Last week when Van Jones was announced as the green jobs advisor, another green jobs news story seemed to get ignored completely.  The Institute for Energy Research released their latest study that states that green jobs are grossly over hyped and that the United States and even the United Nations over exaggerated the potential of new jobs in areas like wind energy and solar energy.  There central tenant and the basis for their opinion is centered around the notion that we are simply replacing  jobs and not adding jobs.  They claim that we will be taking jobs from the coal industry and other polluting industries to create jobs in renewable energy.

As I was reading their study, I was scratching my head and thinking how stupid are these guys.  I am really, they are completely missing the point.  When Obama talks anout the growth in green jobs, that is what he is talking about, not the growth of the entire energy industry.  Hey, Institute, YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT!

Eliminating coal and other polluting jobs is a GOOD thing for the environment and our country.  I guess the problem is that it is not a good thing for your little “think tank”

As somebody on the inside of the green jobs movement, I can say with authority that Green Jobs are not over hyped.  If anything, I think that the numbers will be higher than previously reported.

What do you guys think?

Today’s featured green job is from First Solar.  I wrote about First Solar last week in reference to a search that was ongoing for a Commodity Purchasing Manager, that position is still available.  First Solar is also looking for a MES analyst.

For those who do not know, First Solar is one of the top companies in the renewable energy space and they have been hiring continuosly and have plans to soon accelerate their hiring initiatives.  The company makes solar panel modules that are used in solar energy plants.

The job of MES analyst involves the design and management of the manufacturing execution services.  I strong knowledge of Wonderware ArchestrA is required.

For more information on this job and other green manufacturing jobs please visit our green jobs board

I received an email over the weekend that asked, “If green jobs are so hot, where are they?”

Barak Obama promised 5 million jobs and if you are unemployed or looking to get involved in the green collar industry you may also be wondering where all these jobs are.  This prompted me to take a look at the job postings on my job board and I also looked across other job boards to get a sense of what types of green companies are hiring right now and also what the most popular job categories are.  Here is what I found:

There are a larger percentage of green jobs available at emerging green companies than larger established companies.  Green clean tech companies are growing at the fastest pace.  Companies that are developing things like fuel additives are growing quickly right now.  Companies that develop tools to reduce energy level or increase energy efficiency are also hiring today.

The two main areas of hiring are in sales and marketing positions and engineering.  These two areas account for almost 60% of the current openings on our job board and about 70% of the open job requisitions that are firm is working on.

For green sales jobs or green engineering jobs take a look at our job board

As a service to our readers, each day we feature a green job from a well respected green company.  Today’s job of the day is from Kleinfelder.  Kleinfelder is a leading project management and engineering firm with a growing presence in wind farm development.

Kleinfelder is looking for a Geologist/Environmental consultant in their Albuquerque, NM location.  The ideal candidate will have 5 years of experience in environmental projects.

Scope of the position includes: obtaining soil and groundwater samples, managing field activities and developing proposals.

For more information and to apply for this job, please visit our green jobs board

Follow us on twitter-   twitter.com/greenjobscene

Today’s green job of the day is from Shell Wind Energy. You may know Shell as a large oil player, same company, different division. Shell had poured a ton of money into wind energy projects over the last couple of years and has grown to be one of the top companies leading the way in creating emission free electricity.

Shell Wind Energy is looking for Site Supervisor to ensure reliability and perform data analysis at their Lamar, Colorado facility.

For more information on this and other wind energy jobs , please visit our green job board

This has been a monumental week for the green movement, but for some in New Mexico, they were dealt a major blow yesterday. You all know that my major crusade in green jobs training and integrating green curriculum into high schools and community colleges, that is why I am so upset at what transpired yesterday. The New Mexico Legislature decided to vote against funding a green jobs training curriculum at Mesalands Community College. If this bill had been passed, the college would have received much needed funds for tuition, books and child care. This would have beefed up Mesaland’s green job programs. They already offer a wind energy training program that prepares students for a career as a wind energy technician. If this bill would have passed, it would have given appropriations for schools that offer these types of green initiatives.
This is very disturbing to me because job training is critical for the growth of the green collar industry. I am shocked at the lack of vision and leadership shown by the “leaders” in New Mexico.

Ok, now it is official, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released their official statement through the AP wire that Van Jones would indeed head up the green jobs initiatives. The green bloggers were humming yesterday as this was probably one of the biggest green news stories ever. It was certainly the biggest since I started blogging about green issues. I am not sure, but I think that I was the first to break the story. When I received the inside tip, I googled Van Jones and “green czar and other variations of that search term and I found 0 posts. About an hour after my post, there were about a dozen, including the Huffinton Post and GreenDig. It seems that GreenDig is getting all the credit for breaking the story, which is fine with me, he had been blogging longer and their blog is more established. I wanted to post a video below from last weeks conference that includes a presentation from Mr. Jones.

Has Van Jones been named the green jobs czar by the Obama administration?  I am not sure, as there has been no official announcement made.  I have heard from 2 of my close friends who are in the know and have contact with Van that he was selected on Friday to head up the green jobs movement.  I expect that this will be confirmed soon but I wanted to get this post out as soon as possible.  Van Jones is one of the leading voices in the green jobs movement and founder of Green for All.  I am a big fan of Van and I think he is the man for the job.  I will update this post once I have confirmation.

Here is a recent video of Van speaking at a rally:

Today’s featured green job in from Exterran.  Exterran is the newly branded name of the combined companies of Hanover Compression and Universal Compression.  When these two companies combined, they created the world’s largest contract compression equipment company.  This is a company that is rapidly shifting their focus to alternative energy and sustainable energy projects.  They are growing in all areas of their business and have immediate needs in their manufacturing facility located in Houston, TX.

They are looking for multiple Hydro Technicians to perform the hydro testing of their manufactured products.

For more information on this green manufacturing job or to view all of our green jobs , check out our green job board

I just read a great article by Time magazine about the increase in green jobs.  The article discusses  a recent green jobs career fair at Columbia University that was attended by over 1,300 students, more than twice the amount that attended last year.  I was there as a green career coach answering questions and providing information and advice pertaining to green jobs.  The thing that really stands out to me is how passionate these students are to get involved with a career that matches their ideals.  The problem is that although green jobs are one of the fastest growing areas for job growth, the competition is fierce.  As my colleague Karen Marcus is quoted as saying, “We are finally mainstreaming green careers.”   This is true and one of the reasons why students will have a hard time landing positions.  Many people with experience are competing for entry level jobs in the green industry.

Here is a link to the Time article

Here is a link to our green job board