ethanol. Here is a link to their career page.