Green Career Central Blog

Follow the Green Money: DOE Finalizes Loan Guarantee to Geothermal Project, Smart Synch Raises $25 Million, Phononic Devices Receives $10 Million

The Department of Energy has finalized its $96.8 million loan guarantee to a project sponsored by US Geothermal, Inc. to build a geothermal plant in southeastern Oregon.  When completed the plant will produce 23 Megawatts of power. Idaho Power Company has contracted to purchase that power for25 years.

Based in Jackson, MS, Smart Synch has raised $25 million to continue to develop their Smart Grid infrastructure solutions that use public wireless networks.  Trilliant Inc. a provider of Smart Grid solutions has partnered with KORE Telematics to improve Trillant's utility meter communications.

Phononic Devices has received $10 million from venture capitalists.  Phononic is developing systems to remove heat using electricity, called thermoelectric cooling and also thermoelectric generation, turning waste heat into electricity. Based in Raleigh, NC., here is a link to their career page.

Green Career Trends: Sustainability Professionals in Demand, Clean Tech Investing Gets Boost, Two Testing Labs Added for Solar Thermal Devices

According to a new survey from AASHE, (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), the demand for sustainability professionals continues to grow.  The survey also found high job satisfaction with those already employed as a sustainability professional and an average salary of $75,000 for Sustainability Director or similar position.  60% of those identified as a sustainability professional were women.

By looking for already proven innovations and having a global scope, Silver Lake Investing is hoping to bring to market many clean tech companies.  Silver Lake was started with funding from billionaire George Soros. Also creating a fund for eco investing is German automaker BMW.  They have launched BMWi, the investment arm of the company.  BMWi will invest $100 million into eco-auto technologies and ways of using apps to find charging stations.

Currently there are only five labs that are accredited to test solar thermal products.  Without approval from an accredited lab, solar thermal devices are not eligible for energy conservation tax credits.  Now in the works are two additional labs that would be able to perform the tests necessary for approval.  The labs, located in the University of New Haven and North Carolina State University, are giving students the opportunity to design the specialized labs.  

Green Career Central Joins Career Digital as Contributor

Career Digital is a powerful career advice and insights topic hub with the goal to "aggregate content from a variety of sources, organize that content around keywords in the topic domain, and support both manual and social curation of that content." 

Career Digital has a wealth of information to share on a wide array of career topics... from social networking,  recruiters, interviewing to a variety of industries and locations. 

The site is easy to navigate.  Choose the keywords and topics that interest you in the left column and review the relevant articles that pop up in response to your search. 

Follow the Green Money: DOE Makes Loan Guarantee to Two Companies, Soladigm Raises a Total of $40 Million, ecoATM receives $14.4 Million

Based in San Jose, CA, Solo Power has received a $197 million conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.  Solo Power will use the loan to expand their thin film solar power plant in Wilsonville, OR. The DOE has also finalized a loan guarantee of $343 million to One Nevada Transmission to improve the electric transmission lines between Northern and Southern Nevada.

By being able to electrochromically tint windows on demand, Soladigm has created an energy saving product that will make buildings more efficient.  Soladigm has raised $10 million from venture capitalists for a total of $40 million.  Plans call for a factory to be built in Mississippi to produce the windows that use low voltage electricity to lighten and darken.

Using kiosks to recycle electronic waste, ecoATM has raised $14.4 million from venture capitalists.  Cell phones and other electronic waste is visually and technically evaluated within the unmanned kiosk and the former user is paid in cash or coupons for their items.  ecoATM is owned by Coinstar and based in San Diego, CA.

Green Career Trends: Solar City Expanding to East Coast, Climate Change Professionals Income Rising, Blu Homes Offers New Modular Home

With the acquisition of groSolar's residential solar division, Solar City now has the largest geographic footprint of any residential solar power installer in the US with 21 offices in 10 states.  They will expand their operations to include the states of  Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.  In addition to the acquisition, Citi Bank has set up a $40 million fund to finance Solar City projects.

According to the Carbon Survey, a global survey conducted by recruiter Acre Resources, climate change professionals are seeing their incomes increase at a slightly higher rate than the US average.  Climate change professionals saw their incomes increase at a rate of 4% versus the US average of all salaries of just 2.4%.  The survey also found 73% of respondents were satisfied with their position and 76% felt secure in their job.

