October is Energy Action Month — a national effort to focus on the critical link between American energy and prosperity, highlight the tremendous potential of clean energy technologies to create new American jobs and industries, and underscore the importance of investing in American innovation to lead the 21st century global clean energy economy.

As a country, we face a fundamental choice about our energy future. We can continue with the status quo, or we can chart a new course forward – one that prioritizes investments in cleaner sources of energy to reduce our dependence on oil, strengthen American competitiveness, and protect public health and the environment.

President Obama believes that choice is clear. And that’s why the Administration has taken historic action to lay the foundation for a clean energy economy here in the United States. In the span of just two and a half years, we have made the largest investments in clean energy in our nation’s history, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and putting us on track to double renewable energy capacity by the end of the President’s first term. We have built the domestic advanced battery industry from scratch, jump-starting the American manufacturing sector. We have established the toughest fuel economy standards for cars and trucks ever, saving consumers money at the pump and ensuring the vehicles of the future are built here in America. And we have taken the most aggressive steps in a generation to protect the health of American families by reducing harmful air pollution.

Without President Obama’s leadership, none of these accomplishments would have been possible. Still, progress hasn’t come easy – even now, there are those that would prefer to reverse course and simply wave the white flag in the global race to develop cleaner sources of energy. Sadly, some believe that we just can’t compete.

As the President said last week, he doesn’t buy that. We’re not going to surrender to other countries’ technological leads that could end up determining whether or not we’re building a strong middle class in this country. We’re going to have to keep on pushing hard to make sure that manufacturing is located here, new businesses are located here, and new technologies are developed here.

All across the country, millions of Americans are already doing their part. Farmers are pushing the envelope to develop advanced and renewable fuels, young people are taking action to make their schools and communities more sustainable, and our nation’s scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs are working together to move new ideas and technologies from the lab to the marketplace.

Throughout October, we’ll be highlighting the ongoing work the Administration is doing to build a clean energy economy, so stay tuned for upcoming announcements and events. And to learn more about the President’s vision for a more secure energy future, please visit WhiteHouse.gov/energy.

Article by Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change.

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On President Obama’s second Earth Day in office, how far have green jobs come toward fixing unemployment and environmental ills? The administration aims for 5 million green jobs to grow in the next 10 years. Should Americans still believe the “hype?” Here’s the latest in green jobs news from around the Web:

The White House early in 2009 announced $500 million for efforts to train green workers, and this January it described job-training grants worth $100 million of that package. But that’s not nearly enough cash for an effort that should be as big as the Space Race, says pundit Jesse Jenkins. And contrary to conventional wisdom, green jobs are already being exported beyond U.S. borders.
(Breakthrough Institute)

For now, “fewer than 200 factories in the United States are devoted to green production, employing no more than 15,000 workers.” Companies can apply for new, federal tax credits to boost U.S. manufacturing, but an economist finds that “fewer than 500 applications have been filed so far for the tax breaks, and if all were approved they would add just 75,000 green manufacturing jobs.”
(New York Times)

Yet, 10 percent of employers have added new, green jobs in the past year, according to a CareerBuilder poll of 2,700 hiring managers. Among the green occupations described as earning more than $60,000 on the job Web site are hydrologist, solar energy system designer, waste management engineer and urban planner. (However, CareerBuilder’s GoingGreenJobs site was kaput on Wednesday.)
(press release)

The mayor of Joliet, Ill., joins leaders from coast to coast in selling his depressed locale as a green jobs hotspot for the future. There’s a new wind farm on the outskirts of town, and a dedicated crew at a junior college green jobs training program. But residents and experts of the former industrial center find interest stronger than green hiring, and hope the talk will prove more than a passing fad.
(Wall Street Journal)

Twenty-five communities will get a slice of federal stimulus dollars to speed up efforts to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency. Vice President Joe Biden announced the “Retrofit Ramp-Up” initiative Wednesday. Meanwhile, the new “Cash for Caulkers” federal incentive to make homes more energy efficient is available in every state.
(ABC News)

Two Midwestern senators introduced the GREEN Jobs Act of 2010 with the creative acronym: Grow Renewable Energy from Ethanol Naturally. They hope to continue expired tax credits for the makers of biofuel and ethanol, saving tens of thousands of jobs. However, the ecological benefits of such fuels remain controversial.
(Mother Nature Network)

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley insist that the state’s global warming law, AB 32, will churn out green jobs. But detractors miss that the law “will change many jobs and require retraining for workers. For example, when California switches to cleaner trucks, it won’t so much affect the number of trucking jobs, but it will certainly require new skills,” according to economist Carol Zabin.
(Los Angeles Times)

