Union Ironworkers Provide Training for Green Energy Job Corps
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
The skilled tradesmen who do more than you can imagine - Union Ironworkers - in response to Vice-President Biden’s recent comments regarding green jobs training, are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to install and maintain green energy projects in a safe and productive manner throughout the United States and Canada.
“Vice-President Biden is correct in stating that a well-trained workforce is required to successfully erect, install and maintain the promising green energy category. Our members are not only capable of successfully achieving this goal, but also in a position to immediately begin work on green and renewable energy projects as soon as the economic stimulus package is appropriated,” said Joseph Hunt, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
Growing Excitement, Expectations For Green Jobs Corps
March 2, 2009 by editor
Filed under Green Collar, Op-Ed
Wind turbines across the US have created a need for schools to add courses preparing wind turbine mechanics and other green workers for the fast growing new technology.
When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can’t help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin.
“Out here, you can see the wind turbines from 10 miles away,” she said. “Think about how far you’ll be able to see when you’re at the top.”
So, partly out of curiosity, partly because she wants to be part of something new, the 51-year-old is leaving behind a career of odd jobs and oil-field work.
She’s going back to school to become a wind turbine mechanic — one who’ll have to scale the turbines to make repairs.
Across the country, people like Bryer are looking to the renewable energy sector in hopes its “green-collar jobs” will offer them stability in this shaky economy. Some are signing up for community college or apprenticeship programs that train students to be wind turbine mechanics, solar panel installers, fuel-cell engineers or energy efficiency experts.
Sempra Solar Energy Project Makes Advances In Costs
January 7, 2009 by editor
Filed under Large Solar Installations, Solar News
An analyst says a Sempra Generation project powering California homes beats conventional sources on cost-effectiveness.
Construction supervisor Jorge Uribe examines solar panels used in Sempra's Nevada project.
LOS ANGELES - Generating clean electricity that’s as cheap as power from fossil fuels is the Holy Grail of green-energy companies. A new solar project powering California homes appears to be closing in on that prize.
Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy in San Diego, just took the wraps off a 10-megawatt solar farm in Nevada. That’s small by industry standards, enough to light just 6,400 homes. But the ramifications are potentially huge.
A veteran analyst has calculated that the facility can produce power at a cost of 7.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, less than the 9-cent benchmark for conventional electricity.
If that’s so, it marks a milestone that advocates for renewable energy have longed for: “grid parity,” in which electricity from the sun, wind or other green sources can meet or beat the price performance of carbon-based fuels.
Want Green Jobs For The Nation? Look to California
Instead of waffling on green energy, the US must offer consistent support
The last time the federal government tried to play a large role in stimulating the development of renewable-energy projects, it failed miserably. Instead, states such as California were the ones that ended up jump-starting today’s wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass industries. As President-elect Barack Obama and Congress craft a federal stimulus program package designed to add 2.5 million jobs, many of them green, across the country, they should remember some important lessons from the past.
Federal investments in wind power after the energy crisis of 1973 failed to produce a single commercial wind turbine. It took the political leadership of people such as California Gov. Jerry Brown to put in place state incentives to grow the wind industry from the ground up, instead of from the top down.
Now that Mr. Obama has picked his new energy and environment cabinet appointments, there is hope among many that the US can move forward with a clean power agenda. Given the lack of leadership from the White House over the past eight years, it is refreshing for renewable- energy advocates to hear that Obama doesn’t buy the argument that what’s good for the environment is bad for the economy.
Solar Energy Remains a Hot Idea in Los Angeles, Despite Flap
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at a news conference for the installation the last of 1,727 solar panels on the rooftop of the Staples Center sports complex on October 28, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The off-grid 345 kilowatt photovoltaic solar system, which covers 24,196 square feet, will provide power to Staples Center and the new Nokia Theatre L.A. Live sports and entertainment venues.
The flap over the city’s March 3 solar energy ballot measure, Measure B, while unfortunate and avoidable, should not obscure the merits of the proposal. After all, solar energy should not be a partisan issue since harnessing the sun’s power is in everyone’s best interest.
What is needed is more of a realistic view of this energy source that has bedeviled mankind for centuries. First, it isn’t “free.” Second, it will always cost a little more, but it carries broader economic and environmental advantages.
With that understanding, voters can better deal with the political follies surrounding Measure B. As usual, the political insider games at City Hall once they became public have tainted a worthwhile initiative involving the city utility, the Department of Water and Power, which through a combination of local leadership and statewide pressure from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s administration has caught the renewable energy bug.
