The Green Jobcast, episode 10, is a short news segment with information about green jobs making headlines across the country. (download mp3) 3 minutes

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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said this week that she believes hiring in the alternative energy industry will pick up in the next year, but it will take longer than that for green jobs to become a bigger part of the U.S. job market.

Solis told The Associated Press that new government incentives will kick-start hiring in the fledgling industry as companies regain confidence and find it easier to borrow money.

Quote: “Once you start seeing more investments made in our economy recovering, as we stabilize and we get people back to work, then I think there’ll be more interest in expanding,” Solis said. “There’ll be more, hopefully, credit available for this expansion, because there will be more confidence because that’s what we’re lacking right now — that investment and confidence in the market.”

Prism Solar Technologies will receive $3.6 million in federal funding for them to create a spin-off company focused on developing a new form of photovoltaic technology here in the Hudson Valley.
Prism Solar Technologies, in Highland NY part of Ulster county, is a manufacturing partner of The Solar Energy Consortium and their spin-off company is expected to create around 300 jobs over the next three years as they manufacture and bring to market a flexible solar ribbon cell.

In Maryland, the CUMBERLAND Times News is reporting that a start-up wind company that has recently received federal stimulus funding, could have local people back to work by the holiday season.

John Congedo, president of AC~Wind, , told the Times-News Tuesday that AC~Wind has contracted with Brunswick Corp., parent company of Bayliner, to use its facilities in Cumberland and Salisbury. The two locations have the potential to employ a combined 700 people, Congedo said, with the Mexico Farms location expected to come online first.

The NY times is reporting that New Jersey will soon double their solar power output. PSE&G Solar, a subsidiary of the big New Jersey utility, has received the regulatory go-ahead to add 80 megawatts of solar capacity in its territory by the end of 2013, effectively doubling the amount of solar power in the state. That will maintain New Jersey’s position as the nation’s second-ranked state for solar photovoltaic installations, behind only California.

Of the 80 megawatts, half will be filled by 200,000 panels mounted atop utility poles. Each will provide 200 watts. These solar panels will look like the ones used to power emergency telephones by the sides of interstate highways. The installation will be the world’s largest in terms of pole-mounted solar units, according to the manufacturer, Petra Solar, which is based in New Jersey and will add 100 employees to the 40 working there now.

The Green Jobcast, episode 9, is a short news segment with information about green jobs making headlines across the country. (download mp3) 3 minutes

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First up… the sustainability field is one of the fastest growing green professions. Many organizations such as universities are adding these key roles to help reduce their carbon footprints and save energy. 2 such positions can be found on Jobs in Sustainability dot com…

INVISTA (Kennesaw, Georgia) is seeking a Global Sustainability Director

The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education (New York, New York) Sustainability Educator

Learn more about these jobs at www.jobsinsustainability.com

The NY Times is reporting that Following on the heels of a study from the Pew Charitable Trusts last week, two more reports from environmental groups and research institutes suggest that clean-energy investments have the potential to kick-start the economy and employ millions of workers — particularly those at the lower end of the economic scale.

In a statement accompanying the release of the two reports — one authored jointly by the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the UMASS – Amherst; the other by the institute, the green jobs advocacy group Green For All and the Natural Resources Defense Council —assert that a “$150 billion investment in clean energy could create a net increase of 1.7 million American jobs and significantly lower the national unemployment rate.” These job gains would be enough — on their own — to reduce the unemployment rate in today’s economy by about one full percentage point.

America’s largest wind power project is finally moving forward. The Alta Wind Energy Center project, located in California’s windy Tehachapi-Mojave region, is about 100 miles north of urban Los Angeles.

The wind farm is expected to eventually comprise 750 turbines spread over 50 square miles – that’s triple the size of any existing U.S. wind project. Eventually it will feed 3,000 MW of clean power into California’s power grid. The wind farm will supply the annual electrical energy needs of 375,000 to 500,000 American households and will create more than 500 construction jobs and 300 long-term wind related jobs.

Cooler Planet.com is reporting that Vermont is planning new solar energy resources

The Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) announced that a 50-kilowatt photovoltaic array had been approved by state officials to be built in the city of Rutland. The project is also expected to be helpful for local technical students, who will be well-positioned to learn trades that will help land green jobs.