IBM and Columbia University launched “Smarter Students for a Smarter Planet” this week to groom would-be engineers in green fields.
(SolveClimate)

The new Ecotech Institute in Denver will offer certification and two-year degree options.  Launched by the for-profit Education Corporation of America as the only green school of its kind, its associate degrees will cover fields such as electrical engineering technology, energy and environmental paralegal and sustainable interior design.
(Mother Nature Network)

Van Jones, target of the wrath of Fox News pundit Glenn Beck, lasted only a matter of months as the green jobs “czar” of the White House. What’s he up to now?
(Grist)

Worms are getting paid? Oops, never mind.
(CleanTechnica)

Also to watch:

This post has been updated.

photo: greenforall

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Renewable energy and energy efficiency are key to solving crises in the economy, climate and security, said Al Gore on Friday (videos below).

The former vice president lauded fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Barack Obama for efforts including an economic stimulus package with a significant renewable energy component.

“One way or another the reductions in emissions are about to accelerate,” said Gore at the conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Madison, Wis. “What is important, directly or indirectly, is that we put a price on carbon.”

He expressed hope that the U.S. Senate will pass a  bill similar to that of the House, even in advance of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. “There is much more bipartisan dialogue behind the scenes than is publicly visible,” he added.

Gore warned that failure to pass a strong international treaty at Copenhagen would be “catastrophic.”

Check out the footage below for more of Gore’s thoughts about how technology and business leaders can innovate and accelerate the adoption of a clean energy economy.

[photo and video credit: Elsa Wenzel]

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Slow down, high-speed rail seekers. In the race for stimulus money, the Obama administration has received applications from 24 states requesting $50 billion for high-speed rail projects, reports The New York Times.

That’s more than six times the amount of money designated. Joseph Szabo, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, told the Times that the selections will be merit based, and will be made this winter.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is involved in a fickle love affair with stimulus money. Two days before the Republican senator voted against the nearly $800 billion package – which he said would only stimulate the national debt – Bennett wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu asking him to pay special attention to a few projects in Utah. He wasn’t alone, reports the Tribune. All four of Utah’s Republicans in Congress voted against the bill, before using congressional stationery to try to nab a portion of the stimulus package for their state.Tax credits for companies that create jobs? Increasingly, economists and Washington officials are saying “Yes, please,” reports The New York Times. The federal government hasn’t tried it since the 1970s, but in the face of the highest unemployment rates in a generation, supporters are saying it may offer just enough incentive to get companies to hire new workers.

And finally, The Wall Street Journal reports that more than $270 million of stimulus money awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration has gone to low-priority projects. In fact, they are of such low priority, they fall below the threshold of projects that the FAA would typically weed out. We’ve reported on the FAA’s decision to fund low-priority projects with stimulus money, and on the inspector general’s blasting of the FAA for its stimulus-spending decisions.

Article by Sabrina Shankman appearing courtesy of ProPublica.

[photo credit: BakaOnigiri/WikiCommons]

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The world stands to gain 6.9 million jobs by 2030 in the clean energy sector if a strong deal is reached in Copenhagen, according to a report released recently by Greenpeace International and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of CO2 emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual. Conversely, the global coal industry — which currently supports about 4.7 million employees worldwide — is likely to contract by more than 1.4 million jobs by 2030, due to rationalization measures in existing coal mines.

“Global leaders can tackle the twin crises of global economic recession and climate change head on by investing in renewable energy,” said Damon Moglen, Greenpeace USA global arming campaign director. “For each job lost in the coal industry our green energy scenario, known as the Energy [R]evolution, creates three new jobs in the renewable power industry. We can choose green jobs and growth or unemployment, ecological and social collapse.”

Greenpeace’s latest research provides a model for cutting emissions while achieving economic growth, illustrates how the transition to clean energy will provide more jobs by 2030 in the power sector than would be available if it stays on the current carbon-intensive path. However, leaders and governments must act on this information as soon as possible to provide necessary jobs and retraining.

“Now is the time to put in place a ‘just transition’ to sustainably transform the jobs of today and develop the decent and green jobs of tomorrow,” added Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). “The union movement, as well as the authors of this report, believe ambitious climate action by world leaders can and must be a driver for sustainable economic growth and social progress.”

The report: “Working for the Climate: Renewable Energy & The Green Job [R]evolution” (PDF) is based on Greenpeace’s Energy [R]evolution and research from the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology Sydney.

The report shows that by 2030, 6.9 million people could work for the renewable power industry, and another 1.1 million jobs would be created due to higher efficiency in electrical applications.

