Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Trends: Green Mountain Energy to Power Empire State Building, GE Looking for Eco Home of the Future Ideas, Stion to Open Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant in Mississippi

In making a good business case for sustainability, the recently remodeled and now energy efficient Empire State Building has awarded Green Mountain Energy the contract to supply electricity to the building.  Green Mountain was the winning bidder among renewable and nonrenewable energy producers.  Green Mountain will supply the 2.85 million square foot building with approximately 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy each year for the next two years. 

In the next phase of their $200 million ecomagination challenge, General Electric and its partners are calling for the best ideas for the eco home of the future.  Beginning on January 18, 2011, entrepreneurs, technologists and start-ups are invited to submit their proposals to GE.  Five $100,000 award winners will be chosen by a panel of judges comprised of GE executives, academics and technologists.  Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2011.

San Jose, CA based Stion, with $75 million worth of aid from the state of Mississippi, will open a factory in Hattiesburg to manufacture high efficiency thin film panels.  Here is a link to their career page for engineering and operations openings.  Sunnyvale, CA based AQT will also be opening a solar panel factory in the southern U.S., their choice will be Richland County, South Carolina. 

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.

Green Career Tip - Navigating the Emotional Side of Your Green Job Search

Being in the midst of a job transition (or any transition) during the holiday season is always difficult. The world around you is abuzz with holiday cheer, and you’ve got bigger issues on your mind.

Though rarely discussed, there’s also an emotional side to any job search. This often hidden component of every job search has the potential to derail one’s job search. In this week’s article, I give you several tips to help you navigate your transition.

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.

Attract More Leads, Land More Interviews, and Get Hired!! Take Charge of Your Green Job Search – An Interactive Bootcamp to Move You into Action!

Join us for our latest offering - an interactive bootcamp to show you proactive strategies that enable you to Take Charge of your Green Job Search!

Participating in this course will speed up your efforts to find a job. You’ll feel engaged, energized, and motivated. Your expanded list of contacts will recognize your passion, commitment, and dedication to your chosen field. They will refer you to the resources, contacts, opportunities, and jobs that match your goal.

Here’s what you’ll get during the bootcamp:

• A new vision of what a proactive job search looks and feels like—the process is actually energizing!

• Proven tactics and strategies to:

• Create a vibrant network with ease
• Build ongoing relationships with new and old contacts with confidence
• Identify numerous opportunities to become active in your target industry
• Leverage each opportunity to demonstrate your value to those in your field
• Be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people to hear about targeted job openings
• Bite-sized assignments to move you into action immediately

• An easy-to-use playbook of scripts, templates, planning guides and check lists that give you the structure and guidance to be in action with your networking and job search activities

• Feedback on your initial efforts so you breakthrough any sense of confusion and uncertainty that’s kept you stuck in the past

The sooner you open up this flow of referrals, the sooner that new job will be yours!

Comments from Teleclass Participants

"The best information I've heard on properly using networking as a tool in pursuing a new career." Allen Gunderson

"I am recently unemployed and at the beginning of a challenging job search, The teleclass gave me a new approach to the task that now gives me more hope and focus."  

Terry Peck

"A great opportunity to discover or review all the tools in a Green Career Toolbox, and how to best use them. It takes a very proactive and practical approach to finding a job. So if you are in a slump and need to regain your momemtum, this is a unique chance to find techniques that you can start
using right away." PLR

As a special bonus, all participants will receive full access

to a virtual kick-off event THIS Friday, December 10th.

Join Us to Transform Your Job Search Results

4 Foolproof Strategies to Boost Your Job Search Results

Common wisdom may say that the holidays are the worst time to conduct your job search, but that isn't what we've seen. Discover the best ways to leverage your green job search during the holidays.

Join us for our last teleclass in a three-part series:

4 Foolproof Strategies to Boost Your Job Search Results

Job search tactics alone can only take you so far. To reach your goal, you must:

• Activate 3 specific strategies to avoid derailing your job search
• Do a reality check on the impression you are making
• Find out why setting goals hasn't worked for you in the past and how to turn that pattern around
• Learn one simple secret to revitalize your job search results

Call Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Call Time: 5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern
Call Duration: 1 hour

For more information and to register, click here.

Green Career Tip - Find Clues to Your Green Career in Family Lore and Traditions

While you are enjoying time with family and friends this season, you may find clues to your future green career woven into conversations about memories, traditions, and family lore. 

When I was ten, I created a diorama of a very elaborate recycling center. I don't recall the assignment, but I have fairly vivid memories of how the project worked. In fact it's one of the clearest memories I have from my childhood.

Today, my project doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary...but in 1970 the concept of a recycling center was just forming. How did I possibly come up with this idea? This week's article traces the roots of one of my green passions.

As you listen to family stories and share memories this holiday season, notice if you pick up any clues about how your family has interacted with the natural world through the generations.

5 Ways the Holidays Can Accelerate Your Job Search - A Free Teleclass

Common wisdom may say that the holidays are the worst time to conduct your job search, but that isn't what we've seen. Discover the best ways to leverage your green job search during the holidays.

Join us for our second teleclass in a three-part series:

Recharge Your Green Job Search! Strategies to Boost Your Results in December and Beyond.

• 4 holiday myths you no longer need to buy into.
• Find out how a simple shift in your mindset will open up new worlds for you!
• Determine if you are making the single biggest networking mistake of all.
• Gain 8 simple strategies you can put to use this holiday season to expand your web of connections.

Call Date: Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Call Time: 5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern
Call Duration: 1 hour

For more information and to register, click here.

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.

Green Career Trends: Wells Fargo Investing $100 Million in Solar Projects, OnGreen Offers Exchange, Urban Farming in Detroit

Wells Fargo announced they will be investing $100 million in photovoltaic solar projects throughout the US by the end of 2011.  GLC Energy Inc will develop the projects for schools, businesses and utilities.  In other solar news, the US Dept. of the Interior has approved a 500 MegaWatt project in the Nevada desert.

Combining social media with investors looking for green projects, OnGreen has created an exchange for companies looking for funding for their wind, solar, biofuel  bike sharing, and other projects.  OnGreen also has a job board. 

As the population of Detroit, MI continues to shrink, the number of vacant lots are increasing, opening up more areas to local food production.  Researchers at Michigan State University have studied the output possibilities and determined that using cultivation techniques and greenhouses to extend the growing season, these urban farms could produce as much as 75% of the fresh vegetables and 40% of the non-tropical fruit the residents need in a year.