Over the last eight years, green construction has created 2.4 million jobs and contributed $173 billion to the US economy. It is estimated that in the next four years, despite an unstable economy, both numbers will more than triple, according to a new study from the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton.

The study reports that green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs, adding $554 billion into the American economy, including $396 billion in wages.

“The study demonstrates that investing in green buildings contributes significantly to our nation’s wealth while creating jobs in a range of occupations, from carpenters to cost estimators,” said Gary Rahl, Officer, Global Government Market, Booz Allen Hamilton.

The report was released this week at USGBC’s annual GreenBuild International Conference & Expo. “Our goal is for the phrase ‘green building’ to become obsolete, by making all building and retrofits green – and transforming every job in our industry into a green job,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC in a statement. “This study validates the work that the 25,000 people gathered here at Greenbuild, and every member of our movement, do every day.”

The report factored in everyone involved in green construction from the design architects, to the laborers, and even the truck drivers that deliver the materials.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, (Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Not every abandoned automobile manufacturing plant is doomed to a future of dust, rust and general obsolescence. Thanks to a creative deal between Ford Motor Co., the state of Michigan, and a pair of energy concerns, a shuttered facility near Detroit soon will be cranking out renewable energy and creating new jobs for the region.

Xtreme Power of Austin,Texas and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif., reportedly will pay $725 million for the former auto plant in Wixom, Mich. The plan is to use about half of the 4.7 million square feet to manufacture battery-based energy storage systems and high efficiency solar panels. The new owners hope to find other green companies to fill the remaining space.

In its heyday, the Wixom plant employed about 5,000 auto workers and produced about 6.6 million cars over more than five decades. The workforce had dwindled to about 1,000 before the the facility shut down in 2007. It has been maintained by a skeleton crew ever since.

“The Wixom Assembly Plant served Ford well for half a century and we wanted to ensure it served Michigan well into the future,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. “Thanks to the collaborative efforts of two visionary energy companies and the leadership of state and local officials, we are transforming our Wixom facility into one of the largest renewable energy parks in the United States. I can’t imagine a better way to use this facility – for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.”

New ownership expects to begin refitting the plant in the first quarter of 2010, with full operations targeted for late 2011. In time, the project could provide up to 4,000 new jobs in the area, not including positions created indirectly.

State and local tax credits and incentives helped facilitate the deal. Gov. Jennifer Granholm insists the money will be well spent.

“It’s a great example of the Phoenix rising from the ashes, and it’s all part of our strategic plan to diversity Michigan’s economy,” she said.

Clairvoyant Energy already has announced plans to build up to 2.5 million solar panels a year at the Wixom site. That output alone, the company says, could replace the need for one large coal-fired power plant.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Lyanne Melendez

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KGO) — Green technology is sparking hope that could help pull California out of a recession. On Friday, the governor visited a synthetic biology company in South San Francisco. But will the so-called “green jobs” really drive the economy? >> Read the full story

At first, I was confused about the resignation of Van Jones, a man so well-suited to his post as the White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs that his tenure should have been long and fruitful. Here was a man who’d founded a human rights organization championing the underprivileged, and then another group, Green for All, that pioneered the idea of re-engaging the working class in progressive new fields of employment like green building and alternative energy. He literally wrote the book on green-collar jobs, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Solve Our Two Biggest Problems (Harper One 2008) before most people had heard the phrase green collar jobs.

Hearing the news of his resignation over the weekend, I consulted the website of Green for All, the Oakland-based project he co-founded and ran before accepting the White House appointment. GFA expressed sadness and obliquely referred to “the buzz and speculation surrounding this news.”

Clearly, this was a murky issue, and Green For All wanted to avoid the mud.

Once I figured out that Jones had been heckled out of his job by right-wing ideologue, Fox News TV commentator and Supreme Heckler Glenn Beck, I knew there had to be lots more to read.

Chris Kelly had a wickedly blunt column on Huffington Post (though it preceded Jones’ resignation and was mostly about Meg Whitman) that drilled right to the core. He concluded that Jones had come under right-wing fire because he was black and a Marxist. “You might even call him a black Marxist. Because of how black he is. And because he’s a Marxist.”

As more news emerged, it became obvious that race was central. Beck had attacked Jones in retaliation for a boycott of his show led by Color of Change, an African-American advocacy group co-founded by Jones and James Rucker. The group was angered when Beck called President Obama a racist.