“There are already 450,000 people working in the renewable energy industry in Europe, representing a turnover of more than EUR 40 billion. This research proves that renewable energy is key to tackling both the climate and economic crises,” said Christine Lins, Secretary General of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

The report was developed in conjunction with specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Dutch Institute Ecofys and more than 40 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.

Greenpeace undertook this new study to determine whether there would be jobs created by this nine-fold increase in renewable energy, and massive global energy efficiency measures required for the Energy [R]evolution by researching jobs in power generation and electrical efficiency (excluding heating, cooling and transport). Efficiency to improve building insulation is not included in this number and would be additional.

Article appearing courtesy of Green Economy Post.

[photo credit: Flickr]

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Global emissions of carbon dioxide will drop 3 percent in 2009, including a 5.9 percent decrease in the United States, as a result of the economic recession, according to energy forecasts.

A decrease in industrial activity accounts for three-quarters of the global emissions decline, the International Energy Agency reported at United Nations climate talks in Bangkok. The rest of the decline is the result of nations switching to renewable energy sources and nuclear power.

In the U.S., coal demand will likely drop 9 percent this year as electricity demand slips and more states switch to natural gas in the face of stiffer government oversight of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Economic recovery would likely reverse the trend, and the agency predicts a 1.1 percent increase in CO2 emissions in 2010.

Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency, said the rare drop in greenhouse gas emissions gives global leaders a chance to shift to cleaner energy generation. “Because of the financial crisis, many industries have the chance to move away from unsustainable power,” he said.

Article appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360.

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Iraqi officials have endorsed a plan to convert dates into biofuel, an innovative project they hope will boost a once-thriving agriculture economy burdened by years of drought, government sanctions and war.

A United Arab Emirates-based company will produce bioethanol from the dates that farmers can no longer use because they are rotting, said Faroun Ahmed Hussein, head of Iraq’s date palm board.

The nation produces about 350,000 tons of dates annually, but consumes only about 150,000 tons.

While Iraq once was a major date exporter, farmers now feed much of the rest to animals rather than export them because of the poor quality, Hussein said. Government sanctions and war have exacerbated entrenched problems such as high soil salinity and inefficient irrigation to ravage Iraq’s farming sector, the nation’s largest employer.

“Farmers will be happy to sell their rotten dates instead of throwing them away,” Hussein said. He would not identify the company, how much bioethanol it would be able to produce, or how much it would cost.

Appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360.

[photo credit: Flickr]

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One of the more common green stories over the last month has focused on the question of whether the poor economic conditions are going to dampen the clean tech industry.  Other stories revolve around the new US administration’s policies.

There seem to be four main story lines:

• Consumer confidence is down and therefore, consumers are prioritizing pocketbook issues over buying organic foods / small cars, etc.
• Retreating oil prices mean that the economic case for wind power / hybrids / residential solar panels is much harder to make
• The global financial crisis has made funding for green projects harder to come by
• The Obama administration is going to invest in clean tech and green jobs

Most of these articles suggest that the short term prospects for green products and technologies are going to take a hit, while the long term prospects are generally good.  But considering that “clean tech” is actually a very diverse set of products, services, and technologies across the development-commercialization time scale, the 30,000 foot view that is being put forward in the popular press may be missing the real story.

Which story is currently the biggest for your business?  Answer the poll and use the comments section to join the dialogue on what is important in your sector.

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Here is the CleanTechies five line synopsis of the report:

Welcome to the era of declining oil supply, volatile energy prices, and increased emission of green house gases. We are sorry to report that the economy is not doing well, which will put a pinch on investing in both alternative and conventional energy sources.  Unfortunately, the resulting higher energy prices will further negatively impact the economy.

A small shred of good news is that, collectively, modern renewables (as a source of electricity generated) are slated to grow the most and are poised to become the second-largest source of electricity soon after 2010. Unfortunately the IEA projects energy demand growth of 45% in the next 25 years with a 20% increase in the demand for oil.

“Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable – environmentally, economically and socially – they can and must be altered”, Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, announced at the release in London. “Rising imports of oil and gas into OECD regions and developing Asia, together with the growing concentration of production in a small number of countries, would increase our susceptibility to supply disruptions and sharp price hikes. At the same time, greenhouse-gas emissions would be driven up inexorably, putting the world on track for an eventual global temperature increase of up to 6°C.”

Addressing the issue of centralized or distributed power generation, the problem is density – cities are expected to account for three-quarters of our energy in 2030 – up from two-thirds.  That drives home a point made yesterday about needing to develop a robust infrastructure that provides power to large urban areas.  Huge outlays are needed for production and distribution (they estimate $1 trillion/year) and needed capacity increases are in jeopardy given credit constraints.

Not quite a “virtuous” circle.

Here is the press release.

Buy the full report here.

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