Archive for the ‘Green Jobs’ Category

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Green Homes Save Money and Energy

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Building green homes has become popular in the past few years.  It is much more than a trend.  The increase of energy costs combined with the gloomy forecast for global warming has made it imperative to many to change the way we build our homes and commercial buildings.  The hallmark of green homes and commercial buildings is having lower than average levels of carbon emissions and environmental impact.

You can control the greenness of your building project in many ways.  Use recycled building materials.  Install low flow shower heads and toilets.  Use lumber that is not from old growth timber and has been tracked from the source.  Use super-efficient windows, doors and skylights with double or triple-panes and low E-coatings. Use carpets or flooring made from natural materials. Use low-odor paints. Recycle building debris. Buy locally made building materials where possible.

An important step in making a building project green is cutting the use of fossil fuels. Instead of installing traditional gas or oil heating and cooling systems, solar systems, geothermal, biomass and wind technologies will qualify for the energy tax credit. Either homeowner or builder can qualify for this credit.

One of the qualities of a green community is the use of mass transit and walkable communities where essential services and shopping are located within a short distance. The term LOHAS, lifestyles of the health and sustainability consumer, is one that refers to green communities where environmental sustainability is put into the mix with social and economic concerns.

On the financial side, besides the availability of the energy tax credit for renewable forms of heating and cooling, energy efficient mortgages (EEM) may also be available.  Green mortgages are available to home buyers who purchase green homes.  These mortgages are based on the energy savings in the home which is turned into income for the home owner. Consumers who qualify for a green mortgage may be able to purchase more home as a result of the savings.

Look for LEED accredited designers and builders when renovating your home to green building standards. It provides assurances that the architect or builder involved has studied green building practices and is qualified to meet the guidelines of the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED building certification program is a rating system for environmental sustainability. Buildings are rated on their energy efficiency and consumption, environmentally friendly features and the use of local supplies to cut transport costs and energy use to the job site.

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Renewable Energy Investment Leads to Green Jobs

Monday, September 28th, 2009

There is strong evidence that when federal and state governments invest in renewable energy, green jobs follow. The Clean Energy Finance Authority established under the Recovery Act has started to pump billions of dollars into renewable energy projects. Some of these funds helped to stave off closure of some renewable energy companies that found themselves in economic trouble during the recession. This saved jobs. The Recovery Act provided the energy sector with $43 billion, which funds only a small portion of the needs.

Federal Recovery Act funds have also invested in start-ups with new clean energy technologies. Solar Roadways of Sagle, Idaho, for example, recently received a $100,000 award to produce a test road made of solar panels. The road way will produce energy to heat homes and businesses, be heated to reduce the need for plowing and ice build up in the winter, and have LED lighting so that warning signs and road markings can be illuminated and can change with varying conditions. The roadway will replace traditional asphalt and so will save on oil based road products.

This is what SolarRoadways CEO, Scott Brusaw, estimates are the job impact of changing over America’s highways and parking lots to solar panels:

“Each Solar Road Panel™ measures 12 feet (about 4 meters) by 12 feet. Each panel contains solar collectors, energy storage devices, circuit boards, electronics parts, etc. All of these have to be assembled. Let’s say it take a minimum of 10 hours to completely assemble one Solar Road Panel™. I come from a manufacturing background and ten hours is probably a conservative estimate, but it’s a nice round number.
Five billion panels requiring 10 hours to assemble means 50 billion assembly hours. Let’s give ourselves ten years to accomplish this monumental task, leaving us 5 billion assembly hours per year. A typical U.S. worker spends 40 hours per week at work. Let’s give our worker two weeks vacation and say he never misses a day of work otherwise. That’s 50 weeks at 40 hours per week comes to 2000 work hours per year. Divide that into five billion assembly hours and you’d put 2,500,000 people to work full-time for ten years. This is just the final assembly!
We haven’t taken into account the increased jobs at the suppliers end. For instance, the glass maker has to create five billion sheets of special textured glass for the top layer. Someone has to create all of the circuit boards and what about all of increased jobs at the parts manufacturers? Each Solar Road Panel™ contains 6192 LEDs alone. Who will make all of these parts?
Then we must take into account installation, maintenance, system monitoring, panel refurbishing, distribution, etc. Every aspect of our economy will flourish.” (From its website at http://www.solarroadways.com/Economy.htm.)

Many states have jumped into clean energy funding authorities of their own to fund loans for homeowners to install renewable sources of energy and to assist utilities in gearing up for higher usage of renewable forms of energy.

In 2008 Oregon’s ODOT opened the first segment of solar highway. The project was constructed using funds from a public-private partnership and was built using the ingenuity of Oregon small businesses.