“Combined with a local hydroelectric station, which sits just across the road, the solar project will provide a working classroom for students interested in how energy can be produced through clean, renewable sources,” said CVPS president Bob Young.

The project in Rutland is expected to have 265 photovoltaic panels, each about 3 by 5 feet wide and mounted on 33 arrays. Construction is set to begin this fall. According to CVPS, it is also working to research new biofuel resources as well as other solar sites and was also the first utility in the world to put wind power on the grid in 1941.

Next Green Jobcast: in 2 weeks

The Green Jobcast, episode 7, is a short news segment with information about green jobs making headlines across the country. (download mp3) 3 minutes

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A Connecticut non-profit, The WorkPlace is reporting that it has been awarded a competitive grant to provide job training to veterans to help them succeed in civilian careers, with an emphasis on “green jobs.”

The U.S. Department of Labor awarded them a $500,000 grant for one year; based on performance, the grant can be renewed for an additional two years, for a total of $1.5 million.

They will be serving veterans throughout two regions – Southwestern and South Central Connecticut – working with lead partner Workforce Alliance, the New Haven-based Workforce Investment Board. They’ll utilize the grant to help approximately 120 veterans pursue employment opportunities in such green jobs as weatherization technician, energy auditor, renewable energy technician, asbestos supervisor, and hazardous waste technician.

Efforts will be coordinated with the CT DOL Veterans programs and a network of referral sources. Training resources will include a growing number of specialized “green” occupational providers as well as expanded Community College curriculum.

RecyGrow is a company that will use green technologies to grow plant life from processed recycled materials. It plans to build a production facility and greenhouses in Janesville Illinois. Green roof technology will be their primary target market.

Construction on their home base doesn’t begin until March, but RecyGrow has already rented a greenhouse so they can begin some of their pilot projects. The company will be hiring 50 employees this spring, but that’s only the beginning…Marketing officer Darren Kennedy says…RecyGrow will be hiring for all skill levels this spring. In the short term RecyGrow will focus on products that help restore shorelines. Eventually they hope to provide products for green roofs and erosion control products, but they say it will take a few years for the company to navigate those areas.

BALTIMORE SUN: A Florida-based biofuel startup with a Baltimore laboratory announced a joint venture Monday to build a pilot plant in Texas for producing ethanol directly from blue-green algae. Algenol Biofuels said it has teamed up with Dow Chemical Company, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology and Membrane Technology and Research Inc. to construct a 100,000-gallon-a year “biorefinery” on 24 leased acres at a Dow plant in Freeport, Tex. The project is meant to test the economic feasibility of Algenol’s process of using carbon dioxide, salt water and sunlight to extract ethanol from cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae. With headquarters in Bonita Springs and a research facility in North Baltimore, the company also said it had applied for a $25 million federal economic-stimulus grant to help finance the project. Algenol CEO Paul Woods said the privately held company plans to invest $25 million in the project, which it expects to create or save more than 300 jobs.

US Solar Jobs Map: The Solar Energy Research Education Foundation (SEREF) has produced maps illustrating the growth of jobs likely to result from growth in the solar energy industry for the US. They got help from Google Earth Outreach andGoogle.org to produce the maps using Google Earth technology. The maps show over 400,000 new jobs due to solar energy industry growth by the year 2016. You can view the map using the GE plugin at http://www.seref.us/solarjobsmap.html

The Green Jobcast, episode 6, is a short news segment with information about green jobs making headlines across the country. (download mp3) 3 minutes

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First up…it urns out that Green jobs account for 3 percent of Oregon’s workforce, the Oregon Employment Department said in a report released this week. The report, based on a survey of employers, found 51,402 green jobs in Oregon in 2008, spread across 226 occupations.

The job types came in fields such as energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental cleanup and restoration. The 5 occupations with the most green jobs were carpenters, farmworkers, truck drivers, hazardous materials removal workers, and landscaping and groundskeeping workers. Together these workers represented 27 percent of Oregon’s green jobs.

