NextGen Jobs

How To Use This Website

2009-11-26T12:33:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the NextGen Jobs website! This site is intended to be a gateway to the new "green" economy and the next generation of jobs & careers. This website has several parts to help you chart a course for a new career and find jobs at high-paying, environmentally friendly companies.

Here is how to use this website:

Jobs In the New Economy = This is the page most people will want. It contains listings for over twenty different job boards that are advertising jobs currently being hired with companies in environmentally friendly industries, such as renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, water management, conservation and national parks, among others. This page is updated frequently to ensure all the links are live and to add new job boards as they become available.

Educational Opportunities = This group of three pages lists educational opportunities at accredited colleges and universities in the following fields: Renewable Energy Technology, Sustainable Agriculture, and Sustainable Forestry. Prefect for the teen wondering where to go to college, or the adult looking to return to college to switch or advance their career.

Understanding the New "Green" Economy = There are several pages dedicated to helping you understand exactly what the new green economy is:

What is the Green Economy?
New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States
Green Jobs Not Just for Scientists
Top Green Jobs

Finding a Job in Difficult Times = Practical job hunting advice
Ten Commandments of Keeping Your Job = Could also be titled "How Not to Get Fired"

Ten Commandments of Keeping Your Job

2009-11-26T12:10:00.002-05:00

Ten Commandments of Keeping Your Job

(This first appeared in Texas Business Today, 2nd/3rd Quarters 1998 issue. Since then, it has appeared on a lot of company bulletin boards and employee break room walls.)

1. Be on time, whether it is with showing up for work, returning from breaks, going to meetings, or turning in assignments.

2. Call in if you know you will be tardy or absent. Most companies treat absences or tardiness without notice much more seriously than simple absence or tardiness.

3. Try your best; always finish an assignment, no matter how much you would rather be doing something else. It is always good to have something to show for the time you have spent.

4. Anticipate problems and needs of management - your bosses will be grateful, even if they do not show it.

5. Show a positive attitude - no one wants to be around someone who is a "downer".

6. Avoid backstabbing, office gossip, and spreading rumors - remember, what goes around comes around - joining in the office gossip may seem like the easy thing to do, but almost everyone has much more respect - and trust - for people who do not spread stories around.

7. Follow the rules. The rules are there to give the greatest number of people the best chance of working together well and getting the job done.

8. Look for opportunities to serve customers and help coworkers. Those who would be leaders must learn how to serve.

9. Avoid the impulse to criticize your boss or the company. It is easy to find things wrong with others - it is much harder, but more rewarding, to find constructive ways to deal with problems. Employees who are known for their good attitude and helpful suggestions are the ones most often remembered at performance evaluation and raise review time.

10. Volunteer for training and new assignments. Take a close look at people in your organization who are "moving up" - chances are, they are the ones who have shown themselves in the past to be willing to do undesirable assignments or take on new duties.

Jobs In the New Economy

2009-09-23T11:55:00.006-04:00

There has been much take lately of the need for a new energy economy (also known as the "green economy"), based on renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind, geothermal and biofuels, as well as resource efficiency.

Many workers are under the misconception that these green jobs are only for scientists and engineers. Not so. Construction workers, plumbers and electricians are needed to build new infrastructure and buildings, as well as retro-fit existing buildings. Mechanics are needed to retro-fit cars into hybrids and plug-ins. Manufacturing line jobs for wind turbines, solar panels and the like will be created. Many traditional occupations will be in high demand in a new green economy. There is also a need for support positions such as sales staff, trainers, accountants, general office personal, receptionists and janitors.

The American Solar Energy Society has an interesting article on How to Land a Green Collar Job.

New Energy & Green Economy Job Boards
(links updated as of Nov. 20, 2009)

American Solar Energy Society (ASES - lists jobs with over 40 companies in the USA)

American Wind Energy Assoc. (USA job listings & "post your resume")

Biodiesal Jobs (job listings for the biodiesal industry)

Biology Jobs (worldwide job listings)

Environmental Career Opportunities (USA job listings)

EnvironmentalCareer.com (USA job listings & "post your resume")

Ethanol Jobs (job listings for the ethanol industry)

Good Work Canada (job listings for Canada)

Green Energy Jobs (job listings for the UK and USA)

Green Jobs (jobs in North America and worldwide)

GreenBiz.com (mostly USA jobs, but a handful elsewhere)

Grist Jobs Board (a small number of only USA job listings)

Homepower Magizine - Job Listings (mostly USA, but some worldwide)

Jobs in Horticulture (USA and worldwide)

Natural Resources Job Search (listings for conservation jobs + job-hunting resources)

Renewable Energy World (Worldwide job listings & "post your resume")

Solar Energy International (seems mostly USA jobs)

Sustain Jobs (seems mostly UK, but some USA & worldwide)

Sustainable Business (mostly jobs in USA, Canada and UK, but a handful elsewhere)

Treehugger Job Board (mostly USA and Canada job listings)

US Forest Service (jobs with the USA federal government)

US National Park Service (jobs with the USA federal government)

Water Environment Federation (jobs in the water, wastewater, & environmental industries)

Bill Clinton talks about green economic growth

2009-09-23T11:47:00.002-04:00

This video is a couple of years old (from 2007), but it is still worth watching.

Bill Clinton talks about green economic growth:

Energy Conservation - Opportunities

2009-09-23T10:42:00.003-04:00

In 2007, Alexander Jung wrote a piece for the German website Spiegel Online entitled Why Conservation is the World's Best Energy Source. In it, he writes "With humanity wasting massive amounts of oil, gas and coal to heat buildings, power industry and fuel vehicles, the potential for conservation efforts is vast."

With the world, and especially huge developing countries like China, India and Russia, using more and more energy, mostly in the form of finite fossil fuels, it is becoming more difficult, and expensive, to supply the needed energy. However, "one reliable source of energy is not even close to being depleted: Simply saving it may be the safest and cleanest option mankind has. It also happens to make a tidy profit."

"Without much effort, the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union could reduce their energy use by one-fifth, studies have found. That would add up to savings of roughly €60 billion ($79 billion) per year. Such huge sums become less abstract when broken down to household level: An average family could save from €200 to €1,000 by using their energy more efficiently." -- Alexander Jung

My own experience confirms this assessment. With a moderate amount of effort and expense, I was able to reduce my household energy usage not by Jung's 20% "without much effort" estimate, but by a whopping 60%. That equals an actual savings of a couple of thousand dollars a year, in addition to hundreds of dollars in savings in the form of tax deductions for some of the home improvements done to a achieve the reduction.

Amory Lovin of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues in favor of what he refers to as "radical resource efficiency" and points out that saving energy costs less than buying it. Radical resource efficiency is just what it sounds like - the act of achieving maximum efficiency in the use of resources, such as energy. This includes using energy efficient technology as well as designing and planning homes, businesses, communities and lifestyles in such a way as to achieve maximum efficiency.

There is a really great commercial running on TV recently regarding energy efficiency. The scene opens up on an apparently naive and idealistic young lady nervously presenting her boss, a practical, no-nonsense middle-aged businessman, a report recommending a number of changes to achieve better energy efficiency for their company.

The boss, obviously just humoring his younger employee, patiently explains that those ideas are nice and will make the environmentalists happy, but he has to run his company in the real world. He then asks "Why should I sign off on this?" Obviously, he is not expecting a decisive answer.

The young lady responds by explaining that their company spends tens of millions of dollars on energy each year, and that those changes will save the company millions of dollars.

The boss, now with a stunned look on his face, asks "where do I sign?".

"Between 75 and 90 percent of the energy we consume is wasted due to bad design and poor choices." -- Michael Potts of the Rocky Mountain Institute

What opportunities does this create?

Radical energy efficiency and conservation is one of the more important next strategies in building a sustainable future. This creates a multitude of opportunities for those willing to seize them.

For politicians and others involved in public policy, the need for radical energy efficiency creates opportunities for leadership in the field of energy efficiency and conservation. Planning and supporting energy efficiency as a matter of public policy will pay huge dividends in balancing budgets and aiding the economy, as well as promoting national security.

For city managers and other bureaucrats who run local, state and federal governments, this creates opportunities for substantial savings and balancing budgets.

For scientists and engineers, this creates opportunities for research and development of new and improved technologies and systems.

For business leaders, this creates opportunities for saving money, building capital and improving cash flow.

For entrepreneurs, this creates significant opportunities for new businesses. Businesses involved in developing, manufacturing and selling new, energy efficient technologies have a promising future, as well as those involved in teaching and consulting other businesses and governments in energy and resource efficiency.

For employees, this creates opportunities for well paying jobs in new industries.

For individuals and families, this creates opportunities to greatly reduce household expenses.

Start looking around and imagining all the new opportunities that radical energy efficiency and conservation will create. And start considering all the ways you can benefit from those opportunities.

For ways to achieve radical resource efficiency, please check out The Resource Miser.

New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States

2009-09-22T02:01:00.001-04:00

Plan B Update

Released Oct. 15, 2008

New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States

Lester R. Brown

As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago.

Consider Texas. Long the leading oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California two years ago. Texas now has nearly 6,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity online and a staggering 39,000 megawatts in the construction and planning stages. When all this is completed, Texas will have 45,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity (think 45 coal-fired power plants). This will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling Texas to feed electricity to nearby states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.