Ariana Huffington came on board today with a column thanking Glenn Beck for returning Van Jones to the public sector, where he can be more effective anyway: “Van Jones is a thoughtful leader who knows how to use words to move people to action,” she said. “…Now, thanks to Glenn Beck, we’ve got that voice back. No longer tied to his desk with a sock in his mouth, Van is now freed to do what he does best: inspire and energize groups around the country.”

There’s a scary thought, a black man on the loose inspiring the country. Next thing you know he’ll be wanting to speak to our youth about personal responsibility, fortitude and striving to do well in school.

Speaking of voices. Beck, Kelly and Huffington are all notably partisan, albeit at different political poles.

Which makes me wonder what moderate regular folks think? Could it be that most Americans, stressed by health care, job losses, real estate issues and the continuing war in the Middle East, simply see all this yammering as a missed turn in the road to getting things done? (That is, if they’re aware of it at all.)

For the majority of us who reside outside the political fray, this resignation is simply unfortunate because we need a strong leader guiding us toward more sustainable ways, especially here in the US where we gobble an amazing 40 percent of the world’s resources. We need to transition to new energy sources, green building and efficient business operations that can steer us clear of climate change catastrophes. These changes can and will provide economic renewal in the form of green jobs. That’s not just a hope. Green changes are already happening on a micro-scale, in wind turbine plants, on organic farms, at solar plants and electric car facilities.

The high-level post at the fulcrum of the action is so pivotal, and yet so vulnerable.

On hindsight, anyone serving as the green jobs chief was likely to be skewered in a country that still debates whether global warming exists… and is caused by carbon emissions from human enterprises.

Now we need someone who will help bring us together. Someone who can talk to us about personal responsibility.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The New York Botanical Garden, historically green by nature, is helping New Yorkers cultivate ever greener ways. This summer it is featuring “edible evenings,” a celebration of home-grown food with tips from chefs and help for getting kids involved in gardening.

The eco-outreach will continue during the Garden’s Fall Open House on Sept. 12, which will feature a day (from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)  of lectures, demonstrations and classes in botanical art, botany, floral design, landscaping and horticulture and horticultural therapy

Green classes will continue throughout the year with these offerings:

• Growing Green with Roses, 3 Thursdays starting September 24

• Organic Greenhouse Methods, 3 Saturdays held in November

• Organic Gardening and Ecological Landscaping: The Natural Approach, 6 Wednesdays starting January 6, 2010

• Does “Organic” Really Work?, January 19, 2010

• Environmentally Safe Lawn Care, March 10, 2010

• Native Plants Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Open House also will feature career talks for those who are interested in learning more about landscape design, horticultural therapy, or horticulture. To find out more how the Garden’s Continuing Education program can help people find careers in these industries, see the website or call 800.322.6924.

There’s a new wind whirly-gig on the block. You may not recognize him. Unlike those tall towers with outstretched airplane-style propellers, this new guy has a compact stance, a whole new look. Arms tucked in, he whirs more slowly and congregates with just a few others to power a building at time.

This wind power generator, called a vertical axis wind turbine, can be puzzling. Looking at one, it’s difficult to fathom how it works, though it simply uses a different aerodynamic concept than its propeller cousins, catching up winds that come from different directions bouncing along closer to the ground. The idea has actually been around for at least 2,000 years “but it’s just never been made to work very well,” says Michael Hess, CEO of Mariah Power.

Hess and company say they’re changing that. Using technology and metals (lightweight aluminum and steel) that weren’t available to the ancients who first tried the design, and correcting issues that afflicted more recent incarnations,  they’re taking the vertical axis to a new level of efficiency, says Hess, whose Reno, Nevada-based company is one of a handful of vertical wind turbine manufacturers.

“People had made them out of plastic and fiberglass before but that made them wear out, so we use metal (and) we solve the problems of stress and rust…,” he said. “We have to have a very straight pole, for instance, otherwise you have vibrations and movement. It’s straight within 1/16 of an inch over 20 feet.”

The result is Mariah’s “Windspire” – a spare-looking whizzy that stands just 30 feet tall and is only four feet across, making it readily available for single-site use by homes, small businesses and commercial buildings.

It doesn’t produce power at the same rate as those towering edifices on the prairie, because it operates differently and doesn’t ply the faster winds at higher altitudes. But given sufficient ground-level winds, each one can cover about 20 to 30 percent of a home’s energy needs. Specifically, the 1.2 kilowatt Windspire will produce approximately 2000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year in 12 mph average winds, according to the manufacturer. (The annual consumption of the average American home is about 8,700 kw.)

And it does this for a realistic price. A standard Windspire is $6,500 – or about $4,550 after a federal tax credit for 30 percent of the cost.

