Here’s the latest installment in our overview of careers and the green economy - enjoy!

• The top 10 hardest-working towns in America: The country may be filled with hardworking employees, but a new poll shows no one is working harder than the residents of Columbia, Mo The state’s fifth-largest city and the home of the University of Missouri took the top spot in a newly released list by Parade Magazine naming the “Top 25 Hardest-Working Towns in America.
• US Wind Power Surges: Boom Before The Bust?: Racing to beat the expiration of a key tax incentive, the U.S. wind industry installed 1,695 megawatts (MW) of new capacity in the first quarter of the year, a 52 percent increase over the same quarter in 2011,according to an industry trade group.The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said 788 turbines began generating power in 17 states in the first three months of the year as developers pushed to get new plants into service before the end of the year in order to qualify for the federal production tax credit.
• Green Jobs Must Ensure Gender Pay Equality Worldwide: Green jobs in the clean energy sector grew at twice the rate of jobs in the general economy during the peak of the recession from 2008–2010. While these new statistics tell a promising story for the growth of the green economy and nation’s job recovery as a whole, the potential for women to participate in this economic growth—both domestically and internationally—still remains unclear.
• ACCIONA to Install First 3 MW Turbines in North America: ACCIONA Windpower has announced that it will install two of its AW-3000/116, 3MW wind turbines this year in Cedar County, Iowa. The groundbreaking project, called Pioneer Grove, will be the first installation of the game-changing machine in North America.The Pioneer Grove Wind Farm is located nearest to the town of Mechanicsville, Iowa. Construction is expected to be complete in the second half of 2012. The renewable energy power plant has a long-term power purchase agreement with Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO).
• Clean Energy, Efficiency Continue To Spark Job Growth: How would you judge a program that invested $9 billion over three years and generated $44 billion in economic output, while supporting 52,000 to 75,000 jobs in the process? And over the long term, is expected to support about 5,000 jobs a year for the next few decades, as well as $1.8 billion a year in economic output? Sounds like a solid investment, right? But some in Congress would like you to overlook these numbers, from a new report by the Department of Energy, because the program in question was designed to fund renewable energy projects.
• MidAmerican Solar and First Solar Start Construction on Largest Solar Project in the World: MidAmerican Solar and First Solar have marked the start of major construction at Topaz Solar Farms, located in San Luis Obispo County, California. The 550-megawatt photovoltaic project will employ approximately 400 workers during its three-year construction period; will generate nearly $417 million in local economic impact, the majority of which will be generated during construction; and will provide California with renewable electricity. When complete, the Topaz project will be the largest solar electric power plant in the world, providing enough energy to power approximately 160,000 average California homes.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2012 at 10:01 am and is filed under Solar energy, Wind energy, Places to live, Green job opportunities, Finding green jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.