After Texas and California, the other leaders among the 30 states with commercial-scale wind farms are Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. And other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are teaming up to build the 5,050-megawatt Titan wind farm, the world’s largest, in eastern South Dakota. Already under development, Titan will generate five times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use. This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial heartland.

Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz is developing a 2,000-megawatt wind farm in south central Wyoming. He already has secured the rights to build a 900-mile high-voltage transmission line to California. With this investment, the door will be opened to developing scores of huge wind farms in Wyoming, a wind-rich state with few people. Another transmission line under development will run north-south, linking eastern Wyoming’s wind resources with the fast-growing Colorado cities of Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Wind-rich Kansas and Oklahoma are looking to build a transmission line to the U.S. Southeast to export their wealth of cheap wind energy.

California is developing a 4,500-megawatt wind farm complex in the Tehachapi Mountains northwest of Los Angeles. In the east, Maine—a wind energy newcomer—is planning to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity, far more than the state’s 1.3 million residents need. Further south, Delaware is planning an offshore wind farm of up to 600 megawatts, which could satisfy half of the state’s residential electricity needs. New York State, which has 700 megawatts of wind-generating capacity, plans to add another 8,000 megawatts, with most of the power being generated by winds coming off Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. And soon Oregon will nearly double its wind generating capacity with a 900-megawatt wind farm in the wind-rich Columbia River Gorge.

Wind appears destined to become the centerpiece of the new U.S. energy economy, eventually supplying several hundred thousand megawatts of electricity.

Solar power is also expanding at a breakneck pace. The nation’s wealth of solar energy is being harnessed by using both photovoltaic cells and solar thermal power plants to convert sunlight into electricity. For solar cell installations, California, with its Million Solar Roofs plan, is far and away the leader. New Jersey is also moving fast, followed by Nevada.

The largest U.S. solar cell installation today is a 14-megawatt array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, but photovoltaic electricity at the commercial level is about to go big time. PG&E has entered into two solar cell power contracts with a combined capacity of 800 megawatts. Together, these plants will cover 12 square miles of desert with solar cells and will have a peak output comparable to that of a large coal-fired power plant. Solar power plants are appealing in hot climates because their highest output coincides with the peak demand for air conditioning.

Solar thermal plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a vessel containing a fluid—heating it to 750 degrees Fahrenheit to generate steam and produce power—have suddenly become an enormously attractive technology. The United States has the world’s only large solar thermal complex, a 350-megawatt project completed in 1991. But as of September 2008 there are 10 large solar thermal power plants under construction or in development in the United States, ranging in size from 180 megawatts to 550 megawatts. Eight of the plants will be built in California, one in Arizona, and one in Florida. Within the next three years, the United States will likely go from 420 megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity to close to 3,500 megawatts—an eightfold jump.

Along with wind and solar, geothermal energy is also developing at an explosive rate. As of 2008 the United States has nearly 3,000 megawatts of geothermal generating capacity, 2,500 of which are in California. Suddenly this too is changing. Some 96 geothermal power plants now under development in twelve western states are expected to double U.S. geothermal generating capacity. With California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah leading the way, the stage is set for the massive future development of geothermal energy. (See data).

The new energy economy will be powered largely by electricity from renewable sources. Electricity will light, heat, and cool buildings. As we shift to plug-in hybrid cars, light rail transit systems in cities, and high-speed electric intercity rail systems like those in Japan and Europe, our transport system will also be powered largely by electricity.

It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change.

The shift also will staunch the outflow of dollars for oil, keeping that capital at home to invest in the new energy economy, developing national renewable energy resources and creating jobs here. At a time of economic turmoil and rising joblessness, these new industries can generate thousands of new jobs each week. Not only are the wind, solar, and geothermal industries hiring new workers, they are also generating jobs in construction and in basic supply industries such as steel, aluminum, and silicon manufacturing. To build and operate the new energy economy will require huge numbers of electricians, plumbers, and roofers. It will also employ countless numbers of high-tech professionals such as wind meteorologists, geothermal geologists, and solar engineers.

To ensure that this shift to renewables continues at a rapid rate, national leadership is needed in one key area—building a strong national grid. Although private investors are investing in long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, these need to be incorporated into a carefully planned national grid, the electrical equivalent of President Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, in order to unleash the full potential of renewable energy wealth.

And, finally, this energy transition is being driven by an intense excitement from the realization that people are now tapping energy sources that can last as long as the earth itself. Oil wells go dry and coal seams run out, but for the first time since the industrial revolution we are investing in energy sources that can last forever. This new energy economy can be our legacy to the next generation.

For more information on Earth Policy Institute’s plan to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020, see Chapters 11-13 in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, available at www.earthpolicy.org for free downloading.

Also see “Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2020,” available in pdf at www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/books/pb3/80by2020.

New Economy Jobs - my analysis

2009-05-04T13:05:00.004-04:00

A few days ago, I posted about a 2008 report on what the new "green" jobs will likely be. That report assumed that the new economy is one in which fighting climate change and other environmental concerns are the main driving force. As such, the primary focus will be on clean energy sources, as well as capping carbon emissions. Ideas such as organic foods and "green" consumer goods will also play an important role.

It is my analysis that the new economy that is emerging will actually be a "new energy economy" driven by the need to provide energy and other resources on a sustainable basis. Energy efficiency and alternative energy sources will be the primary focus. An important secondary focus will be the sustainable production and use of other resources - particularly agriculture, forest products, and clean water.

There is a lot of overlap between the two concepts, with the main difference being the motivating factors. The "green economy" motivations being primarily ideological and the "new energy economy" motivations being primarily practical.

Here is a run-down of what will be important growth careers over the next few decades:

Renewable Energy Technology - Solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy systems will be in great demand on both the small, home-scale and large-scale power production. There will be great need for engineers & technicians to design, build, install and maintain these systems. There will also be the need for support personal (trainers, sales staff, office workers, accountants, etc) in this industry.

Energy Efficiency Retrofitters - Energy efficiency is the name of the game for the future. There will be a great demand for contractors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and others to retrofit houses and commercial buildings for energy efficiency, installing energy efficient windows, low-flow toilets & faucets, upgrading insulation, installing more energy efficient hot water heaters, HVAC systems and so forth.

Water Systems Workers - There is a silent crisis of providing and maintaining supplies of clean water. There will be a great demand for workers involved in all aspects of water conservation and treatment.

Sustainable Farming - This will be an extremely high demand industry for the next quarter-century or more. Food systems will be much more localized in the future, and there will once again be a great demand for small- and mid-size independent farmers serving their local regions.

Gardening Centers / Permaculture Teachers / Landscapers - Part of the new localization of food systems will be many people choosing to raise a portion of their own food. Gardening centers, hardware stores, nurseries and others who produce or sale plants, seeds, tractors, tillers, tools and other gardening supplies stand to profit from this trend. There will also be a demand for people to teach gardening & permaculture, as well as landscapers to install gardening beds and plant fruit & nut trees.

Sustainable Forestry - Forests offer a treasure trove of resources - lumber, paper, fibers, dyes, chemicals, food, etc. These resources are renewable if properly managed, and quickly used up if not. Sustainable forestry is increasingly being recognized by the timber industry, government and responsible environmentalists as the best solution to the problem of balancing the needs of both nature and mankind.

Science and Engineering - All fields of applied science will experience growth as our civilization seeks to become more sustainable, meet the demands of our population and to repair environmental damage already done. Medical scientists are needed to work on both infectious diseases made more serious in a crowded world and cancers caused by environmental toxins. Physicists, chemists and engineers are needed to research and develop new energy sources and energy efficient technologies. Biologists and agricultural scientists are needed to work on solutions to feeding almost seven billion people in a sustainable manner.

Job Opportunities for the Green Economy

2009-05-02T08:33:00.003-04:00

Here is an interesting report from 2008. I will be publishing my own analysis, which will vary somewhat from this one, in a few days.

Job Opportunities for the Green Economy
A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments

By Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim of the Political and Economic Research Institute | June 3, 2008

This new report, sponsored in part by the Center for American Progress in advance of a major clean energy jobs study to be released by CAP and PERI later this summer, provides a snapshot of what kinds of jobs are needed to build a green economy in the United States. We focus on six key strategies for attacking global warming and highlight some of the major "green jobs" associated with each of these approaches.

The six green strategies we examine here are: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power, and cellulosic biomass fuels. We show that the vast majority of jobs associated with these six green strategies are in the same areas of employment that people already work in today, in every region and state of the country. For example, constructing wind farms creates jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers, among many others. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting relies, among others, on roofers, insulators, and building inspectors. What makes these entirely familiar occupations "green jobs" is that the people working in them are contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy. We therefore consider and refer to the strategies examined in this report as green investments, in addition to global warming solutions.

We present data on employment conditions in 12 separate states: Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For each of the 12 states, we report the number of people who are employed in each of the occupations that will be affected by our six green economy strategies, and what the average wages are in each state for each of these job types. We then also provide data on the national employ-ment picture for each of the job categories we examine.

What is clear from this report is that millions of U.S. workers—across a wide range of familiar occupations, states, and income and skill levels—will all benefit from the project of defeating global warming and transforming the United States into a green economy.

