Guest Blog: Why Green is the Next Great Job Market
Published: Apr 05, 2010
In case you've been living under a rock lately, the talk of green jobs by the media, the government and others has become a very hot topic.
There is good reason for this optimism. Right now, we are in the earliest stage of this new green economy. It's kind of like 1996, when the internet was just starting to create a dot com frenzy. Were it not for the great recession we'd be even farther along than we are now.
When the head of one of the world's largest venture capital firms calls green tech the "greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century" people tend to listen. John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins made those comments on 60 Minutes in February.
So here are seven facts that prove why "green" is the next great job market.
1. The private sector views the clean energy economy as a significant opportunity. Venture capital investment in clean technology reached a total of about $12.6 billion by the end of 2008. In 2008 alone, investors directed $5.9 billion into American businesses in this sector, a 48% increase over 2007 investment totals.
2. The U.S. government has invested 80 billion dollars for research and development of clean energy technology.
3. Legislation in certain states is being passed to require a certain percentage of renewable energy use.
4. Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley fuel cell start-up has received $400 million in VC funds. When is the last time a start-up got that much cash?
5. The country has never been more energy conscious than it is today. People want to save money by being more energy efficient.
6. The number of jobs in America's emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two-and-a-half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007.
7. The U.S. will eventually adopt a national standard mandating that we use renewable energy.
Suffice to say, green jobs are coming. Will you be ready?
#######---Chris Russell is a ten year veteran of the online job search business. His latest project is GreenJobSpider.com: the search engine for green jobs.