Or even less, if your state also offers a clean energy tax incentive that can be used for small wind on top of the federal credit.

There are about 200 Windspires on the ground or set to be installed in residential, commercial and university settings, says Hess. Some, like the one installed at the NC Solar Center of NC State in Raleigh, are demonstration projects.

Others are empowering homes and small facilities in scattered locations across the country.

Last week, the Obama Administration announced a new youth-jobs program designed to simultaneously boost the country’s economy and ecology: a promising, if labyrinthine, new agency called the Office of Youth in Natural Resources (OYNR), which falls under the Department of the Interior. The OYNR debuts with a program, the 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps, patterned after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930’s (but not expected to create the 3 million jobs CCC did).

The timing couldn’t be better. The White House has been increasingly criticized for the slowness with which ‘Stimulus Act’ money has resulted in actual shovel-ready jobs. Putting kids to work is a great way to counter the criticism.

According to DOI spokeswoman Joan Moody, “the 21st Youth Conservation Corps will be the signature program for the Office of Youth in Natural Resources, which will also coordinate a number of existing programs. This summer, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus funds), 5,000 additional jobs for youth are in the process of being added to the 10,000 existing youth jobs.”

The country’s ‘youth’ is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as between the ages of 16 and 24. However, Moody said the agency and its star pupil, the 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps (let’s call it 21CYCC), have not yet decided what ages will be eligible for the jobs.

Moody said the new OYNR is also hiring a director and several career staff positions (listed on USA Jobs), and these staffers will help to shape the nature of the youth corps as it evolves. The overall plan is for the corps to put approximately 70,000 to 100,000 young people to work each year on public lands. These are ultimately funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009.

“The reason we call the jobs ‘green’ is that they will involve performing conservation and rehabilitation work in national parks, wildlife refuges, public lands, on Indian reservations and in other ‘green’ areas.  Many of the projects on which the 5,000 new jobs will be, include trail building and maintenance, other deferred maintenance projects and assisting in habitat restoration and other land and wildlife conservation programs of the department.

“As just one small example, ten high school and college students have been hired by the U.S. Geological Survey (a DOI bureau) at The Bird Banding Laboratory of Patuxent Wildlife Refuge in Maryland,” Moody told GreenRightNow. “The lab has been the main storehouse of scientific data on the banding and subsequent encounters (recoveries) of birds for all of North America for over 100 years.  The students will be working on getting 700 boxes of older data ready for scanning so they will be available for digital access. These data on migration and other matters are quite important for conservation and regulation purposes.”

Last summer, youth unemployment was up to 13.5 percent, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said last week during the OYNR announcement – the highest rate for July since 1992. But, he said, “jobs are not the only reason for such a program. …When President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, he said, ‘More important than material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work.’”

Another element of the OYNR -besides coordinating youth programs across agency lines – is encouraging girls and women to get involved in careers that traditionally have lured boys and men by a substantial margin. Thus the White House Council on Women and Girls is also closely involved, the Council’s chair, Valerie Jarrett, said last week.

Though all federal agencies, departments and bureaus are working together to come up with jobs -beginning now – each will have its particular slant. For instance, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will “be engaging youth through their workforce training programs where participants will receive job skills in the construction trades,” Moody explained.

“The Bureau of Reclamation will engage youth on some of their infrastructure reliability and safety projects, primarily in the  areas of retrofitting of existing facilities to provide ADA accessibility and maintenance activities,” she said.  “The Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service, Fisheries and Wildlife Service and others are engaging youth in trails maintenance – whether the trails be on the Appalachian Trail or in the middle of Boston Harbor – habitat restoration and deferred maintenance projects. The United States Geological Survey will use interns to assist in their volcano monitoring, earthquake monitoring and data preservation activities.”

In addition, 107 national parks are adding Stimulus-Act related jobs over the coming months. For more information, check out the DOI Recovery Site.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Massachusetts has been pledged $25 million in federal stimulus money to move ahead on the state’s Wind Technology Testing Center, according to an announcement today by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

The infusion of cash is expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the Charlestown area, the site of the planned testing center, which will test commercial wind turbine blades to try to reduce their cost, improve efficiency and get the next generation of blades to market quickly. The Autoport facility will be able to study the longest wind turbine blades, a capability currently only available in Europe.

The money is in keeping with Obama’s plan to make sure the U.S. leads the world in capturing clean energy jobs, said Secretary Chu, on site for the announcement.