Read the full report (pdf)

The Problem With Carbon Taxes

2009-03-21T11:47:00.005-04:00

President Obama and his administration seem determined to address climate change through carbon taxes.

Climate change is real, but I do think carbon taxes are NOT the way to address climate change.

Carbon Taxes = Higher Prices, More Unemployment

Carbon taxes are an extremely regressive form of taxation. By that I mean poor and middle class people will pay a widely disproportionate percentage of the taxes, especially considering that the carbon tax will be passed on to the general public through higher prices. Also, the less money you make, the greater the percentage of your overall income that will go to pay carbon taxes.

Make no mistake, the money to pay the carbon taxes MUST come from customers. Companies get 100% of their money from customers (that is you and me). They have no other source of money. Even the money a company gets from the government (such as defense contracts, bail outs or even the government simply buying office supplies) comes from the taxes you and I pay. No company has a source of money to pay increased taxes except their customers. All business taxes, including carbon taxes, are ultimately paid for by the consumer.

Increased taxes are usually passed on to the customer through higher prices, but what if the customer cannot afford the higher prices? A company may decide to not raise prices, instead choosing to cut costs. Cost cutting means workers losing retirement benefits, health insurance, or even their jobs (more unemployment).

We are already set up for massive inflation in the near future because of the massive debt and the massive printing of money that our governments have engaged in under the guise of trying to fix the economy. Carbon taxes will only add to the inflationary pressures.

What then , do I suggest:

1- Large- and small-scale reforestation efforts, sustainable forestry measures, greening of the deserts... In other words, to rebuild our planet's lungs.

2- Switch to renewable sources of clean energy - solar (both earth-based and space-based), wind, geothermal , and so forth.

3- Place a major emphasis on dramatically increasing energy efficiency.

4 - Redesign of the transportation system to emphasize rail for long distance transport of goods and people, cleaner burning natural gas for heavy duty vehicles (trucks, buses), electric for cars, and in urban areas walking, biking, car-pooling and public transportation.

Not only is my plan non-inflationary, it has the added benefit of creating a huge number of jobs. Carbon taxes will create a few bookkeeping/accounting jobs, but will have a net negative impact on jobs as companies lay off workers (in addition to raising prices) to balance out their increased taxes.

Good News

There is some really good news in accomplishing these goals. The government has finally realized the importance of building a new smart energy grid that will enable both the switch to renewable energy and the push for greater energy efficiency.

Oil tycoon Boone Pickens has realized that we need to promote alternatives to fossil fuels and is promoting the heck out of that need, raising public awareness and putting pressure on congress for the need of a smart grid. (Click here for an update on the Pickens Plan)

Wind- and solar-energy companies are rapidly growing even during these difficult economic times.

Reforestation projects abound around the world and sustainable forestry measures are being widely adopted.

Momentum is growing. Let's keep up the publicity and the pressure to adopt smart ways to mitigate climate change without destroying the economy and devastating the poor and middle classes.

How to know if your job is in trouble...

2009-03-17T10:54:00.003-04:00

The following list comes from an interview I watched recently on Bloomberg television. The interviewee also made the point that you should be talking to your manager (in a polite, cordial way) and trying to stay in the loop of what's going on at your company.

The more of the following list that applies to you, the greater the jeopardy that your job will be eliminated:

1- Cost-cutting measures being implemented throughout your company. If your company is suddenly watching every nickel and dime much more closely than it used to, that is not a good sign for jobs at the company.

2- A lighter than usual workload, or your duties being re-assigned elsewhere. If you are not being given any new long-term projects to replace finished projects, that is a very bad sign.

3- Your work is cyclical with significant slow periods.

4- Your position or department is not viewed as a revenue generator.

5- You are no longer included on meetings that you used to be in. This is a very bad sign that your down-sizing may already be in the works.

6- Increased scrutiny of your job performance by your manager. If your supervisors suddenly are micro-managing your work, or seemingly finding fault with everything you do, you may be in the process of being "set-up" to be let go.

Before You Lose Your Job

You see a couple of things from the above list as applying to your situation. What do you do about it?

Prepare financially to the extent you can. This means getting on a strict budget now, paying off debt, and building savings (see my essay What To Do Now for more ideas).
Get ready to look for a new job now, don't wait until you are fired. Update your resume. Make some phone calls to your friends and other contacts to see if their companies or industries are hiring. Be discrete - some companies frown on their employees job hunting, but what they don't know won't hurt them.
Take steps to protect your job. Read the article Keeping Your Job.
Learn new skills. Take some classes at a local community college. Some ideas: Brush up on your computer skills. Learn bookkeeping/accounting. Learn Spanish for the workplace. The more you know, the more employable you will be.

Looking to change careers? Consider getting a degree in Renewable Energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forestry or Water Treatment. Nursing and other careers in the health care industry should also do well. Teaching and jobs with the Federal Government may also be good career moves if your primary concern is stable employment.

Educational Programs in Sustainable Forestry

2009-03-05T19:01:00.007-05:00

This is the third in an ongoing series of educational programs for the new "green economy." The first installment featured programs in sustainable agriculture. The second installment featured programs in renewable energy technology. This installment looks at educational programs in forestry that emphasize sustainable forest management as part of the curriculum (see the essay Sustainable Forestry for more on the concept).

In the USA

Auburn University, Alabama
Center for Forest Sustainability

Duke University, North Carolina
part of the Southern Center for Sustainable Forests

Humboldt State University, California
Forestry and Wildland Resources

Iowa State University
Natural Resource Ecology and Management

Louisiana State University
School of Renewable Natural Resources

Michigan State University
Department of Forestry

Michigan Tech
Forest Resources and Environmental Science

North Carolina State University
part of the Southern Center for Sustainable Forests

Oklahoma State University
Natural Resource Ecology and Management

Oregon State University
Sustainable Forestry/Agroforestry

Paul Smith's College, New York
Forestry

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Forestry

State University of New York
Forests and Natural Resources Management

University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Department of Forest Sciences

University of Georgia
School of Forestry and Natural Resources

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

University of Kentucky
Department of Forestry

University of Maine
School of Forest Resources

University of Montana
College of Forestry and Conservation

University of Washington
College of Forest Resources

University of Wisconsin, Madison
Forest and Wildlife Ecology

University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
College of Natural Resources

Yale University, Connecticut
The Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry

In Australia

National Forestry Masters (NFM) Program

Australian National University

Southern Cross University

University of Melbourne

University of Queensland

University of Tasmania

In Canada

British Columbia Institute of Technology

College of the North Atlantic

Lakehead University

Maritime College of Forest Technology

University of Alberta

University of British Columbia

University of New Brunswick

University of Toronto

In Japan

Tokyo University Forests Home Page

Educational Programs in Renewable Energy Technology

2009-03-02T13:59:00.006-05:00

The following is a list of Colleges and Universities currently offering programs in renewable energy technology. The list may not be complete since degrees and programs relating to sustainability are being added by many institutions to meet the demands of the green economy. (For a list of sustainable agriculture programs, click here).

Because many of these schools offer multiple programs, ranging from certificates and 2-year degrees, to undergraduate and graduate programs, I will not list the individual programs offered. You will need to follow the link to their website and search it to discover exactly what they are offering.

I will be posting reviews of many of these programs in the coming weeks, so check back often.

In the United States

Air Force Institute of Technology, Ohio

Appalachian State University, North Carolina

Arizona State University

Bronx Community College, New York

Canton College, New York

Central State University, Ohio

Farmingdale College, NY

Highland Community College, Kansas

Humboldt State University, California

Illinois State University

John Brown University, Arkansas

Lane Community College, Oregon

Lawrence Tech, Michigan

Mid-State Technical College, Wisconsin

North Carolina State University

Oregon Institute of Technology

Red Rocks Community College, Colorado

San Deigo State University, California

San Juan College, New Mexico

Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania

University of Dayton, Ohio

University of Michigan

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Washington State University

Wayne State University, Michigan

Wright State University, Ohio

In Denmark

Aalborg University

In Finland

University of Jyvaskyla

In Iceland

RES – the School for Renewable Energy Science

In Poland

University of Science and Technology - AGH

In Sweden

Institutionen för Energiteknik

KTH - Royal Institute of Technology

In the UK

Newcastle University

University of Dundee

University of Nottingham

University of Ulster

Elsewhere in Europe

Check out the European Master in Renewable Energy coordinated by the Eurec agency.

In India

University of Lucknow

In South Africa

Stellenbosch University

University of Cape Town

Save Our Communities

2009-02-23T00:31:00.005-05:00

Greening of Economies and Relocalization Food Systems

In January, I published an open letter to President Obama humbly giving him my unsolicited advice on what national policies he should follow in terms of national energy and sustainability policies. But what about local communities? What advice would I give local politicians, bureaucrats and community leaders?

First, I would suggest that the advice I give individuals would be useful for communities to promote. Communities are made up of individuals, after all. The more individuals within the community that are making wise choices in their lives, the better off the community as a whole will be. What advice do I offer individuals? See the following essays and newsletters:

Ways to get ready for the future - lists fifteen things you can do now to get ready for whatever the future holds in store.

What To Do Now - making wise choices, particularly in terms of personal finance and preparing for difficult times ahead.

Modern Victory Movement - building self-reliance, particularly in regards to raising a portion of your own food and scaling back your lifestyle.