There has been energy funding efforts in a number of other states. The EPA indicates that by October 2008 23 states and the District of Columbia had public benefit funds for renewable energy. Since 2001 the EPA has also been partnering with state, local governments and private businesses to create cogeneration projects where heat and power (CHP projects) are combined in one power source such as geothermal. Some of the strategic partnership industries include wastewater and water treatment plants, utility companies, dry mill ethanol plants, and certain hotels and casinos.

In many cases job growth will not just be from direct implementation of renewable energy projects, but also indirectly. Savings from use of renewable energy sources can be reinvested in business growth, which, at least in non-recessionary times, usually leads to job growth.

For a further discussion of green jobs check out our comprehensive downloadable book, Green Jobs Guide.

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Green Jobs Directly Benefit Communities

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The U.S. Conference of Mayors commissioned a report in October 2008 entitled “Green Jobs in U.S. Metro Areas” which documented the impact that green jobs has had, and is projected to have, on the economies of many of the nation’s largest cities. This report, written by Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is one of the best pieces of documentary evidence of the effect green jobs have on cities that invest in renewable energy and carbon reduction.

Some of the benefits to the economy cited in this study are:

–Improvements to the balance of trade as we stop importing so much fossil fuel and start to export new energy efficient technologies;
–Improved tax rolls and sales as people gain stable employment in good green jobs;
–Carbon reductions that benefit city governments, homes and businesses in communities that concentrate on carbon reduction;
–Improvement in the air and water quality surrounding communities that choose to reduce emissions and the impact that these savings have cumulatively on the earth by reducing the rate of climate change.

As of 2006 the U.S. Conference of Mayors report estimated the following number of green jobs in these major metropolitan areas:

New York 25,021
Wash DC 24,287
Houston 21,250
Los Angeles 20,136
Boston 19,799
Chicago 16,120
Philadelphia 14,379
San Francisco 13,848
San Diego 11,663
Pittsburgh 9,627

There were around 751,000 green jobs in major job categories that are known for heavily investing in green jobs throughout the U.S. It was estimated that 85 percent of these jobs were in metropolitan areas.

There are many things cities can do to help green jobs flourish: giving incentives to new green businesses, requiring retrofitting of buildings and public transportation to improve energy efficiency, giving loans and grants to citizens to weatherize, building new efficient modes of mass transit, supporting green job training programs, requiring through building codes that new buildings meet LEED standards.

There is a ripple effect that then occurs. People who get trained for green collar jobs help their communities to become better weatherized and more energy efficient. This saves money which can then be reinvested in goods and services. As green collar workers help themselves with better incomes, that allows more people to buy homes and shop for more goods and services. This encourages people in the construction industry to build more homes and apartments and allows retail stores to expand and hire more workers. Communities grow and thrive while more energy efficient communities save money on fuel and contribute to a cleaner environment.

If the U.S. Conference of Mayors report is correct there will be enough additions to renewable power generation, energy efficiency and retrofitting, renewable transportation fuels, and indirect jobs related to these industries that 2.5 million green jobs will be created by 2018 and 4.5 million jobs by 2038. These are fairly conservative estimates compared to other studies. The report shows the estimates by metropolitan area and by industry for the 2006 to 2038 comparison of green jobs.

Green communities clearly create green jobs and these jobs contribute to healthier economies in the long run.

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Best Educational Fit for Environmental Engineering

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Over the last several days we have reviewed the best environmental engineering programs in U.S. universities at both the graduate and the undergraduate level by going inside the U.S. News and World Report best college picks and looking at the actual university websites. (See the reports on our site, EnvironmentalJobCenter.com.)

There are a number of general observations that we did not cover at the time, but would like to address now. Quite simply, there is no one specific best fit for environmental engineering among the sub-specialties of a university because environmental engineering relates to all of the applied sciences as well as the life sciences. We anticipate that as environmental engineering grows in popularity—and the evidence is strong that this will be one of the fastest growing technical degree programs available at most universities in the U.S. and Canada over the next 20 or 30 years—environmental engineering will find its own place as a separate, multi-disciplinary program at most large universities.

The most common alliance today in the largest and most renown programs is still between environmental and civil engineering, but we see a trend away from that combination in many universities to more multi-disciplinary departments with strong connections to the biological sciences through water conservation and hydrology programs, and alliances with entrepreneurial business centers that are looking to train tomorrow’s inventors and engineering innovators. It is small business that has kick-started the economy out of the last several recessions, and the Obama Administration is banking on renewable energy innovators and hybrid and electric vehicle designers to help do the same with this recession.

There is still a strong connection between civil environmental engineering because the built structures that civil engineers design produce a larger percentage of carbon emissions than other areas and energy reduction starts with the design and construction of the world’s roadways, bridges and buildings. Civil engineers are often the ones in charge of city, county and state public works departments and university facilities departments; their influence plays a huge role in the carbon emission standards set by policy and law.