In Sacramento, California – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the recipients for 11 new regional California Green Job Corps pilot programs throughout the state. The Participants are 1,500 at-risk young adults aged 16-24. They will receive career training in energy/utilities efficiency and sustainability, green construction, green waste, agricultural and natural resources, solar power and alternative automotive fuel.

According to the San Franciso Business Times: A California-based company has been allocated five megawatts of low-cost hydropower to encourage the construction and operation of a $200 million solar panel manufacturing plant in western New York state.

The new facility for Sunworks Solar LLC would create an estimated 175 permanent clean-energy jobs and 300 construction jobs. The location of the operation has not been determined yet. The facility will manufacture ready-to-deploy solar panels for commercial, government and utility solar markets.

The Idahostatesman in Boise is reporting that – Exergy Development Group will begin this summer to build 14 wind parks across southern Idaho – in Elmore, Cassia, Lincoln and Bingham counties – the parks will produce 228 megawatts of electricity and put Idaho in the top 20 states for wind power. The Boise company says it will create 275 jobs in seven months of construction and 22 permanent positions in the largest wind development project to date in the state. The new wind parks will produce enough electricity to power about 60,000 homes.

Continental Wind Power plans to build its first U.S. wind turbine manufacturing and development center in Santa Paula. Discussions have been going on since last fall about locating the manufacturing plant in Santa Paula, which could benefit from as many as 500 new jobs.

Founded in 2007, Continental Wind Power builds and installs midsized wind turbines for large power consumers such as factories, farms and county and city governments. It plans to begin producing turbines in 2010.

Finally, Cornell University will step into the search for alternative fuel. Leaders and professors from the school cut the ribbon on the new $6 million Biofuels Research Laboratory. The lab will be used to study and research ways to convert non-food crops such as sugars from grasses and wood into fuel.

The Green Jobcast, is a short news segment with information about green jobs making headlines across the country. Transcript below. (download mp3)

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Research by The Pew Charitable Trusts shows that despite a lack of sustained policy attention and investment, the emerging clean energy economy has grown considerably—extending to all 50 states, engaging a wide variety of workers and generating new industries. Between 1998 and 2007, its jobs grew at a faster rate than overall jobs.

By 2007, more than 68,200 businesses across all 50 states and the District of Columbia accounted for about 770,000 jobs that achieve the double bottom line of economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Pew’s research shows that between 1998 and 2007, clean energy economy jobs—a mix of whiteand blue-collar positions, from scientists and engineers to electricians, machinists and teachers—grew by 9.1 percent, while total jobs grew by only 3.7 percent.
Learn more at Pewtrusts.org

To secure its future, Toledo OHIO, once known as the Glass City, is now turning those skills — and that tradition — to the sun. New solar energy-related businesses are taking hold in what city officials and local executives hope it will become Ohio’s “solar valley.”

“We didn’t envision there would be some bailout of Toledo, so we had to do it ourselves,” said Norm Johnston, CEO of Solar Fields, a solar startup company. “We want to move from being the ‘rust belt’ to being the ‘renewable energy belt.’”

Solar Fields is is one of dozens of new companies in Toledo that now make rivers of glass into solar cells, panels and coatings.

A new wind farm has gone online in Mt Storm West Virginia, the farm, located on Allegheny Front along state Route 42, is the largest wind farm in the eastern United States. Officials said it generates up to 264 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to serve approximately 66,000 homes and businesses. Approximately 200 construction jobs were created and approximately 50 “highly skilled new jobs” will stay in the area. The NedPower Mt. Storm Wind Farm is co-owned, by Dominion Generation and Shell WindEnergy …

Southern California Edison has been granted approval by the California Public Utilities Commission to install solar panels on unused commercial rooftops across Southern California.
During the next five years Edison will install, own and operate 150 solar panels that will generate 250 megawatts of power.

Edison was also granted the ability to solicit other solar-power companies to install similar panel arrays and sell the power back to Edison, up to an additional 250 megawatts.

Edison says the 500 total megawatts makes the project “the largest photovoltaic program ever undertaken.”
“The program will create hundreds of neighborhood solar power plants, strengthen local grid reliability and produce hundreds of new green jobs to bolster Southern California’s economic recovery,” Edison International Chairman and CEO Theodore F. Craver Jr., said in a statement.