The Resource Miser - regular series promoting energy and resource efficiency.

Life Forests - regular series on reforestation and growing trees for food and other renewable resources.

Next, I would recommend that the local powers-that-be concentrate on "greening" their local economies and relocalizing their food systems.

By "greening local economies", I mean making policy decisions and infrastructure improvements based on long-term sustainability, rather than just political expediency or short-term financial gain. Much can fall under this heading, including water, energy and transportation systems, preventing or even reversing urban sprawl, providing useful employment that pays a fair wage, and so forth.

By "relocalizing food systems", I mean working to shorten the travel distance of most of the food consumed by the citizens of a locality. Ideally, you should be working to provide all the basic food needs of your community within a 100-mile or so radius.

Local Sustainable Agriculture

Most of the food that citizens of Western nations eat is trucked or flown in from all over the world. For many people, the piece of fruit that they will eat today is much more a world-traveler than they are. In my local grocery stores (I'm in NC, USA) there are fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as frozen and canned goods, from places as far away as Chile, Peru, Argentina and the Philippines.

But what if you suddenly couldn't import your community's food from all over the globe? Could your community survive on only the food produced locally? The fact is there are many reasons why you may not be able to import large quantities of food in the future - everything from peak oil and sky-rocketing energy prices to world-wide food shortages to crop failures caused by disease or drought.

Communities should encourage people to produce a portion of their own food. This can be done by reviving the Victory Gardens idea of the first two world wars (see my Modern Victory Movement). Communities should also promote local sustainable agriculture.
Ways to Encourage Local Food Production

Promote the idea Victory Gardens (both private and community-based) and food co-ops.
Provide training courses in gardening and permaculture through local community colleges and agricultural extension offices.
Remove unnecessary restrictions on people growing their own food (maintaining needed restrictions to promote health & safety and prevent animal cruelty).
Remove unnecessary restrictions on local farmers selling their crops to local markets (often put in place due to lobbying by big agri-business).
Require that government food services (such as school lunch programs) spend an increasing portion of their budgets on locally produced food.
Encourage the formation of farmers markets.
Local relief agencies should provide vouchers or special debit cards for use at local farmers markets as part of their assistance programs.
Promote the health, economic and environmental benefits of low-meat diets (educational programs only - what people eat should be their choice).
Public tree-planting programs should include fruit and nut trees.
Support programs to capture organic waste (food scraps, animal & human manure, leaves & other yard waste, agricultural waste) for composting to improve soils.

Water Systems

Clean water is the invisible crisis and providing continuing supplies of clean water for local communities is perhaps the biggest challenge of the 21st century. Did you know that as much as a third of a typical city's water usage is flushing toilets? Various types of dry and composting toilets can greatly reduce this inefficient use of clean water. One of the shopping malls in my local area recently installed dry-flush urinals in its public restrooms, and they seem to be working perfectly.

Leaking pipes, not just in homes and businesses, but in the local water systems themselves, is a major problem that wastes huge amounts of water. Detection and elimination of such leaks should be a high priority. (Water conservation is the theme of two editions of my Resource Miser newsletters, RM #004 and RM #011.)

Local governments can also encourage water conservation by charging less per gallon to customers that use less water. In other words, a household that uses 100 gallons a month would be charged less per gallon than a household that uses 1000 gallons a month.

In my area, the water supply comes from two main sources - a lake and an nearby river. Local governments have actually been fairly pro-active in protecting these sources. Over the years they have surrounded the lake with a large municipal park, protecting it from development and pollution. And they have worked diligently protecting the river through a series of parks and conservation easements. Local governments depending on the river for water have come together to hire a "River Keeper" whose job is to patrol the river looking for illegal dumping and other threats.

Also in my area they are a couple of days a year (one is typically Earth Day and the other in the Fall) that are promoted as "waterway clean-up days". Individuals and community groups are encouraged to clean trash out of out local ponds, streams and wetland areas. This is heavily promoted in the local media, and local governments provide trucks and workers to haul off the trash that is collected.

Organic gardening, lasagna-style gardening, forest gardening and similar techniques utilizing compost and natural soil amendments instead of chemical fertilizers will protect local water supplies from dangerous chemical run-off. Also, these techniques typically utilize mulch and other ground cover which greatly reduces surface evaporation thus reducing the need for irrigation.

Transportation Systems & Building Community

National transportation systems should be focused on trains for the long distance movement of goods and people, rather than on trucks and cars. Local transportation systems should emphasize walkways & cycyling and natural gas & biofuel buses, as well as rail systems where appropriate. Car pooling and park-and-ride systems can be encouraged. Designing more compact communities is a big step to improving local transportation systems.

Urban sprawl is a major problem, especially here in the USA. The results of urban sprawl include increased public expense to expand & maintain road systems, increased use of fossil fuels, increased pollution and the loss of agricultural land.

Better planning is needed to make communities smaller, geographically speaking. The travel distances from home to work, home to markets, and home to schools need to be decreased. There will always need to be people living outside of urban areas in agricultural belts, but most of the population should be in high density communities. The growth of traditional suburbs should be discouraged by public policy, not encouraged.

Recreational and cultural opportunities should be promoted within communities. Local festivals and open-air concerts, parks, tennis courts, golf courses, hiking trails, libraries, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, historical sites and community theater are some of the opportunities for local entertainment that can be promoted. People should recognize that there are opportunities to enjoy vacations and holidays within their local regions.

Energy Policy

Energy issues loom large for most communities. Oil and coal are heavy polluters, and finite resources. Oil fields world-wide are already in decline. Communities must look to other sources of energy, preferably to clean, renewable sources. One valuable source is energy efficiency.

Amory Lovin of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues in favor of what he refers to as "radical resource efficiency" and points out that saving energy costs less than buying it. Radical resource efficiency is just what it sounds like - the act of achieving maximum efficiency in the use of resources, such as energy. This includes using energy efficient technology as well as designing and planning homes, businesses, communities and lifestyles in such a way as to achieve maximum efficiency.

"Without much effort, the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union could reduce their energy use by one-fifth, studies have found. That would add up to savings of roughly €60 billion ($79 billion) per year. Such huge sums become less abstract when broken down to household level: An average family could save from €200 to €1,000 by using their energy more efficiently." -- Alexander Jung, Why Conservation is the World's Best Energy Source

For more on resource & energy efficiency, please check out my Resource Miser newsletter.

Local governments can do much to encourage energy efficiency:

Start by making local government buildings & vehicle fleets as energy efficient as possible.
All vehicles purchased by local governments in the future should be electric, natural gas or flex-fuel (electric for small vehicles, natural gas or flex for trucks & buses).
Make energy efficiency a high priority in local building codes.
Reduce urban sprawl (see above).

Local governments should also encourage the development of clean renewable energy in their area. Clean renewable energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal and hyrdo (including wave & tidal). Biomass and biofuels are also renewable sources and cleaner than oil & coal. Hydrogen is often talked about, but highly problematic since it will require technological breakthroughs before it can become a real solution.

Building the infrastructure needed (smart grids) to transport the energy to the end-users and removing restrictions that prevent the development of renewable energy are the two most important ways governments can promote renewable energy in their regions. Tax-incentives and direct grants are two other possibilities.

Local community colleges and state universities should offer programs in renewable energy technology. Unemployment programs should include training in renewable energy.

Greening the Local Economy

Politicians and community leaders should look to encourage the development of a green economy in their area. But, exactly what is the green economy?

In short, the new green economy is based on clean renewable energy, energy & resource efficiency, recycling & resource recovery, clean water systems, sustainable agriculture and sustainable forestry. It includes both high-tech and low-tech industries and ideas. Some people also include ideas of social justice (living wages and so forth) in their definition of a green economy.

Communities already direct the development of their economies through tax-policy, infrastructure projects, zoning laws, business regulations and even active recruitment of businesses to their area. Communities should refocus their policies, planning and efforts towards promoting the new green economy.

All of the steps I've outlined above will help encourage the development of the green economy in your local area.

For more information, I highly recommend reading the press release from the Earth Policy Institute and Lester Brown, entitled New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States.

Lester Brown has written extensively on creating a green economy. Please visit the Earth Policy Institute website where you can download for free (.pdf format) Brown's most recent book, Plan B 3.0.

Also, I have designed the Next Strategies website to act as a portal to the green economy. On it you will find many essays and news articles on the green economy, as well as links to many job boards featuring "green-collar" job listings.

What To Do Now - five months later

2009-02-22T13:45:00.002-05:00

What To Do Now - five months later

The follow-up to my original essay has been published to the Sustainable Future website. It is very long and detailed, and will be controversial in a few places. But it takes into account developments over the last five months and my growing conviction that a time of super-inflation is on the horizon.

This is really a must-read for everyone and I highly encourage everyone to take the time to do so.

Other related essays that will be especially useful include:

Ways to get ready for the future - lists fifteen things you can do now to get ready for whatever the future holds in store.

Green jobs not just for scientists - A look at jobs in the green economy. Includes links to job boards with green job listings.

Top green jobs - A list of the top ten green jobs.

What is the green economy - My introduction to the green economy.

Educational programs in sustainable agriculture - Growing food in a sustainable way is a major part of the new green economy.

