Green Career Central Blog

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.   

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.

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. 

Follow the Green Money: Multiple Solar Companies Receive Funding, Encelium Raises $11 Million, Elevance Renewables Receives $100 Million, Zip Car Gets $21 Million

December was a busy month for some green companies and the venture capitalists who funded them.  In the coming weeks, SolFocus, a Mountain View, CA based concentrated photovoltaic solar company, will receive $50 million from venture capitalists.  The total amount of venture capital raised by SolFocus is estimated to be more than $190 million. Some other solar companies recently receiving funding were, Abound Solar and 1366 Technologies.

Teaneck, New Jersey based Encelium, a provider of lighting energy management for commercial buildings, has raised $11 million from venture capitalists.  Elevance Renewable Sciences, raised $100 million in funding.  Elevance uses natural oils to create specialty chemicals for personal care products, lubricants, fuels and additives markets.

Zip Car, a car sharing service company based in Cambridge, MA, has raised $21 million from venture capitalists.  Zip Car provides cars to members who reserve them in advance on a pay as you go basis.

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.

Follow the Green Money: SolFocus Receives $20 Million, CoolPlanet BioFuels Raises $8 Million, Nlyte Software Receives $12 Million

Based in Mountain View, CA, SolFocus has raised $20 million from venture capitalists to continue to manufacture and install concentrated solar photovoltaics.  SolFocus has installed their panels on solar farms in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and islands in the Pacific. 

CoolPlanet BioFuels, a developer of technology that takes low grade biomass and turns it into biofuel, has received $8 million in funding from venture capitalists.  Based in Camarillo, CA., they have career positions available. 

Nlyte Software has received $12 million to continue to develop and market its data center infrastructure management software product.  The Menlo Park, CA  based company also has an office in London, UK.

Follow the Green Money: DOE Awards $19 Million to Five Smart Grid Projects, Sage Electronics Receives $80 Million Investment, Borrego Solar Gets Funding for $36 Million Worth of Solar Projects

The Department of Energy has awarded five projects a total of $19 million to make changes to the energy grid.  Those project receiving funding are:  Areva T&D, Inc., Boeing Company, ABB Inc., Varentec Inc., On-Ramp Wireless, Inc.  The changes will turn the current grid into a Smart Grid by increasing efficiency, reliability, and responsiveness.

Based in France, window manufacturer Saint-Gobain has invested $80 million in Sage Electronics, a US maker of electrochromatic windows.  These windows are chemically treated to allow them to lighten or darken depending upon what building managers would like them to do.  Countries in Europe have been considering adding regulations to buildings that would require them to block sunlight to control air conditioning and reduce energy usage.

Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with offices in Berkeley, CA and Boston, MA, Borrego Solar has received funding from investors to install commercial and public sector solar power projects worth an estimated $36 million.  Here is a link to their careers page.