Oct 16 2009

The Green Seen

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

Looking for a green job? Check out "Clean-Tech Jobs Trends 2009" from research firm Clean Edge. The top five job sectors are solar; biofuel and biomaterials; conservation and efficiency; smart grid; and wind power, says Clean Edge. A listing of median salaries for a range of green jobs is included. Some samples: electric vehicles engineer, $63,000; solar systems designer, $42,600; green building energy auditor, $42,600. Highest salary was $106,000 for a renewable energy project developer and lowest was $36,100 for insulation workers. The report also lists the top 15 U.S. metropolitan areas for clean tech jobs. The top five are: San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA; Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA; New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA; Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH; and Washington-Baltimore, D.C.-MD-VA-WV.

How green is your campus? The "America's Greenest Campus" contest found that University of Maryland - College Park and Rio Salado College in Tempe, Ariz., were the schools with the most carbon reductions. More than 460 schools and 20,000 people participated in the contest, reducing nearly 19 million pounds of CO2, saving 28 million gallons of water and conserving 4.5 million kilowatts of electricity. The two schools will win $5,000 each. The competition was sponsored by SmartPower, a nonprofit clean energy marketing company, and Climate Culture, a clean-energy social networking site.

A powerful substation called Tres Amigas is proposed for Clovis, New Mexico, to physically connect the three main U.S. transmission grids -- Eastern, Western and Texas -- and carry renewable power from solar and wind farms in the middle of the country to customers on the coasts. The project is in an early stage and could cost $1 billion or more. It's proposed by a company run by Phil Harris, former CEO of the PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the U.S.

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