Pasadena California Volunteer Committee Creating Energy Road Map
Pasadena California City Hall
PASADENA - A volunteer committee and a hired energy consultant are working to create a road map for how Pasadena will meet its energy challenges in the future.
And there are many - from funding and building new power plants to reducing city dependency on coal power to bringing in new sources of green power.
All of these and several other challenges are being hashed out as the committee seeks to create a long-term energy plan and have it ready for the City Council to review by this spring.
At its most recent meeting, the committee looked at options for reducing greenhouse emissions linked to Pasadena’s power supplies. Working with a target year of 2020, the committee looked at four different plans that would theoretically reduce such emission by 30, 40, 60 and - in the most ambitious of the four options - 75 percent.
Solar Meets Polar as Winter Curbs Clean Energy
Old Man Winter, it turns out, is no friend of renewable energy.
This time of year, wind turbine blades ice up, biodiesel congeals in tanks and solar panels produce less power because there is not as much sun. And perhaps most irritating to the people who own them, the panels become covered with snow, rendering them useless even in bright winter sunshine.
In Minnesota, Alan Stankevitz did a new winter chore for homeowners: clearing the solar panels.
So in regions where homeowners have long rolled their eyes at shoveling driveways, add another cold-weather chore: cleaning off the solar panels. “At least I can get to them with a long pole and a squeegee,” said Alan Stankevitz, a homeowner in southeast Minnesota.
As concern has grown about global warming, many utilities and homeowners have been trying to shrink their emissions of carbon dioxide - their carbon footprints - by installing solar panels, wind turbines and even generators powered by tides or rivers. But for the moment, at least, the planet is still cold enough to deal nasty winter blows to some of this green machinery.
Green Is the New Color of Lobbying
Makers of Energy-Saving Products See Opportunities in Big Stimulus Bill
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2008 — Lobbying for green energy has become a red hot business here.
From electric cars to “green” roofs, companies that produce renewable fuels and energy-efficient products have snapped up Washington lobbyists at a rapid clip to get a helping hand from the federal government.
Nearly 300 green companies and industry groups have signed up Washington lobbying firms seeking tax breaks, research grants, contracts and other government business during the current two-year session of Congress, according to disclosure forms reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. That is an eightfold increase from the previous session.
The growth in the green-lobbying business is the offshoot of converging economic and political trends: Rising energy prices and concerns about global warming have created a need to find alternative energy sources. Meanwhile, the 2006 and 2008 elections have empowered Democrats who are more inclined to use the government to boost energy efficiency and renewable fuels. That has put billions of dollars up for grabs.
Seven New Commercial Installations Highlight Wide Range of Businesses Switching to Solar
November 12, 2008 by editor
Filed under Businesses, Schools & Colleges
Even institutions devoted to God can use a little human intervention every once in awhile. That’s why Bethel Lutheran Church in Cupertino, CA, recently installed a 150 panel solar system with assistance from Akeena Solar. The panels will generate 34,000 kWh each year, and should save the church between $900 and $1200 each month.
Akeena Solar today announced the completion of seven commercial projects with many using the company’s light-weight and non-penetrating Andalay Flat Roof system.
“Considering the electricity costs associated with running a business and the rebates available, solar is a win-win kind of deal,” said Sandy Frazen, president of Creative Labels, a manufacturer of a wide variety of labels in Gilroy who recently installed the Andalay Flat Roof solar power system. “We are cutting our electricity bill, and the Andalay Flat Roof system installed quickly and easily, without any disruptions to our business. My employees and I feel great about the steps we’re taking to be green and energy efficient. It’s simply the right decision, and the timing is right from a business perspective.”
Recently completed, the 200-panel installation on Creative Label’s rooftop is the largest installation in Gilroy. Akeena’s six other small business installations are scattered throughout the Bay Area and Central Valley, and in total the seven projects will provide nearly 235 kW of solar power and reduce carbon dioxide by 269 tons a year-the equivalent to taking 1,500 cars off the road.
Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa Announces Big Solar Initiative
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announces a solar initiative that would create up to 400 green jobs over the next 3 years.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other municipal leaders unveiled a green energy initiative Tuesday by the city’s utility that they predict will create as many as 400 union jobs over the next three years to install and maintain solar panels on city buildings and other structures around Los Angeles.
Villaraigosa promoted the new effort as part
of a larger clean-growth strategy during an appearance atop a Los Angeles Convention Center parking garage with solar panels as a backdrop. He was flanked by five members of California’s congressional delegation, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-East Los Angeles).
