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Mark your calendar
The Southern Growth Policies Board is hosting a webinar on the Clean Energy Economy in the South on December 3, 2009 at 11:00 AM EST and is free for participants. The information from the Southern Growth Policies Board is below including the registration link.

Webinar: Clean Energy Economy in the South
a report from the Pew Center on the States
Kil Huh, Director of Research
December 3, 2009
11:00 AM EST

In June 2009, the Pew Center on the States released a state-by-state analysis that estimates the number of jobs in the Clean Energy Economy from 1998 to 2007 and found that jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a faster rate than all jobs combined.

This webinar presented by Southern Growth Policies Board will feature Kil Huh, Director of Research at the Pew Center on the States. Huh will discuss the results of the report in terms of findings, implications, and opportunities for the South.

The webinar is FREE, but pre-registration is required. Register here.

Yesterday I saw Clint Wilder speak at Cooley Godward’s Clean Tech Conference in Redwood City, CA.  Clint and Ron Pernick wrote an excellent book, named The Clean Tech Revolution.  So, I was particularly interested to hear what Clint had to say.  Clint reviewed his group’s recently released report on Clean Tech Job Trends 2009, which can be downloaded for free.  It’s a great report that is worth reading.  Highlights include the following:

• Clean-energy jobs accounted for 770,000 jobs in the U.S. during 2007, which is impressive compared to mature industries.  Biotech, for example represents 200,000 jobs, telecommunications has 989,000 jobs and traditional energy counts $1.3 million jobs.  Furthermore, clean energy jobs are growing faster than jobs in other sectors.
• Top-five sectors for cleantech job activity based on job placement, job postings and other metrics: solar, biofuels & biomaterials, conservation & efficiency, smart grid and wind power.
• Importantly, cleantech careers offer competitive wages and provide opportunities to traditionally disenfranchised worker segments.  The median pay for a solar energy installer, for example, is $40,000, and wind turbine technicians tend to earn over $52,000. The New York Times’ blog picked up on this point and wrote about it Thursday.
• The cleantech revolution is producing jobs throughout the United States and rest of the world.  There is no one center of activity, like Silicon Valley.  Solar PV manufacturing centers of expertise can be found in Toldedo OH.  Wind turbine manufacturing is happening in Newton, IA.  Green building design services job centers are located in St. Louis, MO.
• Cleantech opportunities are touching hard-hit communities.  Old manufacturing facilities are being retrofitted from old-line industry roles to new cleantech activities in places like West Branch, IA; Vandergrift, PA; and Wixom, MI.
• Energy efficiency investing produces a lot of bang for the buck.  The number of U.S. direct jobs created per million dollar investment in building retrofits and smart grid is greater than the direct jobs created in the coal industry by a factor of 8:1 and 5:1 respectively.

Clint and his team did a good job in providing more detail on the much-discussed green jobs movement.  While most everyone recognizes the green jobs trend is real, we need reports like these to make the movement better understood and more concrete.

Alan Kelley

Welcome to SJF Advisory Services’ “green jobs” blog, greeneconomynow.org! This site will feature regular posts about SJF’s various activities and initiatives, as well as news and views on the burgeoning field of “green” and sustainable jobs. We welcome your feedback so we can make this site as informative and interactive as possible.

If you’re new to SJF or if it has been awhile since you’ve followed us, here’s an overview: SJF Advisory Services is a nonprofit firm that offers entrepreneurial, workforce and sustainability assistance services to SJF prospect and portfolio companies. SJF seeks to rapidly diffuse those entrepreneurial strategies to help build a more sustainable economy. SJF Advisory Services has helped 1,500 entrepreneurial companies through workshops and direct advisory services.

SJF Ventures is an affiliated venture capital fund headquartered in Durham, NC and with offices in New York and San Francisco. We invest in areas such as renewable energy and efficiency, organic and healthy consumer products, digital media and marketing services and electronics recycling. Also, we partner with entrepreneurs who are committed to impacting the world positively through the businesses that they are creating. Our two funds have invested in 29 companies that now have aggregate revenues of $500 million, 128 facilities, and 4,600 employees.

Since forming 10 years ago, SJF has been a leader in investing in companies with cleantech and green jobs innovations which drive financial performance. We invest in companies that offer good wages and benefits and that boost areas in need of economic and community development.

Want to learn more about SJF? Please visit our Web site, www.sjfadvisory.org. And stay tuned for more news and information, including reports about our “Summit on the New Green Economy,” to be held in our hometown of Durham, NC, June 2-3.

We encourage you to link to us on your blog and let us know what you think.

Thanks for reading!