Tim's State of the Economy

2009-02-21T19:40:00.004-05:00

Back in the late 1970s, when I was just a kid (I turned 13 in 1979), my father subscribed to a couple of financial newsletters. The newsletters were quite gloomy in their outlook, predicating another Great Depression, the collapse of the US Dollar, even the end of the United States as a nation.

Remember, the US had just arguably lost its first war (Vietnam). OPEC had quadrupled the price of oil, and the US was still smarting from the oil embargo itself. USA oil production had peaked in the early 70s. The USA was no longer on the gold standard (to the utter horror of newsletters' authors) and had even stopped minting its coins in silver. Inflation and interest rates were double digit (Jimmy Carter's stagflation). Unemployment was on the rise. Nixon's disgrace was still firmly in the public's mind. Communism's march seemed unstoppable and the USA had just given away the Panama Canal. And I am sure there was even more bad news that I am leaving out.

Little wonder that many financial and political gurus of the day were predicting the imminent collapse of the US economy and political system. But, the predicted collapse never materialized.

Today we face a similar long list of negative headlines, and a long list of doomsayers predicting total collapse.

Doomsday predictions of the end of civilization have been around since civilization first began. It is a wonderful money-making industry for the doomsayers themselves, with books and newsletters to publish, lecture fees to collect and investment & survival advice to sell.

The only drawback is that they are wrong 99.99% of the time.

Comparisons to the Great Depression

One thing I keep hearing over and over from all the talking heads on TV and the radio is claims that we are in another Great Depression, or at least are getting close. I don't know if they are just getting caught up in hyperbole, or if they are truly ignorant of history, but the truth is we are not in a Great Depression, nor or we even close yet. Let's make a few factual comparisons:

In the Great Depression, GDP in the USA fell by about 50%. Since the current crisis began in late September, GDP has fallen by about 4%. The fall in US GDP needs to be about 12x greater than what has already occurred to reach the levels of the Great Depression.

In the Great Depression, unemployment in the USA reached about 25%. Current unemployment is 7.6%. The unemployment rate needs to triple to reach Great Depression levels. Incidentally, unemployment in the recession of early 1980s reached just a fraction under 10%, so we aren't even at those levels yet.

Will the drop in GDP loss increase 12x? Will unemployment triple from current levels?

I don't know. I am not making a prediction. I am merely pointing out that comparisons of where we are at the moment to the Great Depression are greatly overblown.

All Job Loss Is Very Personal

Understand that I am not saying things are great at the moment. They certainly are not. Things are especially difficult for people who are currently unemployed with little if any real savings. All job loss is very personal.

Times are difficult. And likely to get more difficult before they start to get better. But the advice I've given in the past holds true now: Don't Panic.

Don't Panic

In my essay What To Do Now (Sept. 28, 2008), I wrote:

Don't Panic. There is no doubt that we are in difficult economic times. There is also no doubt that the economic news is being sensationalized and fear is being used to sell newspapers, increase TV ratings and to push political agendas. Don't get overwhelmed by the hype. Instead, start working towards solutions. Acting to make positive changes, even small ones, will increase your confidence and encourage yourself, your family and your friends.

Causes For Concern

Despite my optimism, a serious analysis of what has occurred during the last several months raises many causes of concern. We got into this mess because of policy mistakes and corruption. The policy mistakes are being compounded by more policy mistakes and the corruption is going largely unpunished.

The US, as well as many governments around the world, are printing money as fast as possible. Currencies are being destabilized. Many governments, including the US, are taking on massive debts and obligations they cannot possibly afford in the long run. The US federal government's debt has tripled in the last six months. And that tripling is from what was already all-time highs.

This is setting up the potential for massive inflation just a few years down the road. Not just in energy and food, but in all commodities and consumer goods. Much higher taxation in the future, even for the lower and middle classes, is becoming unavoidable (though it is likely to come in forms other than income taxes).

What To Do?

Wondering how to protect yourself and your family for the hard times to come? My essays What To Do Now and Ways To Get Ready For the Future are excellent starting points for answers to that question.

I will also be publishing sometime tomorrow an update to What To Do Now, which will be very helpful to most people (I sincerely hope).

Good Luck,

Tim Gamble

Educational Programs in Sustainable Agriculture

2009-02-14T19:12:00.004-05:00

The following is a list of Colleges and Universities in the United States currently offering programs in sustainable agriculture. The list may not be complete since degrees and programs in sustainability are being added by many institutions to meet the demands of the green economy:

Central Carolina Community College
Sustainable Agriculture Program

Clemson University
Soils and Sustainable Crop Systems

College of the Atlantic
Food Systems Program

Colorado State University
Interdisciplinary Studies Program in Organic Agriculture

Iowa State University
Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture

Marshalltown Community College, Iowa
Entrepreneurial and Diversified Agriculture Program

McGill University
Ecological Agriculture Projects

Montana State University
Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems Program

North Carolina State University
Agroecology Minor Program

Ohio State University
Agroecosystems Management Program

Sterling College, Vermont
Sustainable Agriculture Major

University of California
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

University of California at Santa Cruz
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
Agroecology Home

University of Florida
Organic Agriculture Degree

University of Illinois
Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculture Program

University of Maine
Department of Plant, Soil, & Environmental Sciences

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Agriculture and Landscape Program

University of Missouri-Columbia
Sustainable Agriculture Emphasis Area

University of Montana
Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society (PEAS)

University of Vermont
Ecological Agriculture Major

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Agroecology Masters Program

University of Wyoming
Agroecology Program

Washington State University
Online Organic Agriculture Certificate

What is the Green Economy?

2009-02-04T16:10:00.006-05:00

Call it the “green economy”, the “eco-economy”, the “new energy economy” or any one of a number of other labels; “it” is a blazing hot topic. But what exactly is it?

In short, the new green economy is based on clean, renewable energy and radical resource efficiency, as well as sustainable agriculture and sustainable forestry. It includes both high-tech and low-tech industries and ideas. Many people also include ideas of social justice in their definition of a green economy.

I highly recommend reading the press release from the Earth Policy Institute and Lester Brown, entitled New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States.

Clean, Renewable Energy

Solar, including space-based solar
Wind
Geothermal
Hydro, including wave and tidal
Biomass
Biofuels (some potential problems)
Hydrogen (very problematic)
Nuclear (much argument over this one)

Radical Resource Efficiency

Amory Lovin of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues in favor of what he refers to as "radical resource efficiency" and points out that saving energy costs less than buying it. Radical resource efficiency is just what it sounds like - the act of achieving maximum efficiency in the use of resources, such as energy. This includes using energy efficient technology as well as designing and planning homes, businesses, communities and lifestyles in such a way as to achieve maximum efficiency.

"Without much effort, the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union could reduce their energy use by one-fifth, studies have found. That would add up to savings of roughly €60 billion ($79 billion) per year. Such huge sums become less abstract when broken down to household level: An average family could save from €200 to €1,000 by using their energy more efficiently." -- Alexander Jung, Why Conservation is the World's Best Energy Source

For more on resource efficiency, please check out my Resource Miser newsletter.

Will It Happen?

Is the green economy just a theory? A fad? Or is it actually happening?

It is happening. Let me give as few examples:

The Oregon Institute of Technology recently developed the country's first four-year undergraduate degree program in renewable-energy systems. In 2008, the program had 50 students and graduated its first class.

Vestas, a Danish wind-turbine manufacturer, is opening new plants in the USA even during these tough economic times – two in Colorado in the last year, employing over 2500 people.

Accoring to the article Good Paying Green Collar Jobs Growing in California: “Next 10, a not-for-profit research group in Palo Alto found that the green collar job sector rose by 10% between 2005 and 2007, while total job growth in the state of California was only at 1%, proving that green jobs are a significant factor in keeping Americans employed… the study also illustrated how clean-tech investment in the state hit a record last year, despite steep stock-market declines…”

For the effects that a major wind project has had on one small town, watch the short video on Sweetwater, Texas at the very bottom of this page (below the Bill Clinton video).

The Obama administration seems intent on helping expand the green economy through both the carrot (increased funding) and the stick (increased regulation).

Here is a quote from Dr. Stephen Chu, the new US Energy Secretary:

"If I were emperor of the world, I would put the pedal to the floor on energy efficiency and conservation for the next decade." -- Reuters interview, May 2007

Well, Dr. Chu is not the emperor of the world, but as the new Energy Secertary, he is in a position to help put the pedal to the floor.

Employment in the Green Economy

Green economy jobs are not just for scientists and engineers, but also farmers, forestry-workers, teachers & trainers, installers, mechanics, construction workers, salespeople and office workers. Check out my two recent articles Green Jobs Not Just for Scientists and Top Green Jobs.

Also, see the article How to Land a Green-Collar Job on the American Solar Energy Society website.

See Also

Opportunities in Energy Conservation

Clean Tech Is Only Hope for the Collapsing Economy

Chu Named US Energy Secretary

EPI Press Release: High-Speed Rail

2009-02-03T11:47:00.000-05:00

Earth Policy Institute
Plan B 3.0 Book Byte
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2009

RESTRUCTURING THE U.S. TRANSPORT SYSTEM:
THE POTENTIAL OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch11_ss5.htm

Lester R. Brown

Aside from the overriding need to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to stabilize climate, there are several other compelling reasons for countries everywhere to restructure their transport systems, including the need to prepare for falling oil production, to alleviate traffic congestion, and to reduce air pollution. The U.S. car-centered transportation model, with three cars for every four people, that much of the world aspires to will not likely be viable over the long term even for the United States, much less for everywhere else.

