Green Jobs

Largest U.S. Solar/Wind Hybrid Project Proposed for Antelope Valley

14 years ago charis 0 Comments

California’s Antelope Valley is a 3,700 acre site, home to burrowing owls, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, and deer. It boasts a bright and colorful poppy preserve, and the natural views help make it a popular horseback riding and hiking sight. It also sees strong winds and a lot of sun, which makes it ideal for America’s biggest wind-solar hybrid farm yet. As Element Power’s Wildflower Renewable Energy Farm Project manager Nat Parker says, “The trees grow sideways and the sun burns bright.”

Texas: Solar Energy Hitting State in 1 Month = All Energy Texas Oil & Gas…

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 9 Comments

This is a fact the president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Rhone Resch, said at the 2011 Solar Power International conference this year. In Rhone’s own words:

Texas has the potential to be a MASSIVE solar market. To put it into perspective, the sunshine that falls on Texas each month has more energy than all of the oil that has ever been pumped out of this state. If you think oil made Texas great, just wait till you see what they do with solar….

But today, smaller, less sunny states are currently ahead of Texas. There’s no reason why New Jersey should have nearly 10 times more solar installed than Texas. That’s like the Princeton Tigers football team coming down to Texas and putting a whooping on the Longhorns. That’s just wrong….

US Solar Industry Jobs Grow 6.8% to August, 20%+ Expected in Next 12 Months

14 years ago proteus 2 Comments

The US solar industry created jobs at a 6.8% pace in the year through August 2011. That compares to the expected 0.7% job growth rate for the US economy overall economy and a 2% net job loss in fossil fuel power generation. More than 17,198 solar employment sites employing 100,237 individuals were identified in the “National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce” report. Growth of more than 20% is expected in the ensuing 12 months.

Colorado to be Home to GE Thin-Film Solar Plant, Largest in the US

14 years ago proteus 7 Comments

Folks out in Denver, Colorado applauded an announcement Thursday night from Gov. John Hickenlooper that GE had chosen Colorado, more specifically the Denver suburb of Aurora, as the site for a new thin-film solar manufacturing plant. GE anticipates investing as much as $600 million in the plant, which is expected to employ 400 workers involved in manufacturing as much as 400-megawatts (MW) worth of thin-film solar panels, enough to power 80,000 homes a year.

Conditions Clearing for Take-Off in US Offshore Wind Power

14 years ago proteus 2 Comments

Offshore wind power has yet to get off the ground – or in the water – in the US. That’s despite the tremendous potential offshore wind holds in terms of supplying huge amounts of clean, renewable electricity to highly populated areas all along the US East and West coasts. Conditions are changing, however. Pike Research forecasts that US offshore wind power revenue will grow 56% annually over the next 6 years.

Re-generation: The Next Wave of Entrepreneurship is in Sustainability

14 years ago ahurwitz 1 Comment

“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move towards higher levels.”- Albert Einstein

Our nation’s economic success has always been based on our technological superiority coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit: In the 1940’s, it was our superior infrastructure and distribution capabilities. In the 60’s and 70’s, we had an explosion of scientific revolutions through the “space race.” And in the late 80’s and 90’s, the technological revolution turned into the internet revolution.

Tom Friedman Tears into Our Economic System, US Citizens, “Climategate,” & Obama at Greenbuild 2011

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 4 Comments

Noted author and New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman tore into Obama at this year’s Greenbuild Conference in Toronto for some of his environmental and clean energy failures. He’s not the first to do so — Al Gore has, Rolling Stone has, Joe Romm of the blog Climate Progress has, Bill McKibben of 350.org has, and numerous environmental organizations have.

I don’t think any of them would say that Obama hasn’t done more than any Republican president at this time would do. But they have all expressed their great frustration at Obama’s lack of leadership and a number of big, sort of shocking failures (i.e. opening up Wyoming to massive coal mining, dropping strong smog standards, opening the Arctic up to oil drilling).

PACE Program in Babylon Rockin’ It (VIDEO)

14 years ago slacey 2 Comments

Sammy Chu knows that energy efficiency creates local jobs. He’s seen it for himself. As director of Long Island Green Homes, a local financing program based around Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), Chu has seen the creation of dozens of new contractor positions that have helped his home town of Babylon, New York, invest millions of dollars in efficiency retrofits.

Local Solar Could Power the Mountain West Right Now, All of America in 2026

14 years ago John Farrell 9 Comments

The Germans have installed over 10,000 megawatts of solar panels in the past two years, enough to power 2 million American homes (or most of Los Angeles, CA). If Americans installed local solar at the same torrid pace, we could already power most of the Mountain West, could have a 100 percent solar nation by 2026, while enriching thousands of local communities with new development and jobs.