Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Tip: Seven Job Search Dos and Don'ts From Green Employers

On Friday I facilitated a panel of clean energy employers at Congresswoman Jackie Speier's 4th Job Hunter's Boot Camp. As representatives of the various clean energy employers were answering the questions I posed, I realized their answers would be perfect for a Dos and Don'ts article for this week's Green Career Tip.

Job Search Don'ts

• If you aren't qualified for a job...don't apply!
  
• Don't spam an employer by applying indiscriminately to many positions.

Job Search Dos

• Having a polished profile on LinkedIn is a MUST! In house recruiters use LinkedIn heavily to learn more about potential candidates. Make sure your profile says what you want it to say!
  
• If you are submitting your resume online, consider including a link to your LinkedIn profile to give hiring managers and recruiters more information about you.

For more Do's and Don'ts, read the full Green Career Tip of the Week. 

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.

 

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: GE to Buy Lineage Power Holdings, Study Predicts More Green IT, Meritage Homes Offering Homes with Abundance of Green Features

With the offer of acquisition to Lineage Power Holdings by General Electric, they will be moving into the data center storage and telecom power conversion industry, an estimated $20 billion-per-year industry.  The offering price for Lineage was $520 million. 

In a new study from the International Data Corporation, an IT research company, they predict the utility industry will adopt IT at a rate only exceeded by the health care industry.  Electricity and Smart Grid projects are expected to drive the utility adoption at the rate of 5.3%, just slightly higher than general business.  The same study also predicted there will be more than 60,000 plug-in electric vehicles in North America in 2011, and solar photovoltaic installations will double, among other predictions. 

In Gilbert, AZ, Meritage Homes is offering 210 homes in the Lyons Gate division, each with plenty of green building features.  Each home offers advanced solar and thermal power that can be controlled and monitored from anywhere via smart phone or computer. Low VOC paints, low flow fixtures in the bathroom, Energy Star appliances, highly energy efficient lighting, and thermal pane windows are all standard in each home at no additional cost.  The long term savings on water and energy costs of a Meritage green home could be substantial. 

Green Career Tip - Claim Your Green Career in 2011

It’s always an interesting moment to open up a newsletter folder for the new year! A blank slate. Since we launched in November 2007, I’ve written over 150 newsletters! We’ve covered a lot of territory together over the years! I look forward discovering what 2011 has in store.

Over the holidays Kent and I saw a number of signs of progress, innovation, and commitment to sustainability.  Although evidence of the green economy may not be reaching mainstream news on a regular basis, notable developments continue to unfold. Do you want a career in this evolving new world? Read this week's newsletter for more information.

Follow the Green Money: DOE Makes Loan Guarantee for $1.3 Billion for Wind Farm, Trilliant Expanding Market to Asia, DOE Awarding $184 Million for Energy Efficiency Improvements to Vehicles

It is the largest amount Follow the Green Money has ever written about, a $1.3 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to Caithness Energy for their planned wind farm at Shepard's Flat in eastern Oregon.  When completed the farm will have the capacity to deliver 845 megawatts of electricity, and it will become the largest on-land wind farm in the world.

Based in Redwood City, CA, Trilliant, a maker of hardware and software for networking utilities, is expanding their business to Asia with the investment help of Microelectronics.  Asia is experiencing an increasing demand for electricity and the Smart Grid products produced by Trilliant will make that transition easier and cheaper.  The Trilliant career page lists job descriptions within the company.

The Department of Energy is also awarding grants totaling $184 million to companies and researchers that are working on improving the energy efficiency of vehicles.  Among the categories that are eligible for funding are:  light weight materials, advanced battery technology, and efficient driver feedback technologies.

Green Career Tip - Accelerate Your Green Job Search Results with Five Proactive Strategies

If you are in active job search mode or you know you have a job search in your near future, you are no doubt looking for ways to shorten the path to your job offer! 

In this week’s article I introduce five of the proactive job search strategies that can transform your energy and your job search results.

Green Career Trends: GM to Hire 1,000 Employees, Smart Grid Expected to Reach $4.2 Billion by 2015, Navy Using Whale Flippers as Models for Tidal Turbines

 
With the success of the Chevrolet Volt (named Motor Trend car of the year), General Motors has said it will now hire 1,000 engineers and researchers over the next two years to develop other electric vehicles.  The hiring will be done primarily in Michigan.  The Nissan all-electric Leaf was named European Car of the Year.

2010 revenues from Smart Grid software and services industries is estimated to be $356 million.  A new report from Pike Research estimates that revenue from Smart Grid analytics will reach $4.2 billion by 2015.  Utilities will have more information and insights into how their customers consume energy and be better able to meet consumer demand.

The US Naval Academy is using humpback whale flippers as a design model for ocean tidal energy turbine blades.  The blades that mimicked the flippers have proven to be more effective at extracting energy at low tidal speeds.

Green Career Trends: The National Renewable Energy Labaoratory (NREL)

NREL is located in Golden, CO., about 15 minutes west of downtown Denver.  It is a Federally funded reserch, development, commercialization and deployment lab whose projects span the spectrum of renewable energy including wind, solar, biofuel, ocean, geothermal and hydro.  The photo to the right is the visitors center built using a Trombe wall to light and heat the building.  The photo below is of the Trombe wall interior.

 

 

 

 

Outside of the visitors center are several small demonstration solar panels and a portion of a wind turbine blade. The photo below is of a cross section of a wind turbine blade.  The visitors center is an educational tool to teach students and the public about renewable energy and where it comes from.

There are employment opportunities at NREL for qualified scientists, engineers, research technicians, project leaders, analysts and other professional people.  Also available are student internships and research participants.  The website has more details.