The shape of future transportation systems centers around the changing role of the automobile. This in turn is being influenced by the transition from a predominantly rural global society to a largely urban one. By 2020 close to 55 percent of us will be living in cities, where the role of cars is diminishing. In Europe, where this process is well along, car sales in almost every country have peaked and are falling.

With world oil output close to peaking, there will not be enough economically recoverable oil to support a world fleet expansion along U.S. lines or, indeed, to sustain the U.S. fleet. Oil shocks are now a major security risk. The United States, where 88 percent of the 133 million working people travels to work by car, is dangerously vulnerable.

Beyond the desire to stabilize climate, drivers almost everywhere are facing gridlock and worsening congestion that are raising both frustration and the cost of doing business. In the United States, the average commuting time for workers has increased steadily since the early 1980s. The automobile promised mobility, but after a point its growing numbers in an increasingly urbanized world offer only the opposite: immobility.

While the future of transportation in cities lies with a mix of light rail, buses, bicycles, cars, and walking, the future of intercity travel over distances of 500 miles or less belongs to high-speed trains. Japan, with its high-speed bullet trains, has pioneered this mode of travel. Operating at speeds up to 190 miles per hour, Japan’s bullet trains carry almost a million passengers a day. On some of the heavily used intercity high-speed rail lines, trains depart every three minutes.

Beginning in 1964 with the 322-mile line from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan’s high-speed rail network now stretches for 1,360 miles, linking nearly all its major cities. One of the most heavily traveled links is the original line between Tokyo and Osaka, where the bullet trains carry 117,000 passengers a day. The transit time of two hours and 30 minutes between the two cities compares with a driving time of eight hours. High-speed trains save time as well as energy.

Although Japan’s bullet trains have carried billions of passengers over 40 years at high speeds, there has not been a single casualty. Late arrivals average 6 seconds. If we were selecting seven wonders of the modern world, Japan’s high-speed rail system surely would be among them.

While the first European high-speed line, from Paris to Lyon, did not begin operation until 1981, Europe has made enormous strides since then. As of early 2007 there were 3,034 miles (4,883 kilometers) of high-speed rail operating in Europe, with 1,711 more miles to be added by 2010. The goal is to have a Europe-wide high-speed rail system integrating the new eastern countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, into a continental network by 2020.

Once high-speed links between cities begin operating, they dramatically raise the number of people traveling by train between cities. For example, when the Paris-to-Brussels link, a distance of 194 miles that is covered by train in 85 minutes, opened, the share of those traveling between the two cities by train rose from 24 percent to 50 percent. The car share dropped from 61 percent to 43 percent, and CO2-intensive plane travel virtually disappeared.

Carbon dioxide emissions per passenger mile on Europe’s high-speed trains are one third those of its cars and only one fourth those of its planes. In the Plan B economy, CO2 emissions from trains will essentially be zero, since they will be powered by green electricity. In addition to being comfortable and convenient, these rail links reduce air pollution, congestion, noise, and accidents. They also free travelers from the frustrations of traffic congestion and long airport security lines.

Existing international links are being joined by links between Paris and Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Paris, and a link from the Channel Tunnel to London that cuts the London-Paris travel time to scarcely two hours and 20 minutes. On the newer lines, trains are operating at up to 200 miles per hour.

There is a huge gap in high-speed rail between Japan and Europe on one hand and the rest of the world on the other. The United States has the Acela Express that links Washington, New York, and Boston, but neither its speed nor its reliability comes close to the trains in Japan and Europe.

China is beginning to develop high-speed trains linking some of its major cities. The one introduced in 2007 from Beijing to Shanghai reduced travel time from 12 to 10 hours. China now has 3,750 miles of high-speed track and plans to double this by 2020.

In the United States, the need both to cut carbon emissions and to prepare for shrinking oil supplies calls for a shift in investment from roads and highways to railways. In 1956 U.S. President Eisenhower launched the interstate highway system, justifying it on national security grounds. Today the threat of climate change and the insecurity of oil supplies both argue for the construction of a high-speed electrified rail system, for both passenger and freight traffic. The relatively small amount of additional electricity needed could come from renewable sources, mainly wind farms.

The passenger rail system would be modeled after those of Japan and Europe. A high-speed transcontinental line that averaged 170 miles per hour would mean traveling coast-to-coast in 15 hours, even with stops in major cities along the way. There is a parallel need to develop an electrified national rail freight network that would greatly reduce the need for long-haul trucks.

Any meaningful global effort to cut transport CO2 emissions begins with the United States, which consumes more gasoline than the next 20 countries combined, including Japan, China, Russia, Germany, and Brazil. The United States--with 238 million vehicles out of the global 860 million, or roughly 28 percent of the world total--not only has the largest automobile fleet in the world but is near the top in miles driven per car and near the bottom in fuel efficiency.

Three initiatives are needed in the United States. One is a meaningful gasoline tax. Phasing in a gasoline tax of 40¢ per gallon per year for the next 12 years and offsetting it with a reduction in income taxes would raise the U.S. gasoline tax to the $4–5 per gallon prevailing today in Europe. Combined with the rising price of gas itself, such a tax should be more than enough to encourage a shift to more fuel-efficient cars. The second measure is raising the fuel-efficiency standard from the 22 miles per gallon of cars sold in 2006 to 45 miles per gallon by 2020, a larger increase than the 35 miles per gallon approved by Congress in late 2007. This would help move the U.S. automobile industry in a fuel-efficient direction. Third, reaching CO2 reduction goals depends on a heavy shift of transportation funds from highway construction to urban transit and intercity rail construction.

# # #

For more information on restructuring transport systems, including the use of buses, bicycles, and congestion charging, see Chapter 10, “Designing Cities for People,” in Lester Brown’s latest book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, available on-line at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm

.

Adapted from Chapter 11, “Raising Energy Efficiency,” in Lester R. Brown, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), available for free downloading and purchase at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm

Top Green Jobs

2009-02-02T11:32:00.004-05:00

On the Fast Company website, Anya Kamenetz has an article entitled Ten Best Green Jobs of the Next Decade. You can read the article in full by clicking the link, but here is a list of her top ten:

1- Farmer - sustainable agriculture requires small-scale, local, organic methods rather than petroleum-based machines and fertilizers

2- Forester - Modern forestry a complex combination of international project finance, conservation and development.

3- Solar Power Installer - Installing solar-thermal water heaters and rooftop photovoltaic cells is a relatively high-paying job--$15 to $35 an hour--for those with construction skills.

4- Energy Efficiency Builder - not only skilled architects and engineers, but a workforce of retrofitters

5- Wind Turbine Fabricator - an opportunity for autoworkers and other manufacturers to repurpose their skills

6- Conservation Biologist - opportunities in teaching, research and fieldwork for government, nonprofits, and private companies

7- Green MBA and Entrepreneur - business services like legal, research and consulting account for the majority of all green jobs

8- Recycler - specialized companies that can close the loop by recycling and repurposing e-waste, clothing, plastic bags, construction waste, and other materials

9 - Sustainability Systems Developer - green economy needs a cadre of specialized software developers and engineers

10- Urban Planner - Employment in this sector is projected to grow 15 percent by 2016

Tim's Comments

I am not going to argue with her list, though if the new Obama administration holds true to their word on renewable energy and the green economy and does use the carrot-and-stick approach (more funding and more regulation), several of the sectors mentioned in the article may actually grow much faster than predicted.

I would point out that in addition to hiring the skilled workers, these companies will be expanding greatly over the next ten years and will need additional support staff - office workers, receptionists, janitors, accountants, bookkeepers, security guards, salespeople and the like. So even if you don't have the primary skills that these green companies are looking for, you may find that more traditional skills are also in great demand.

Additional Job Board

In case you missed it, yesterday's article included links to ten websites listing green jobs that are available in the USA, UK, Canada and around the world. These are actual jobs that companies are trying to fill right now. To that list of links, add the American Wind Energy Association's Careers in Wind job board, where you can view job listings in windpower and post your resume for potential employers to see.

Green Jobs Not Just for Scientists

2009-02-01T12:41:00.004-05:00

There has been much take lately of the need for a "green" economy, based on renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind, geothermal and biofuels, as well as resource efficiency (see New Energy Economy and Clean Tech Is Only Hope). There has also been much talk of the green jobs that would be created.

Many traditional workers are under the misconception that these green jobs are only for scientists, engineers or others with special training. Not so. People like construction workers, plumbers and electricians are needed to build new infrastructure and buildings, as well as retro-fit existing buildings. Mechanics are needed to retro-fit cars into hybrids and plug-ins. Manufacturing line jobs for wind turbines, solar panels and the like will be created. Many traditional occupations will be in high demand in a new green economy.

The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) issued a press release in January that looks at where we were, where we are, and where we are going in terms of the green job market. Click here to read that press release.

