Tag Archives: clean energy jobs

Explosive Growth on the Horizon for African Renewable Energy Market

Currently, California, USA is the hotspot for renewable energy development worldwide, with more open solar and wind projects in this small region than anywhere else in the world. However, experts expect this to change very soon and Africa is expected to be one of the most important new regions for renewable energy production.

Up until now, Africa has been by and large left out of the renewable energy race despite prevailing weather conditions and geography that would seem to lend it perfectly to different types of renewables, particularly solar. In addition, the lack of a centralized grid system over much of the continent also lends itself to stand-alone renewable power generation as an avenue for individuals and communities who are in need of energy solutions to produce electricity in the long term while avoiding the high fuel costs and upkeep of traditional fossil-fuel systems. Continue reading

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US Voters Warm Up to Renewable Energy

It’s election season once again. One of the most important times of the year, where we get to decide the direction that our country is moving in. It looks like elections this year will hold good news for renewable energy. In a recent poll of voters conducted by Public Policy Polling for the NRDC Action Fund it was found that the majority of voters were in support of an energy bill with strong ties to renewable sources. The poll was conducted in 23 congressional districts and concluded that at least 52% of voters in these districts would be more inclined to support a candidate whose platform included energy policy that would cut pollution and reduce the effects of climate change.

This is good news for the booming renewable energy sector. Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already gotten the ball rolling by supporting renewable energy projects in the United States. Continued legislation in favor of renewables will only further cement the progress that has been made in the past 3 years. Continue reading

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ON LINE – Nevada’s Southwest Intertie Project: How it Demonstrates Commitment to Renewable Green Energy

The town of Apex, Nevada is normally just the location of the Apex Regional Landfill (the largest landfill in the state of Nevada), a small relief power station that comes online when nearby Las Vegas is overloading the grid and not much else. However last week brought red-letter days for this dusty, nondescript stretch of Hwy 93 situated just northeast of the city of lights. The One Nevada Transmission Line or “ON Line” (so clever!) project commencement was hosted at NV Energy’s [NASDAQ: NVE] Harry Allen Generating Station campus on Tuesday. It was a fairly star-studded event with U.S. Energy Secretary Ken Salazar and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both in attendance, alongside a veritable who’s who of Nevada’s energy-industry brass to witness the beginning of a project that is being billed as a significant breakthrough in the support of renewable power and a major source of green collar jobs, as well as being symbolic of the new direction the state of Nevada is taking towards energy policy through the strong support of renewables.

The One Nevada transmission line consists of a 500 kilovolt power conduit that will cover the entire length of the state of Nevada running north-south. It will eventually be extended as far north as Idaho. The portion of the line that will be completed in this first phase consists of a 235-mile line extending from the Harry Allen site to a new electrical substation that will be constructed northwest of the town of Ely, Nevada. The projected price tag for the project will top $510 million. Continue reading

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Controversial Waste-Burning Renewable Energy Powerplant Moves Forward in Baltimore’s Fairfield Neighborhood

At the site of a former agricultural chemical processing facility in south Baltimore Maryland, Energy Answers of Albany, N.Y. is working on a different kind of renewable energy electrical generation facility. The power source? Trash. That’s right, garbage – the company hopes to take refuse off the curb and bring it right back to you through the meter. The generator would produce a moderately sized 120MW of electricity directly to the grid plus steam heat available locally to industrial consumers by burning up to 4,000 tons of garbage a day.

The project is classified as a renewable energy venture because it won’t be using fossil fuels to generate power. Because of that it is eligible for lucrative federal funding. Instead of functioning in the capacity of a normal incinerator, the facility will use Processed Refuse Fuel (PRF) which is essentially sorted and shredded residential and commercial garbage. The PRF burns cleaner and hotter than refuse that is used as fuel in traditional incinerators. The boiler will also use moderate amounts of Tire Derived Fuel (TDF) because of the high energy density of the material. Continue reading

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Important Trends in Alternative Energy