Green home-builder Blu Homes, has created a modular 2,295 sq. foot home called the Breezehouse.  The home is constructed off-site using renewable materials like bamboo.  Building the home off-site is more efficient and reduces the amount of construction waste.  The modular home arrives on site via flat bed truck where it is assembled. Prices start at $520,000 for a 3-4 bedroom, 3 bath, 1 level home.

Follow the Green Money: OSISoft Receives $135 Million, Lighting Science Group Going Public, C3Nano Completes First Round of Funding

Developer of data management software for industrial applications, OSIsoft, has received a $135 million investment from venture capitalists. Based in San Leandro, CA, here is the career page for OSIsoft.

Lighting Science Group, a Florida based LED lighting company, has filed for public registration of common stock on the NASDAQ exchange.  The goal of this move is to raise $150 million.  The initial share price was not disclosed.  Lighting Science manufactures and distributes LED lighting for commercial and residential use.  The company has factories in the US and Mexico and has hired a contractor to make their products in Asia.

Hayward, CA based C3Nano, a first year start-up company that is developing transparent electrodes as a component of  transparent screens for use in cell phone and solar cells, has completed a first round of funding. The amount was not disclosed.  Last year C3Nano won the MIT Clean Energy Prize of $200,000.

Green Career Trends: DOE Announces "Sun Shot", EPA Regulations Would Create Jobs, Companies Commitment to CSR Goals

The Department of Energy has announced its "Sun Shot" plan of initiatives to reduce the price of solar power by 75%.  The goal is make solar energy cost competitive with fossil fuel produced energy without the use of subsides. The time frame set for this goal is by the end of the decade.

A new report from Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors, indicates that Environmental Protection Agency regulations that reduce air pollution would also create jobs.  The report found that the retirement of older coal burning power plants and the construction of newer plants would add as many as 1.5 million new jobs.

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and improve their corporate social responsibility, large corporations are making major commitments to sustainability.  For example, Proctor and Gamble has committed to powering all of their factories with renewable energy by 2020, FedEx has committed to improving vehicle fuel efficiency by 20% by 2020 and even Walmart has committed to selling $1 billion in produce sourced from 1000 small- and medium-sized farmers.  These commitments will require various functions and employees at all levels to work together to achieve the goal.

Green Career Tip: When Your Green Industry Isn't Ready to Hire You

In this weeks tip of the week:    

You’ve identified your target green career! You are excited about the possibilities of working in this new, emerging industry. In fact, you can’t wait to start!
Then you being your research into your target green career. Bit by bit, you realize that this industry is really quite new in your area. You aren’t finding a lot of job postings for positions in this industry.
And then your panic sets in.

To read the complete article, go here.

Follow the Green Money: Gov't Funding Offshore Wind with $50.5 Million, KiOR Seeking a $1 billion Loan Guarantee, Control 4 Raises $15 Million

The Department of Interior along with the Department of Energy has announced the formation of the National Offshore Wind Strategy plan and funded it with $50.5 million.  The plan will fund research into technology improvements along with new ways to bring the power to market.  The area being targeted for the development of offshore wind power is the mid-Atlantic region including the states of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia

Houston, TX based KiOR, a biofuels company, is seeking a loan guarantee of $1 billion from the Department of Energy.  KiOR's plan is to turn wood chips and other plant waste into 250 million gallons of next-generation biofuels.

Energy management company, Control 4, has raised $15 million from venture capitalists. At least 20,000 of Control 4's wireless devices and software was purchased by Nevada utility, NV Energy.  Control 4 is based in Salt Lake City, UT.  Here is a link to their career page.  Another energy management company, Earth Aid, has raised $4 million from venture capitlaists.

Getting Into the Green Economy, a FR^EE Webinar, Feb. 9th

Join Carol McClelland, Phd, and Scott Cooney, author of Build A Green Small Business and principal at GreenBusinessOwner.com for this highly interactive webinar on Feb. 9th from 6pm - 7pm (Pacific), (9pm - 10pm Eastern).

Information covered includes:

• What the green economy is really all about
• How to align your personal mission with your career--either in green entrepreneurship or through getting a green career
• Success stories of those who've gone down this road before

Carol and Scott will present for the first fifteen minutes and then open it up to questions for the remaining time.  Bring your good questions.  Register here for this webinar.