[Tyler_JC]

Green Tech Creates Jobs

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Project Green: The Power of the Sun

The search for renewable-energy sources is making clean-tech jobs hot.

It's impossible to say precisely how many people work in green jobs—partly because there's no formal definition of the term. Does a clerk stocking organic produce at Whole Foods Market qualify? How about an engineer working to make a coal-fired power plant run more efficiently? Meanwhile, in sectors like solar energy and biofuels, payrolls are growing so rapidly it's hard for researchers to keep an accurate count. Despite the lack of precise numbers, all observers agree the ranks are growing quickly. Based on the flow of venture capital, K. R. Sridhar, CEO of the fuel-cell start-up Bloom Energy, believes the clean-tech sector could produce 50,000 new jobs by 2010. (By way of comparison, General Motors' hourly work force, which briefly went on strike last week, currently numbers 73,000.) Peter Beadle, president of Greenjobs.com, cites estimates that the solar sector alone could employ 2 million people by 2020—more Americans than currently work as elementary-school teachers.

During the last decade's dotcom employment boom, much of the job creation was concentrated in Silicon Valley. In contrast, green jobs are popping up all over—some of them in very unexpected places. A good example is Toledo, a rust-belt manufacturing center with no shortage of vacant downtown buildings. Historically, Toledo's big employers have been auto factories or auto suppliers—particularly glass manufacturers that make car windshields. But lately Toledo has established a growing national reputation as a hot spot for firms developing solar panels. Why Toledo? Glass is a key component in solar technology, and the University of Toledo has been doing hard-core solar-cell research for two decades. Local economic-development officials recently launched a $22 million venture fund to help launch more start-ups. The payoff from this combination of forces: according to the local Regional Growth Partnership, the Toledo area already has nearly 6,000 people employed in the solar industry. "We're seeing this transition of people moving from automotive to alternative energy," says Steven Weathers, CEO of the Regional Growth Partnership.

[pawn]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')eter Beadle, president of Greenjobs.com, cites estimates that the solar sector alone could employ 2 million people by 2020

[julianj]

The German economy created 200,000 new jobs in the renewable energy sector.

It drives me to despair that the UK has let Germany and Denmark get a commanding lead in this new tech, while we languish, wasting our money on Trident renewal and two aircraft carriers (which may never have any fuel to go anywhere by the time they're built)

[Anthrobus]

don't worry,

there is lots of potential for wind power in Great Britain. I have been on Lewis and it made me envoius. You will catch up easily once your gov. makes up its mind.

[Anthrobus]

don't worry,

there is lots of potential for wind power in Great Britain. I have been on Lewis and it made me envoius. You will catch up easily once your gov. makes up its mind.

[aahala]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')

Does that answer the question of what happens to all of the laid off auto workers?. . .

One more small start-up company employing another dozen workers doesn't make the news but when an auto plant shuts down in Detroit, it creates speculation about the collapse of the American economy.

[Tyler_JC]

The problem is mobility.

People refuse to move to where the jobs are because they are either stuck in their homes, stuck in their school districts, stuck around their families, or stuck by their spouse's job.

The inter-mountain west is currently experiencing a massive economic boom but they are running into problems finding skilled workers.

There are plenty of skilled workers in places like Michigan, Ohio, etc. but these people aren't moving to where the jobs are...yet.

We will likely see a return to the migratory worker scenario of the 1930s Dust Bowl.

[Blacksmith]

My nephew went to college for four years to become an environmentalist and now climbs smoke stacks to sample the effulent. The tests are done at a lab.