Other Resources of Interest

Wikipedia Entry for Green-Collar Worker

How to Land a Green Collar Job

Green Start Job Board (lists jobs with over 40 companies in the USA)

The Green Jobs Network (currently lists only UK jobs, but is set to expand worldwide)

Renewable Energy World (Worldwide job listings & "post your resume")

Sustainable Business (mostly jobs in USA, Canada and UK, but a handful elsewhere)

Grist Jobs Board (a small number of only USA job listings)

GreenBiz.com (mostly USA jobs, but a handful elsewhere)

ecojobs.com (seems to be mostly or entirely USA job listings)

Treehugger Job Board (mostly USA and Canada job listings)

Green Jobs (renewable energy jobs worldwide)

Sustain Jobs (seems mostly UK, but some USA & worldwide)

Small Business Guide to Energy Efficiency

2009-01-27T11:52:00.003-05:00

The US government has a website designed to help small businesses become more energy efficient - Small Business Guide to Energy Efficiency.

According to the website:
Whether you own your building or are a tenant, you typically need lighting, heating, air conditioning, power for office equipment, and other services to stay in business. This guide will help you:

Become more energy efficient
Understand cost savings from improved energy efficiency
Identify financial incentives for making energy efficient upgrades
Locate state and local government programs that provide financial and technical assistance to help small businesses adopt energy efficient technologies and green business practices

EPI Press Release: Energy Efficiency

2009-01-23T13:31:00.002-05:00

Recent press release from the Earth Policy Institute:

PLAN B EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION MEASURES DROP ENERGY DEMAND BY 2020

Lester Brown
January 6, 2009

Projections from the International Energy Agency show global energy demand growing by close to 30 percent by 2020, setting the stage for massive growth in the carbon dioxide emissions that are warming our planet. But dramatically ramping up energy efficiency would allow the world to not only avoid growth in energy demand but actually reduce global demand to below 2006 levels by 2020.

We can reduce the amount of energy we use by preventing the waste of heat and electricity in buildings and industrial processes and by switching to efficient lighting and appliances. We can also save an enormous amount of energy by restructuring the transportation sector. Many of the needed energy efficiency measures can be enacted relatively quickly and pay for themselves.

Buildings are responsible for a large share of global electricity consumption and raw materials use. In the United States, buildings account for 70 percent of electricity use and close to 40 percent of total CO2 emissions. Retrofitting existing buildings with better insulation and more-efficient appliances can cut energy use by 20 to 50 percent. A U.S.-based group of forward-thinking architects and engineers has set forth the Architecture 2030 Challenge, with the goal of reducing fossil fuel use in new buildings 80 percent by 2020 on the way to going entirely carbon-neutral by 2030.

Lighting also offers great opportunities for improving efficiency. Much of the energy we use for lighting today is wasted as heat rather than used for illumination, so switching to more-efficient lighting can have a quick payback. Swapping out conventional light bulbs for energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), for example, can cut energy use by 75 percent, saving money on electric bills. And CFLs last up to 10 times as long. The energy saved by replacing one conventional incandescent 100-watt bulb with a CFL over its lifetime is enough to drive a Toyota Prius hybrid from New York to San Francisco. If everyone around the world made the switch and turned to high-efficiency home, office, industrial, and street lighting, total world electricity use would fall by 12 percent, equivalent to the output of 705 coal-fired power plants.

Similar efficiency gains can be realized with household appliances. Take refrigerators, for instance. The average refrigerator in Europe uses about half the electricity of one in the United States. Beyond that, the most efficient refrigerators on the market use one fourth as much electricity as the European average.

Japan’s Top Runner Program takes the most efficient appliances on the market today and uses them to set the efficiency standards for tomorrow. Between 1997–98 and 2004–05, this program helped Japan boost the efficiency of refrigerators by 55 percent, air conditioners by close to 68 percent, and computers by 99 percent. This sort of program, which continuously encourages technological advancements, can serve as a model for the rest of the world.

Even the electricity drawn by appliances in “standby” mode, when they are not actively turned on, currently adds up to as much as 10 percent of total residential electricity consumption. Industry standards, like South Korea’s 1-watt standby limit for many appliances that will go into effect by 2010, push manufacturers toward energy-efficient design. Consumers can eliminate unnecessary electricity drain by unplugging electronics or by using improved “smart” power strips to stop electricity flow to appliances that are not in use.

Within the industrial sector, retooling the manufacture of the carbon emissions heavyweight--chemicals and petrochemicals (including plastics, fertilizers, and detergents), steel, and cement--offers major opportunities to curb energy demand. Recycling plastics and producing them more efficiently could cut petrochemical energy use by close to one third. More than 1 billion tons of steel are produced each year to be used in automobiles, household appliances, construction, and other products. Adopting the most-efficient blast furnaces and boosting recycling can cut energy use in this industry by close to 40 percent. For cement, the biggest gains can come from China, which produces close to half of the world’s 2.3 billion ton output--more than the next 20 countries combined. Just shifting to the most efficient dry kiln technologies, as used in Japan, could cut global energy use in the cement sector by more than 40 percent.

Well-designed transportation systems also play a prominent role in increasing energy efficiency. The car-dominated systems that at first offered mobility now more frequently yield congestion and pollution. Restructuring urban transportation systems around rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit (with designated lanes for buses), while making safety and accessibility for pedestrians and bicyclists a priority, not only deals with the problems created by the “car-is-king” mentality, it also saves energy.

Much of the energy savings in the transport sector come from electrifying rail systems and short-distance road travel, while turning away from petroleum products and toward renewable sources of energy. Mass transit is key. Intercity high-speed rail lines, as seen in Japan and Europe, can move people quickly and energy-efficiently, reducing car and air travel.

For personal vehicles, improved fuel economy is key. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) running primarily on emissions-free electricity generated by the wind and the sun would allow for low-carbon short-distance car trips. While most commuting and errands could be done solely on battery power, a backup fuel tank would allow for longer trips. Among the companies planning to come to market with a PHEV in the next several years are Toyota, General Motors, Ford, and Nissan. Combining a shift to PHEVs with widespread wind farm construction to supply electricity would greatly reduce oil consumption and carbon emissions and would allow drivers to recharge batteries with renewable electricity at a cost equivalent of less than $1 per gallon of gasoline.

Overall, investing in energy efficiency to offset increasing energy demand is often cheaper than expanding the energy supply to meet that demand. Efficiency investments typically yield a high rate of return and can help fight climate change by avoiding additional CO2 emissions.

In stark contrast to the International Energy Agency’s projected 30 percent growth in demand, realizing the Plan B efficiency measures alone would lead to a 6 percent decline in global primary energy demand from 2006 levels by 2020. Beyond these productivity gains, because producing power from fossil fuels generates large amounts of waste heat (and wasted heat equals wasted energy), shifting from fossil fuels to renewables, another key step toward stabilizing climate, would further reduce primary energy demand in the Plan B energy economy.

See Also

Plan B 3.0 - Lester Brown's most recent book entirely online for free in .pdf format.

The Resource Miser - Newsletter on resource and energy efficiency. Lots of great information and useful tips.

Three Ways to Save Big on Gasoline - Article by Tim Gamble.

Opportunities - Energy Conservation - Next Strategies article from November, 2008.

Want Cash? Save Energy! - Next Strategies Article from December, 2008.+

Rocky Mountain Institute - Promotes "radical resource efficiency" with a strong emphasis on market-based solutions.

Conservation vs. Efficiency: Sweaters Are Not the Answer - Opinion piece by Michael Potts on why energy efficiency is more effective than energy conservation.

Energy Efficiency - US Dept. of Energy website on energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy - Another website of the US Dept. of Energy.

Want Cash? Save Energy!

2008-12-08T12:55:00.004-05:00

Are you a politician or bureaucrat looking to balance a budget? A businessman looking to cut expenditures or increase cash flow? An entrepreneur looking for a business opportunity? Maybe "just" a homeowner struggling to make ends meet?

One of the greatest, and most overlooked, opportunities you have is energy efficiency. Governments, businesses and homes use, and pay for, lots of energy. Yet much, in some cases even a majority, of the energy paid for is wasted. For example, studies have shown that 25% to 40% of the energy used to heat and cool a typical home is wasted through leaks in the home's shell (ill-fitting windows, drafty doors, holes where pipes and wires enter the home, inadequate insulation, etc.). Buildings owned by businesses, and especially buildings owned by governments, are often much worse than homes.

"Saving energy costs less than buying it." -- Amory Lovins

There is a really great commercial running on TV regarding energy efficiency. The scene opens up on a young, apparently naive and idealistic, lady nervously presenting her boss, a practical middle-aged businessman, a report recommending a number of changes to achieve better energy efficiency for their company.

The boss, humoring his younger employee, patiently explains that those ideas are nice and will make the environmentalists happy, but he has to run his company in the real world. He then asks "Why should I sign off on this?" Obviously, he is not expecting a decisive answer.

The young lady responds by explaining that their company spends tens of millions of dollars on energy, and that those changes will save the company millions each year.

The boss, now with a stunned look on his face, asks "where do I sign?".

"Between 75 and 90 percent of the energy we consume is wasted due to bad design and poor choices." -- Michael Potts

Resources for Energy Efficiency

The Resource Miser - My series on radical energy and resource efficiency published to the Sustainable Future blog.

Rocky Mountain Institute - Promotes "radical resource efficiency" with a strong emphasis on market-based solutions.

Conservation vs. Efficiency: Sweaters Are Not the Answer - Opinion piece by Michael Potts on why energy efficiency is more effective than energy conservation.

