Where are California's green jobs?
What are green jobs and where are they? Californians can begin to find out thanks to a new mapping website from the Environmental Defense Fund that allows them to search out companies that retrofit homes for energy efficiency, manufacture parts for renewable energy systems, build electric cars or process advanced fuels. And they can search by city, county or congressional district.
Why congressional district? Well, that would be so constituents could tell their representatives how much green business is at stake when they decide how to vote on American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, the sweeping legislation that seeks to control global warming emissions while creating green jobs. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), is expected to reach the floor of the House of Representatives by July 4.
Click on the congressional district of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Orange) for instance, and one can count more than 40 green businesses, including Catalina Solar & Wind in Avalon, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. in Seal Beach, and Doran Electric Vehicles in Huntington Beach.
This would be the same Congressman Rohrabacher who sent out a press release this week calling climate legislation "The Biggest Power Grab in History" and touting himself as "among Congress' most outspoken opponents of global warming alarmism."
"Public officials, environmentalists and businesses have not been effective in conveying the message that green is going to be good for the economy," said Derek Walker, director of EDF's California Climate initiative. "Everyone is worried where the next jobs are going to come from. These maps tell us."
The maps are "a work in progress," Walker said. More businesses will be added to the 2,200 counted so far, and others can be added by contacting EDF through their web page.
So far, among counties, Los Angeles ranks at the top, with 398 green businesses, followed by San Diego with 208, Orange with 202, Santa Clara with 173 and Alameda with 131.
-- Margot Roosevelt
Photo: Solar panels atop the Anaheim Convention Center. Credit: Los Angeles Times
There are plenty of jobs out there. My company (www.pvsolarsalestraining.com) specializes in training professionals in solar sales and placing them in jobs. I know from talking to contractors all over the country that jobs are available. If you want to start your own business, there are countless opportunities. Right now it's just getting ready to explode.
Posted by: Brandon Best | July 06, 2009 at 04:47 PM
Doran Electric vehicles - wow they sell PLANS to make your own electric vehicle, real high value stuff. WOW
Catalina Solar and Wind - yet another prodigy of a taxpayer rip off to sustain an unsustainable business. Wonder where those tax dollars are now? homeless people starving in the streets so some idiot can put solar panels on his roof and brag to his friends in AVALON, that's Catalina Island.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp - remember T. Boone Pickens from a few months ago? Oil mogul who tried to push through some legislation to make himself even fatter and richer? CEFC is this guy's company, $129 mil in Rev's -40 mil EBITDA, another taxpayer boondoggle while you are losing your healthcare and your job.
Posted by: keith | June 22, 2009 at 11:27 PM
Why does being a conscientious conservationist who's environmentally aware automatically equate with being an unquestioning member of the hysterical herd that has canonized Al Gore. I am the former and decry the latter for marginalizing those who genuinely believe in the conservation of our natural resources and don't parrot the radical "sky is falling" enviromentalist manifesto based on shaky evidence that, to many, has become a substitute for religion. Beleieve it or not, one can care for our resources and work to conserve them without becoming a solar-powered, vegan automoton in the process.
Posted by: MDWhite | June 12, 2009 at 10:53 AM
If you want to know why Los Angeles County has the highest number of green companies in California, check out EDF's Los Angeles Greenprint report: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=41571
It shows that Southern California alone has more than 1,000 green companies.
It also details how the implementation of Green LA and Solar LA initiatives proposed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected produce high-quality green jobs for people living in the Los Angeles area.
The LA Greenprint report shows that if LA just implements its environmental policies already on the table, it will create good, green jobs in the local economy, while also emerging as an environmental leader in the fight against climate change.
Posted by: Erica Fick | June 03, 2009 at 03:40 PM