“As the world moves toward a significant expansion in wind power, the test blade facility will help make sure that the best, most efficient wind turbines are built right here in America,” Chu said. “Not only will it create jobs and help us achieve energy independence, it will mean cleaner air, cleaner water, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”

Governor Patrick expressed his pleasure that Massachusetts would be at the center of wind development, noting that: “Testing the next generation of wind turbines here will make Massachusetts a hub for the fastest-growing energy source in the world.”

Massachusetts was chosen as the site for the facility in June 2007, when the Department of Energy pledged $2 million for the project. The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust has committed $13.2 million in grants and loans for design and development expenses.

The money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act puts the project on a pace in which construction can begin in September and be completed by 2010. Four Massachusetts companies and the University of Massachusetts also received seed money to address specific challenges facing the industry. The university, for instance, will get $252,687 to develop courses pertaining to offshore wind development.

(Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy)

What I do:

Our company specializes in cleaning parking decks and surface lots using a pressure washing system that reclaims and reuses about 95 percent of the water. The ride-on pressure washer isn’t hooked up to a water source.

How it helps:

A typical pressure washer will use 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water during a four-hour job and all that water will pour down the drains of the parking decks with dirt and oil.
The Cyclone System we use captures all of these pollutants, keeps them from going down the drains and saves a tremendous amount of precious water in the whole process. Cleaning one parking deck might take 40 hours, so, when you do the math, our company is using about 2,400 gallons while other companies might have to use as much as 40,000 gallons.

How I got here:

Our company was a subsidiary of a large parking company. When the parking company told me they wanted to shut down the operation, I bought the company in January.
Working for the parking company taught me how to take care of a client and how the appearance of a garage is a key to the success of a parking garage. If people are not comfortable parking in a garage because of its cleanliness, they will find somewhere else to park.

Where I’m going:

Since Georgia is in a drought scenario, the Cyclone is the perfect answer to my industry’s needs. There is a lot of concrete out there that needs to be cleaned and water is a sacred commodity. This is the best answer to take care of both.

How I’m doing:

We’re ahead of projections and strongly believe our prospects are extremely bright. We can be green at less cost to the client.

Advice:

Going green is a good way to look out for the client’s needs and gives you an edge in the market place.

What I do:

I am a solutions specialist for the automotive dealer industry. Our company sells and services most “means of entry” on commercial buildings in Northern Illinois. We sell and service anything from overhead doors to pedestrian doors to safety equipment. Specifically for the automotive industry, we can provide advanced technology in access control and high speed performance doors that cut down on energy bills. Our company has solutions for other businesses as well. I assist automotive dealers to “go green” by replacing their traditional doors with new high speed doors.

How it helps:

Automotive dealer doors open and close more than any other door in any industry. Many dealers have doors that open and close over 250 times per day. In the winter or summer, energy bills are a huge expense for automotive dealers due to extreme interior heat loss and exterior air infiltration.

We supply Rytec High Performance doors that can deliver energy savings up to 40% and have a return on investment (”ROI”) of less than 2 years. Compared to regular doors, Rytec doors open 10 times faster and are rated for over one million cycles. The door creates a minimal heat exchange and is also LEED/Energy Star rated.

Where I’m going:

I am looking to create partnerships with all of the Chicago-land automotive groups. We want to survey every new and existing dealership to offer the owners energy savings solutions to minimize maintenance costs and slash energy bills. Much like regularly changing oil in your car for the long term benefit, we would like to see automotive groups sign up for preventative maintenance plans. Annual or bi-annual visits to lubricate, balance, and inspect equipment eliminates costly expenses for repairs by discovering before they happen.

How I’m doing:

We have currently installed high speed doors for the Patrick, Dan Wolf, and Autobarn automotive groups. As we increase our presence in the industry and expand our formal marketing campaign, we look forward to installing this green product in many more dealerships.

Advice:

With everyone feeling the impacts of today’s economy we believe now is the time for replacing high maintenance, energy wasting doors with new high speed doors specifically designed for the automobile industry. There is no better time than right now to cut costs for your business. While layoffs and cutting hours is one way, energy bills are a major issue and a great way to save significant money and help the environment. In the effort to help with start up costs, we have the ability to lease the doors to auto dealers for a low monthly payment. In the majority of cases, the energy savings or monthly maintenance allowance can cover the payment.

(Witek adds that you can contact American Door and Dock for a free “Energy Savings Analysis.”)

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The first full day of hearings on that proposed law known as Waxman-Markey, which would promote clean energy, foster green jobs and set up a system to curb greenhouse gas emissions, began — fittingly — on Earth Day.