Energy Efficiency - US Dept. of Energy website on energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy - Another website of the US Dept. of Energy.

Alliance to Save Energy - Promotes energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy - Making business sense of energy efficiency and pollution prevention.

Utah Clean Energy - Website for business energy efficiency in Utah. Many other states have similar organizations. Google your state + "business energy efficiency" or similar phrases.

"Without much effort, the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union could reduce their energy use by one-fifth, studies have found. That would add up to savings of roughly €60 billion ($79 billion) per year. Such huge sums become less abstract when broken down to household level: An average family could save from €200 to €1,000 by using their energy more efficiently." -- Alexander Jung

Opportunities

Radical energy and resource efficiency is one of the more important next strategies in building a sustainable future.

For politicians and others involved in public policy, this creates opportunities for leadership in the field of energy conservation. Planning and supporting energy conservation as a matter of public policy will pay huge dividends in balancing budgets, aiding the economy and in terms of national security.

For city managers and other bureaucrats who run various governments, this creates opportunities for substantial savings and balancing budgets.

For scientists and engineers, this creates opportunities for research and development of all sorts of new and improved technologies and systems.

For business leaders, this creates opportunities for saving money, building capital and improving cash flow.

For entrepreneurs, this creates significant opportunities for new businesses. Businesses involved in developing, manufacturing and selling new, energy efficient technologies, as well as those involved in teaching and consulting other businesses and governments in energy and resource efficiency.

For employees, this creates opportunities for well paying jobs in new industries.

For individuals and families, this creates opportunities to greatly reduce household expenses.

Start looking around and imagining all the new opportunities that radical energy conservation will create. And start considering how you can benefit from those opportunities.

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Solar Power

2008-11-11T11:50:00.004-05:00

This post is a follow-up to my Understanding the Solar Industry post from last week. Here is a recent press release on solar power from the Earth Policy Institute:

"After emerging in 2006 from 15 years of hibernation, the solar thermal power industry experienced a surge in 2007, with 100 megawatts of new capacity coming online worldwide. During the 1990s, cheap fossil fuels, combined with a loss of state and federal incentives, put a damper on solar thermal power development. However, recent increases in energy prices, escalating concerns about global climate change, and fresh economic incentives are renewing interest in this technology.
Considering that the energy in sunlight reaching the earth in just 70 minutes is equivalent to annual global energy consumption, the potential for solar power is virtually unlimited. With concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) capacity expected to double every 16 months over the next five years, worldwide installed CSP capacity will reach 6,400 megawatts in 2012—14 times the current capacity.

Unlike solar photovoltaics (PVs), which use semiconductors to convert sunlight directly into electricity, CSP plants generate electricity using heat. Much like a magnifying glass, reflectors focus sunlight onto a fluid-filled vessel. The heat absorbed by the fluid is used to generate steam that drives a turbine to produce electricity. Power generation after sunset is possible by storing excess heat in large, insulated tanks filled with molten salt. Since CSP plants require high levels of direct solar radiation to operate efficiently, deserts make ideal locations.

Two big advantages of CSP over conventional power plants are that the electricity generation is clean and carbon-free and, since the sun is the energy source, there are no fuel costs. Energy storage in the form of heat is also significantly cheaper than battery storage of electricity, providing CSP with an economical means to overcome intermittency and deliver dispatchable power.

The United States and Spain are leading the world in the development of solar thermal power, with a combined total of over 5,600 megawatts of new capacity expected to come online by 2012. Representing over 90 percent of the projected new capacity by 2012, the output from these plants would be enough to meet the electrical needs of more than 1.7 million homes.

The largest solar thermal power complex in operation today is the Solar Electricity Generating Station in the Mojave Desert in California. Coming online between 1985 and 1991, the 354-megawatt complex has been producing enough power for 100,000 homes for almost two decades. In June 2007, the 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One plant became the first multi-megawatt commercial CSP plant to come online in the United States in 16 years.

Today, more than a dozen new CSP plants are being planned in the United States, with some 3,100 megawatts expected to come online by 2012. Some impressive CSP projects in the planning stages include the 553-megawatt Mojave Solar Park in California, the 500-megawatt Solar One and 300-megawatt Solar Two projects in California, a 300-megawatt facility in Florida, and the 280-megawatt Solana plant in Arizona.

In Spain, the first commercial-scale CSP plant to begin operation outside the United States since the mid-1980s came online in 2007: the 11-megawatt PS10 tower. The tower is part of the 300-megawatt Solúcar Platform, which, when completed in 2013, will contain ten CSP plants and produce enough electricity to supply 153,000 homes while preventing 185,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually. All told, more than 60 plants are in the pipeline in Spain, with 2,570 megawatts expected to come online by 2012.

Economic and policy incentives are partly responsible for the renewed interest in CSP. The incentives in the United States include a 30-percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar through the end of 2008, which has good prospects for being extended, and Renewable Portfolio Standards in 26 states. California requires that utilities get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010, and Nevada requires 20 percent by 2015, with at least 5 percent from solar power. The primary incentive in Spain is a feed-in tariff that guarantees that utilities will pay power producers €0.26 (40¢) per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated by CSP plants for 25 years.

In the southwestern United States, the cost of electricity from CSP plants (including the federal ITC) is roughly 13–17¢ per kilowatt-hour, meaning that CSP with thermal storage is competitive today with simple-cycle natural gas-fired power plants. The U.S. Department of Energy aims to reduce CSP costs to 7–10¢ per kilowatt-hour by 2015 and to 5–7¢ per kilowatt-hour by 2020, making CSP competitive with fossil-fuel-based power sources.

Outside the United States and Spain, regulatory incentives in France, Greece, Italy, and Portugal are expected to stimulate the installation of 3,200 megawatts of CSP capacity by 2020. China anticipates building 1,000 megawatts by that time. Other countries developing CSP include Australia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

Using CSP plants to power electric vehicles could further reduce CO2 emissions and provide strategic advantages by relaxing dependence on oil. In Israel, a tender issued by the Ministry for National Infrastructures for the construction of CSP plants and a 19.4¢ per kilowatt-hour feed-in tariff for solar power systems are sparking interest in developing up to 250 megawatts of CSP in the Negev Desert. This would produce enough electricity to run the 100,000 electric cars that Project Better Place, a company focused on building an electric personal transportation system, is planning to put on Israeli roads by the end of 2010.

A study by Ausra, a solar energy company based in California, indicates that over 90 percent of fossil fuel–generated electricity in the United States and the majority of U.S. oil usage for transportation could be eliminated using solar thermal power plants—and for less than it would cost to continue importing oil. The land requirement for the CSP plants would be roughly 15,000 square miles (38,850 square kilometers, the equivalent of 15 percent of the land area of Nevada). While this may sound like a large tract, CSP plants use less land per equivalent electrical output than large hydroelectric dams when flooded land is included, or than coal plants when factoring in land used for coal mining. Another study, published in Scientific American in January 2008, proposes using CSP and PV plants to produce 69 percent of U.S. electricity and 35 percent of total U.S. energy, including transportation, by 2050.

CSP plants on less than 0.3 percent of the desert areas of North Africa and the Middle East could generate enough electricity to meet the needs of these two regions plus the European Union. Realizing this, the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation—an initiative of The Club of Rome, the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation, and the National Energy Research Center of Jordan—conceived the DESERTEC Concept in 2003. This plan to develop a renewable energy network to transmit power to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa calls for 100,000 megawatts of CSP to be built throughout the Middle East and North Africa by 2050. Electricity delivery to Europe would occur via direct current transmission cables across the Mediterranean. Taking the lead in making the concept a reality, Algeria plans to build a 3,000-kilometer cable between the Algerian town of Adrar and the German city of Aachen to export 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal power by 2020.
If the projected annual growth rate of CSP through 2012 is maintained to 2020, global installed CSP capacity would exceed 200,000 megawatts—equivalent to 135 coal-fired power plants. With billions of dollars beginning to flow into the CSP industry and U.S. restrictions on carbon emissions imminent, CSP is primed to reach such capacity." -- Jonathan G. Dorn, Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil, Earth Policy Institute, July 22, 2008

Additional Readings

Christoph Podewils, "The Sparkling Giants Awaken: Solar One is the First Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power Plant in Decades," PHOTON International, November 2007.

David R. Mills and Robert G. Morgan, Solar Thermal Electricity as the Primary Replacement for Coal and Oil in U.S. Generation and Transportation (Palo Alto, CA: Ausra, Inc., 2008).

Emerging Energy Research, Global Concentrated Solar Power Markets and Strategies, 2007-2020 (Cambridge, MA: November 2007).

Ken Zweibel, James Mason, and Vasilis Fthenakis, “A Solar Grand Plan: By 2050 Solar Power Could End U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil and Slash Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Scientific American, January 2008.

Rainer Aringhoff et al., Concentrated Solar Thermal Power – Now! (Brussels, Almeria, and Amsterdam: European Solar Thermal Industry Association, IEA SolarPACES, and Greenpeace International, September 2005).

Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, Clean Power from Deserts (Hamburg, Germany: The Club of Rome, 26 November 2007).

Other Links

Project Better Place

U.S. Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

U.S. Parabolic Trough Power Plant Database (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

U.S. Solar Maps (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)