Green Career Ladder.com

    Why Green now?

    The tide of public opinion has turned in favor of Green energy.  For those of you who are considering a
    Green career, the opportunities to find work and make very good money have never been better. There are
    many good reasons why Green is finally coming of age.

    Explosive worldwide demand and new unrest in the Middle East have combined to create some of the
    largest oil price spikes in history, and many analysts believe even higher prices are yet to come. Rising
    gasoline prices and growing concern about climate change have created a greater sense of urgency than
    in the past, encouraging public support for Green energy.

    Large corporations are also scrambling to find more sustainable power sources. Among the leaders are
    Intel Corporation, which uses more than 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of green power each year, and
    PepsiCo, which uses 1.1 billion.

    Some of these companies have a legitimate desire to make the world a better place. Others are merely
    responding to a popular trend among their customers. Many more are hedging their bets as federal limits
    on carbon dioxide emissions become more likely. Whether their motives are noble or not (and in many
    cases they are), their desire to take action is stronger than ever before, and that’s going to mean a lot
    more Green jobs.

    At the same time, significant advances have made clean energy sources more efficient, more diverse,
    and—most importantly—more profitable.

    I can prove this point from my own experience. In 2005, the Electrical Training Institute of Los Angeles,
    installed a solar power system on the roof of our training center. It provides nearly half a MegaWatt of
    power for a 144,000 square foot facility (nearly 900,000 kW hours per year). At the time of construction it
    was one of the 10 largest privately-owned systems in the United States. It no longer holds that record.

    Our original budget plan estimated that the system would pay for itself in 7-9 years. In fact, the savings
    turned out to be significantly higher than we anticipated. We now expect to see a full return on our
    investment in just 4½ years.

    Today’s solar cells generate much more power than the ones Jimmy Carter had installed on the roof of
    the White House in the late 70s. And the sun isn’t just rising on solar energy:

    •  The oil barons of Texas have become wind barons, beating California as the top wind power state since
    2006
    •  Two United States Air Force bases—Minot in North Dakota and Dyess in Texas—are powered
    exclusively by wind and biomass, and at least 52 others run partially on renewable sources
    •   Part-electric and all-electric cars are more available in nearly every price range: from the practical
    Toyota Prius to the sporty Tesla Roadster (0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds!)
    •   A new solar power system was installed on a grounds maintenance building at the White House in
    2002, along with two new water-heating systems
    •   An up-and-coming group of innovative companies are working to tap the power of ocean tides and river
    currents, a technology which could be ready for widespread use as early as 2020

    It’s too soon to say whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President
    Obama on February 17, 2009, will be a historical turning point, but it signals the strongest government
    support we’ve seen in three decades. The Act allocates $20 billion in tax incentives for clean energy,
    including:

    •   The creation of an advanced research agency for energy, modeled after the Defense Advanced
    Research Projects Agency which developed the Internet
    •   Support for Energy Frontier Research Centers, which could lead to breakthroughs in energy storage,
    super-efficient engines, and solar cells as cheap as paint
    •   Supporting U.S. manufacturing of advanced batteries needed for plug-in hybrids, renewable energy
    backup, and other applications
    •   $1.2 billon for research infrastructure for the Department of Energy’s national labs

    At about the same time, the Obama administration estimated that every dollar of tax benefit in the stimulus
    package had the potential to generate an additional dollar of research and development spending in the
    short run, and $2 in the long run. This stimulus may prove to be the beginning of an exciting new phase of
    Green opportunity, but there will also be challenges along the way.


        
©Copyright 2009 Bob Oedy