Yesterday, at the White House, President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States. The 183 projects in 43 states will generate more than 17,000 high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturingof advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind, and efficiency and energy management technologies. This investment will be matched by as much as $5.4 billion in private sector funding likely supporting up to 41,000 additional jobs.
Wind power is currently the fastest growing renewable energy source. Wind turbines are constantly getting taller because everyone knows the higher you get off the ground, the stronger the wind speeds and the more power that can be obtained. At higher altitudes, wind is also more constant. However, building big towers is not only very expensive, but also not possible due to the weight of the tower. This is where kites come into play.
Stephen Hinton, provides a compilation of professionals that will see growth as the US economy goes green. He predicts that those in STEM professions (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will experience the most job security.
2010 will see extended range plug in hybrids — as well as all electric vehicles start to hit the road in significant numbers. The plugin hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a primarily an electric vehicle with a small non-electric motor to extend their range; it is more of an electric vehicle and less of a gas powered vehicle than current hybrids. This post examines some of the main players in this emerging electic vehicle sector.
While the scientific evidence for climate change grows, the policy responses have so far had little or no impact on the build-up of emissions. Following the recent developments in Copenhagen, there are few signs that this will change in the near future. With this in mind, this article examines why there is still such a gap between what science says is needed, and what is actually achieved through policy.
The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center recently conducted a survey of state businesses, the Green Jobs Report that found that nearly five percent of the state’s total employment, or more than 130,000 job positions, are now part of the green economy sectors. These numbers are also expected to rapidly grow as soon as the general economy begins to recover.
Anaerobic Digestion is one of the more promising biological technologies for sustainable waste management and has the potential to turn a large and worsening agro-headache into a growing opportunity for sustainable farming. It can extract useful biogas energy and high quality fertilizer from manure and other problematic agro waste products while also reducing the air and water pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases from a farming operation. Anaerobic Digestion harnesses natural living biological processes to maintain the natural carbon cycle and extract useful energy and fertilizer byproducts from what had been problematic waste streams. It is well suited for many types of farming operations and is an important sustainable farming practice.
UPDATE: Department of Agriculture announced a public/private partnership to help spread the use of anaerobic digester technology in dairy operations with the goal of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020.