Breakdown Of Alternative Energy Use in the US

Recently, the U.S. Energy Information Administration released their most recent report regarding the consumption of alternative energy in the United States. While the nation’s complete dependence on fossil fuels is readily apparent in the report, there are signs of progress as well. Nationwide, renewable energy sources accounted for over 7% of the total energy consumption. Within that 7% the main type of renewable energy that was consumed was biomass, meaning the burning of fuels produced from renewable sources such as ethanol production and biodiesel accounting for 52% of the total renewable energy consumed. The biomass sector has seen substantial growth, more than doubling its market share in the period between 2004-2008. The second leading source of renewable energy consumed was hydroelectric power which accounted for 34%. Hydroelectric energy production has remained steady (with minor fluctuations due to water levels) at between 2.2 and 3.6 quadrillion Btu/yr for about 20 years. The leading states as far as hydroelectric power generation were Washington, Oregon, New York, California, Montana and Idaho, although there was some growth in Alabama, Arkansas and New York. Since plans for the construction of new dams is limited, it can be expected that these figures will continue basically unchanged.
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Managing Green Job Training

obama discussing green job trainingGovernment support of green-collar

It looks like the traditional workforce classifications of white / blue collar have a new companion that is here to stay: green collar jobs. Two decades ago, energy conservation and renewable energy programs in their infancy struggled with instability as well as a lack of public and economic support. However as the new millennium has unfolded it has served up consumers with a bitter cocktail of rising fuel and energy costs, increasing limitations on access to energy, steady tax hikes and continuingly dire predictions about the future of our planet’s environment should we continue down this road. With these factors serving as constant reminders of the importance of saving energy, consumer awareness of the efficiency and renewable “green” energy sectors is higher now than it has ever been. Thanks in part to that heightened awareness, in the next decade it is expected that we will see a up to a 400% increase in the eco-related green jobs market.

In anticipation of the growth in the sector, the government has funded $500 million to boost green jobs-related training focused on energy conservation and natural resources preservation. Graduate training has also begun to shift its focus from pure academics to more utilitarian leadership roles in applied sciences; particularly on energy conservation programs, environmental management, and planning.
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Clinton Global Initiative Reveals High Hopes for Green Jobs

At the recent Clinton Global Initiative conference held in New York Last week, a variety of different topics were discussed. Among the hottest topics: Green Jobs and the growth of the green economy. The Clinton Global Initiative describes itself as:

“…a meeting of innovative, action-oriented, and socially responsible leaders in the world. The Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting brings together heads of state, government and business leaders, scholars, and NGO directors. Participants analyze pressing global challenges, discuss the most effective solutions, and build lasting partnerships that enable them to create positive social change.”

That being said, it should be encouraging that green development and the green economy were one topic that was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. According to leaders at the conference, the green sector is the shining light amidst an otherwise gloomy outlook.

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Emerging Green Economy Should be at the Forefront of Obama’s Job Creation

Recession seems to continue lurking around the corner and is greatly affecting the nation’s employment rate despite efforts from private employers who opened 67,000 jobs last month—according to the statistics from the Department of Labor. As of August 2010, the unemployment rate has risen to 9.6 percent, a first increase in the jobless rate in months.

It can be recalled that some of Obama’s 12-point plan to improve the US economy centered in the creation of jobs through fair trade, national infrastructure investment, technology, and best of all the spoken figure of 5 million so-called “green collar” jobs. But given the rising unemployment rate, there seems to be some disconnect between the number of jobless Americans and the promise for a greener job; and now Obama is somewhat being criticized by some sectors about his campaign promises that have been made to be broken.

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Helping People Green Their Homes

Making one’s home environmentally friendly used to be Ed Begley Jr.s’ concern. But now, more and more people are jumping on the green bandwagon. Ed’s business has become everyone’s business as people are taking on ways to ensure that everything’s greener than ever.

There’ a million reasons why “going green” at home is essentially important. Captain Planet worked so hard to keep Planet Earth a good place to live in because what’s good for the planet is also good for us. Plus, saving money on utility costs is a really big help at times when the economy is at its lowest.
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California Senator Tours Green Facility

The turbines of CapstoneUS Senator Barbara Boxer who also chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has always been instrumental in the creation of clean energy jobs and as well as in brawling against global warming. She even joined Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in writing the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009 last year. It was a legislation geared towards minimizing America’s reliance on foreign oil, focusing on global warming, and establishing millions of clean energy jobs as well.

Recently, Senator Boxer visited the manufacturing plant and global headquarters of Capstone Turbine Corporation at Chatsworth, California. Her visit was based on four objectives: to gain knowledge on the company’s clean-and-green energy technology to acknowledge Capstone for establishing clean tech manufacturing jobs for the American people; and to show her appreciation towards the company’s success in selling US made energy products abroad. At the same time, it was an opportunity for the Senator and the Capstone executives to convene and tackle about America’s needs for a comprehensive climate and energy policy that will help in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions as well as in providing clean-energy technology jobs for California and the United States as a whole. Continue reading

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