The Green Jobs Act, part of the 2007 energy bill which Congress passed and President Bush signed in late 2007, will make $125 million a year available across the country to begin training workers for jobs in the clean energy sector. Adopting clean energy practices is critical to our state’s and nation’s well-being, but these efforts won’t succeed unless there are people who will actually do this work. For example, workers will be needed to install solar panels, develop alternative energy sources such as biofuels, and make buildings more energy efficient.

Some of the green areas in which opportunties are forcast in the coming years are:

• Energy retrofittng
• Food production using organic and/or sustainably grown agricultural products
• Furniture making from environmentally certified and recycled wood
• Green building
• Waste composting
• Hauling and reuse of construction and demolition materials and debris
• Hazardous materials cleanup
• Green landscaping
• Manufacturing of green products (like wind turbine blades and solar panels)
• Reuse and production of products made from recycled, nontoxic materials
• Solar installation and maintenance
• Retrofitting to increase water efficiency and conservation
• Whole home performance (i.e: ventilating and airconditioning; weatherization; etc.)
  

Career Kokua users interested in “green jobs” can click on the Career Kokua occupation titles that have a (green leaf icon) next to it to get more information about skills, knowledge, preparation, employment, outlook, and hiring practices. These are areas of employment that people are already working in today which may be considered green because of the focus or project in which they are involved. For example, constructing wind farms creates jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting relies, among others, on roofers, insulators and building inspectors. What makes these entirely familiar occupations “green” is that the people working in them are contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy.

Posted: August 26, 2010 @ 1:08 PM HST