May 18 12

The Green Jobs Source for Friday, May 18

BLUEGREEN ALLIANCE TAGS: The Source

This is The Source for May 18, 2012, green jobs news every day from the BlueGreen Alliance. Don’t forget to “tell your friends” about this great resource. You can sign up here.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR MAY 18

ACTION: Support rising for EPA greenhouse gas limits in new power plants. More than one million Americans have voiced their support for limiting greenhouse gases in new power plants. This effort will spur innovation in clean energy and reduce pollution causing climate change. Add your voice to theirs by sending your own comment of support today!

So what are the popular green jobs? In an article about the “hottest green jobs around,” BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director David Foster discussed the robust growth of green economy jobs. “Renewable energy production in this country has doubled in the past 5 years, and in solar and wind we’ve increased the number of jobs by 70,000, while other parts of the economy were losing jobs,” said Foster.

TEXAS! Texas’ renewable energy production grew by 13 percent in 2011. Wind energy grew by 15 percent — that’s 15 percent on top of the state’s already nation leading 26.8 MWh of wind power — and solar generation grew by 153 percent.

National and International Blue-Green

AFP reports UN negotiations have taken “their first steps in a marathon to negotiate a new global pact by 2015 that for the first time will place rich and poor under a common legal regime to tackle climate change.”

The Guardian says Apple agreed get all of the power from its main data center from renewable sources by the end of 2012.

A study released by McGraw-Hill Construction found “skilled green workers in the construction industry are in demand, but there are too few people with those skills.” SustainableBusiness.com has more.

China Daily says Beijing is expected to soon introduce new fuel standards to reduce air pollution.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee discussed Senator Bingaman’s clean energy standard. Politico says the meeting “shed light on the future agenda of the panel after [Bingman] retires this year.”

To the States

A letter in Florida’s Orlando Sentinel says passing the Senate’s transportation bill would “move our transportation system into the 21st century.”

CleanTechnica says solar industry supporters in California sent 60,000 emails to the Public Utilities Commission asking them to expand the state’s solar credit program.

Two manufacturers agreed to open facilities in the Industrial Center in the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial center focused on environmentally friendly tenants. The Wall Street Journal says this agreement gives “hope to state and city officials trying to establish a modern manufacturing base in the borough.”

The world’s first geothermal-solar power plant was dedicated in Fallon, Nevada at the beginning of May. CleanTechnica has more about this project that will produce 59 megawatts of combined capacity.

Blue-Green Links

Hill: Senate Democrat: Energy bills stalled until fiscal ‘grand bargain’ is struck

CleanTechnica: PTC Won’t Drop the Ball if You Don’t Drop It

Forbes: Small Wind Energy Goes Urban In Italy, Korea, Brazil And Texas

Guardian: Canada axes green advisory body

Hill: Former US ambassadors: Cut foreign oil dependence to help rein in trade deficit

Huffington Post: Is There a Clean Energy Standard in Our Future?

Huffington Post: California Is Leading: Will the Nation Follow?

Huffington Post: Responsible Private Equity Investors Revitalizing U.S. Manufacturing

Mother Nature Network: Well-paying outdoor jobs

Reuters: Bet on U.S. manufacturing for a rebound

CleanTechnica: Low-Income Households in Colorado Going Solar