But how do we make sense of this sweeping piece of legislation that affects everything from the air you breathe to the refrigerator you use? You could watch the hearings on C-Span over the next few weeks. (If you are unemployed, have all day long to plop in front of the tube and can remain alert for extended periods while people discuss abstractions like “carbon allowances” and “international offsets” this might be for you!)

Or you could read the bill. It is 648 pages. But as we learned from the recent stimulus escapades, even people in Congress don’t read these things.

So let’s stick to the executive summary of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. It is five pages long. For serious climate watchers, politicos, green collar workers and would-be Earth advocates, scanning this document is not a bad idea.

Fortunately we’re not the only ones trying to find ways to make this incredibly complex matter digestible. The EPA is on the job. The agency that would regulate and guide many of the directives in Waxman-Markey, should it pass, has put out an analysis of how it would help grow the economy and boost personal income while transforming the U.S. energy landscape and curtailing carbon emissions. (Though we’re back up to nine pages on this one.)

The EPA review — done at the request of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) — looked mainly at how emissions reductions and cap-and-trade guidelines would affect the economy (Title III in the Act.). It found that the W-M bill would:

• Make it more economical to invest in energy efficient manufacturing, housing and transportation, which would reduce energy consumption, delaying until mid-century the consumption levels we’d otherwise reach by 2015.

• Grow renewable energy; push forward new technology for coal production, bringing coal carbon capture and storage online in 2015.

• Its cap-and-trade provisions would result in carbon costs of about $13-$17 per metric ton in 2015, rising to $17-$22 by 2020 – propelling the development of cleaner alternatives.

• More clean energy would offset the need for increased petroleum use (a major security issue), keeping it nearly static through 2050. (Which tells you a bit about where the opposition to W-M will come from.)

The EPA report says a lot more. But it’s as thick as Ulysses. It needs deciphering. The Natural Resources Defense Council is trying, having asked its chief economist to analyze the EPA’s analysis (only in Washington).

Laurie Johnson, chief economist for the NRDC, looked at what the EPA was (trying) to say about household income under Waxman-Markey and found that:

• Households will become 18-19 percent richer between 2010 and 2020, and 36-40 percent by 2030. By contrast, the investment of the average household in the bill would only be $98 to $140 a year.

Takeaway: The Congressional prescription for global warming and our ailing economy won’t cost us too much net-net, and could even make us better off. If all goes well.

Take it with a grain of salt. And stay tuned.

(The NRDC has other decipherers. See David Doniger’s blog “First Read” of the Waxman-Markey Energy and Climate Discussion Draft. This excellent piece breaks the Act down into its significant parts.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

What I do:

I manage environmental strategy for NextEra Energy Resources, the largest producer of wind and solar energy in the US.  I work with experts in all different parts of the company, as well as outside the company, to develop strategies to keep our projects green, in every way, every day. One of my biggest projects right now is working with Oxford and Texas Christian University to address some of the most critical environmental issues related to renewables.

How it Helps:

NextEra Energy’s goal is to manage renewable power projects that not only decrease our environmental footprint, but also contribute to the ecological community.  How can our power projects provide a haven for endangered species?  What kind of protection do we provide for a watershed?  How can the surrounding community benefit from a wind project?  We are working to understand and optimize these effects.

How I got here:

My interest in sustainable power and water supply, a background in physics and hydrogeology, and a desire to be part of the solution brought me to NextEra Energy. Prior to working at NextEra Energy, I served as Policy Director at the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a nonprofit conservation organization that worked hard to inject science and common sense into public policy.  I loved that job.  It helped me appreciate the need for innovative solutions to energy production to preserve clean air and water for ourselves, our ecosystem as a whole, and our children.

Where I am going:

I thrive on innovation, working with a team, and making a difference. I am also addicted to the energy sector; it is such a hot space, and there is a huge need for not only solving problems, but technologies that prevent problems, so that is where I will be.

How I am doing:

I am excited about the Obama administration’s commitment to renewable energy, and I am grateful to be at a company that is number one in harnessing wind and solar power.  I also have a boss and a team who are smart and supportive.  Life is good!

Advice:

Know your strengths, and follow your passion. If you love what you do, your work, and each day, will be a joy.  Also, understand the kind of work environment that suits you best. Organizations have their own unique personalities, and sometimes departments within an organization have distinctly different personalities.  Research.  When I came to NextEra Energy, I talked to almost two dozen people: current and past employees, and other people who interfaced with the company.  I started the job with a good understanding of the company profile and how I could add value.

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