In some environmental engineering programs electrical engineering is seen as one of the multidisciplinary links, particularly in programs that are strong in solar and other energy-related programs. Schools that emphasize invention and new technology design sometimes allign environmental and mechanical engineering, particularly in programs that are supportive of the automotive industry and renewable energy fields.

In universities where the emphasis is on the life sciences then a combined degree in environmental science and engineering is often offered. This may encompass water technologies, including hydrology, or may emphasize ecology, renewable energy resources, weather and the environment and the applied engineering technology that generates and harnesses these resources.

In every case, no matter how the top university engineering programs choose to organize their environmental engineering programs, there is recognition that the field requires extensive lab and field work in the life sciences and chemistry, as well as applied training in several fields of engineering. The particular combination of multidisciplinary fields will depend on the type of environmental work that is emphasized at the university and the needs of the student. The mix, and the choice of schools, may be different for someone wishing to go into hydrology to work after university in drinking and waste water management, than for someone who wants to build new lithium ion battery technologies for the auto industry.

As the demand for environmental engineering as a discipline grows, more separate degree programs will be offered in this highly multi-disciplinary and varied specialty field.

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How to Build Your Green Career and Find Sustainable Environmental Jobs

Friday, September 11th, 2009

In addition to a passion to save the earth, moving to a green economy with sustainable environmental jobs requires specialized education and training.  One of the first steps is to get involved is through an organization that promotes greener living (locally, nationally, or internationally.)  There are also many green post-secondary education opportunities such as accreditation and certification to add on to existing degrees and/or experience.  Additionally, community colleges, four year institutions, and graduate programs that specialize in environmental careers are generating in strength and numbers throughout the country.

One way to build your resume is to get starting through volunteerism.  Many of the environmental protection advocacy groups are understaffed.  Furthermore, since non-profits are staffed mainly or even entirely with volunteer labor they are the logical point of entry for your green career.  You will need to take initiative and get involved.   If there is a local office, go in person; earnestness often comes through better in a face to face meeting.  Notwithstanding, most environmental groups/agencies/affiliates have a website with a tab for “volunteers.”  Volunteer activities range from stuffing envelopes, attending fundraisers, helping build or maintain websites, to flood cleanup and active participation in work projects.

AmeriCorps, a subsidized volunteer program, received over $85 million under the Recovery Act to fund 10,000 new positions and extend existing positions.  Additionally, Job Corps and Youthbuild, two job programs specifically geared towards youth ages 16 to 24, have been given extra funding through the Recovery Act.  They will both play an important role in the extensive retrofitting and weatherization projects under the Recovery Act.

Another way to start the search for environmental jobs is to focus on training and accreditation programs.  You may acquire the training to take the certification tests either through separate training centers or online services, or in some cases they may be available in the process of getting a college degree in architecture or engineering. Some of the more common accreditations and certifications currently available for environmental careers are the LEED® accreditation through the U.S. Green Building Council, CEM® or Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers, and CRM® or Certified Carbon Reduction Manager, a program which is also managed through the Association of Energy Engineers.  Check with the USGBC or the AEE for more information about these programs.

LEED®, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification program that is designed to create and renovate sustainable buildings over the next generation.  Certification is awarded to sustainable buildings and accreditation awarded to individuals who train and pass exams to show how they would utilize strategies for sustainability in buildings.  The categories that are measured include site location, water efficiency, energy use and atmosphere control, etc., with bonus points given for regional priority.

CEM®, Certified Energy Manager, is conferred by the Association of Energy Engineers, AEE.  It is a certification process that requires completion of a training program, an exam, verification of background experience and/or educational requirements, and letters of reference.  Many companies and agencies globally require their energy professionals to attain CEM®.

CRM®, Certified Carbon Reduction Manager, is achievement certification specifically to those involved in carbon reduction programs, such as City Planners, Facility Planners etc.  There is a training program and an exam in addition to four year degree program graduation requirement in engineering, architecture, business or related fields or current CEM® certification.

Degree programs for two years, four year, and graduate levels for environmental jobs are becoming more common.  Community colleges have environmental science programs and mechanical, electrical, civil or environmental engineering programs that can be used to qualify as a green technician or used as a springboard into four year engineering degree.  Outside of skilled trades most green careers will require a four year degree and/or graduate level study.  US News and World Report lists annually the top 20 environmental programs, the best graduate level engineering schools as well as top of the line environmental law schools.  See the Green Research Council’s recent review of the top graduate and undergraduate engineering programs as listed by US News and World Report at our sister site, the EnvironmentalJobCenter.com.

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