"In an otherwise bleak job market, energy efficiency companies

around the world are proudly proclaiming, “Now Hiring!” This

trend is catalyzed by stimulus dollars and a growing realization

by companies, utilities, and governments that volatile

energy costs make energy efficiency a highly competitive option

for meeting their new energy needs, and a cost-effective

job creator.

The Political Economy Research Institute, in a June 2009 publication,

reported that the number of U.S. direct jobs created

per million dollar investment in building retrofits and smart

grid is far greater than direct jobs created in the coal industry,

by a factor of 8:1 and 5:1 respectively. Even compared to

wind and solar, at 4.3 and 5.4 direct jobs created per million

dollars invested respectively, building retrofits’ seven direct

jobs per million dollars invested shows how the ‘fifth fuel’ –

as energy efficiency is known – has the potential to pack the

most bang for the buck.

The Northwest Planning and Conservation Council, for

example, has projected that Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and

Washington can meet 85 percent of their new electricity

needs over the next 20 years solely through conservation, and

do so at half the cost of building new power plants. Energy

efficiency attracted more than 35 percent of the estimated

$470 billion in green stimulus funding worldwide from January

to May 2009, according to global financial firm HSBC.

The firm defines efficiency as funding for buildings and grid

infrastructure.

“Efficiency is the quickest way to meet our energy needs

cost-effectively while making the U.S. a world leader in

clean-energy technologies across multiple sectors.” says Skip

Laitner, director of economic and social analysis at the American

Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

In the face of economic turmoil, European efficiency leader

Germany has allocated approximately 10% of its total (and

more than 60% of climate-related) recovery funds to building

retrofits. Since 2006, 6.4 billion euros (U.S. $8.5 billion)...."
 

Without Efficiency, Electric Vehicles Are Just Another Huge Appliance

Andy Mannle
Strategic Communications
New Leaf America

This year’s LA Auto Show was all about the electric vehicle. More models are coming out in 2010 and 2011, and more companies are getting involved. Some automotive experts predict eco-friendly cars will make up 10% of the total car market within a decade. And the competition is fierce to see which model and even which technology is going to come out on top.

Will it be Toyota’s new hybrid, the Plug-in Prius; or the Chevy Volt, an all-electric with an onboard gas tank that charges the battery? Will it be the affordable Nissan Leaf or the luxury Tesla? Will Ford and Volkswagon enter the fray?

What’s not being asked in all the frenzy to shift vehicles from oil to electricity, is where will all this power come from? While EV enthusiasts are quick to point out that no emissions are coming from the tailpipe, an electric car is not automatically a zero-emission vehicle. Owning an EV requires having a garage to park it in with a plug to charge it. Yet 50% of the electricity in the US is supplied by coal; the most carbon-emitting, water-polluting, inefficient, and environmentally-destructive fuel on the market.

So even though electricity is cheaper at night, and efforts are underway to ramp up wind power production to meet the new demand from EVs, we are still years away from large-scale efficient windpower production linked to a high-voltage energy grid. Yet the number of EV’s and hybrids on the market is increasing by leaps and bounds.

One surefire way to offset the increased electricity demand of this shift, is to increase our efficiency efforts. By pursuing aggressive strategies to reduce home energy consumption, we can go after the cheapest, cleanest, safest, fastest way to shrink home energy bills at the same time that they’re rising as more and more people skip the gas station and plug-in their cars at home. Energy efficiency efforts could save us $70 billion dollars a year, and help to level off rising energy use. The Obama administration is putting more money toward efficiency and green jobs, with the president calling efficiency “sexy” because it saves money.

Efforts are underway to perform energy-efficiency retrofits on a million homes by 2012. Without these efforts, the shift to “eco-friendly” vehicles over the next several years will cause a rise in electricity costs, and increased greenhouse gas emissions from coal. While this may reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it’s certainly not the green future the Prius crowd thinks they’re driving toward. 

Andy Mannle is a writer and consultant dedicated to exploring sustainable policy, innovations, and solutions. His clients include New Leaf America, West Coast Green, and the ETHOS fund among others.

American Green Careers, a division of American Medical Careers, has been awarded BPI Affilate status as of November 2009. 

Each of our courses provide specific competency requirements and the student will be able to test for the written and field exam through our school.

 Upon completion of the testing, students will be awarded a BPI certification.

To schedule your written or field exam,

contact us at 810-239-9201.

Sites for reports on energy issues

January 27, 2010     http://www.irecusa.org/irec-programs/publications-reports/

View the pdf for green job information websites.

Hunting for Green Jobs!

New York Times Article
7/18/09
By Degrees:  A New Enforcer in Buildings, the Energy Inspector

NASDCTEc Blog
5/20/09
Green Economy Webinar

The Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow event held May 11 was a smashing success!  Six team members from all three locations attended the event:  Karl Kaufman, Cory Chavis, Kathy Redman, Renea Huth, and Julie Foster. Registration had to be closed because the Lansing Center was filled to the max.  Nearly 1,400 inspired attendees from state agencies, workforce development, colleges and universities, and small businesses like AGC heard numerous speakers share plans for Michigan to become a national leader in green manufacturing and wind turbine manufacturing.  Senators Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow and DELEG's Skip Pruss opening the event with a breakfast for all attendees at 8 am.  Two one hour breakout sessions were held in the morning followed by lunch with keynote speaker Van Jones, President Obama's Green Jobs Czar and author of The Green Collar Economy with an additional breakout in the afternoon.

President Barack Obama during his campaign said, "America can build a clean-energy future while creating five million new green jobs right here in the United States for our workers." And I've taken him at his word.

Back in 2002, my wife Patrice and I founded American Medical Careers, and since then we have trained over 3,500 people for family-supporting careers.

During this past seven years, we've seen an incredible societal need for these Career Programs. There have been many people who wanted to get trained for careers, but medical careers were not a good match.