There are a wide variety of professions available in the renewable energy industry. This fact can make it challenging to find the right professional niche, but it also provides the opportunity for individuals with many different types and degrees of training to get involved with renewable energy.

Some jobs—such as those in communications, community outreach, sales/marketing, and business support (e.g., corporate planning and finance, accounting, human resources, law, and information technology)—can be found in almost every renewable energy field. Other jobs are specific to individual renewable energy technologies, as shown in the following discussion of the five main renewable energy power sources: wind, solar, bioenergy, geothermal, and hydropower.

Wind Power

People have been using energy from the wind for hundreds of years. Windmills have been used for pumping water or grinding grain. And today, the windmill’s modern equivalent—a wind turbine—can use the wind’s energy to generate electricity. A single, small- or intermediate-sized wind turbine can generate enough electricity to power a house or farm, while a number of large, utility-scale wind turbines can form wind plants or wind farms that generate enough electricity for tens of thousands of homes.

As the cost of generating electricity from wind power continues to fall, many electricity providers are starting to view wind as an attractive, renewable alternative to fossil fuels (such as coal and natural gas), which are not renewable. The wind industry has grown at a rate of 25 percent per year, making wind power the fastest-growing source of electricity-generation in the world during the 1990s. Although Europe has experienced the majority of growth in the wind industry, the United States installed 905 megawatts (MW) of capacity in 1999—a record year for new wind projects. The nation’s total wind capacity reached 2500 MW in December 1999 and is expected to approach 5000 MW by the end of 2001.

Jobs in Wind Power
The wind industry employs both professional and skilled workers in a number of different capacities. New wind projects require people with business, meteorological, and engineering experience to plan and build projects. Meteorologists help engineers identify appropriate sites with suitable wind conditions. Engineers then design the wind plant, working with the utility companies and communities. Construction workers are needed to build the wind plant. And mechanical and electrical technicians, called “windsmiths,” are required to operate and maintain the wind turbines.

Both industry and research laboratories constantly try to improve the design and efficiency of wind turbines. These research and development (R&D) groups generally employ mechanical, electrical, and aeronautical engineers with advanced degrees, as well as experienced technicians. However, others with technical backgrounds may also find jobs.

Solar Power

Anyone who has visited Florida in July knows that the sun can produce heat. And in 1839, French physicist Edmund Bequerel discovered that sunlight could also produce electricity (known as the photoelectric effect). Knowledge of the sun’s ability to produce both heat and electricity has led to the invention of numerous technologies for capturing the sun’s energy. The most common technologies produced and used in the United States today include photovoltaics, concentrating solar power (also known as solar thermal electric) systems, solar hot water systems, and passive solar building design.

Photovoltaics
Photovoltaic (PV) cells, also known as solar cells, produce electricity directly from sunlight. When a PV cell is exposed to the sun, the cell, which is made of semiconductor materials, absorbs a portion of the light that strikes it. If the energy from the absorbed light strikes electrons in the outer shell of an atom, these electrons are freed from their parent atoms. Free electrons can then travel into a circuit in the form of electricity. PV cells can be hooked together to meet many different types of electricity requirements, from pumping water to operating calculators and watches, and lighting homes and communities.

PV has traditionally been used in locations where it is expensive or impossible to send electricity through power lines. An increasing number of utility companies are experimenting with using PV to fill their small or more expensive power needs. Some homeowners and commercial building owners are integrating PV systems into their building designs to offset utility power demand and improve power reliability.

The growing demand for reliable electricity internationally has contributed to the growth of the U.S. PV industry—approximately 70 percent of PV systems manufactured in the United States are sold to other countries.

Concentrating Solar Power
Although the mechanics of each method differs, all three concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies—parabolic troughs, power towers, and parabolic dishes—use mirrors to focus incoming sunlight onto a receiver. The receiver collects the sun’s energy in the form of heat, which can then be used directly or converted into electricity using a generator.

These technologies are currently in different stages of development. Troughs have a proven track record as a technology that can function effectively for large-scale power needs (such as those of a utility company) and are currently the least expensive way to produce solar electricity. Power towers have also demonstrated an ability to function on a large, utility scale, while parabolic dish systems, still under development, show promise for small-scale projects.

CSP technologies have caught the attention of some U.S. utility companies, as well as others interested in tapping into the projected consumer demand for green power supplies, even though the cost of using these technologies to generate electricity is still somewhat high.

Solar Hot Water
Energy from the sun can also be used to heat water for buildings and swimming pools. Solar water heating systems for buildings typically include a solar collector, in which fluid is heated by the sun, and a storage tank, which holds the hot fluid after it has been heated by the collector. Systems using fluids other than water require the additional step of passing water through a heat exchanger to heat the water. Swimming pool systems are very simple; they generally consist of collectors made of black plastic or rubber through which pool water is pumped to be heated.

Advances in solar hot water technology for buildings have dramatically cut the cost of solar water heaters from about $.20 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 1980 to $.08 to $.10 per kWh in 2000. As a result, solar hot water systems are increasingly being installed in schools, hospitals, prisons, and other government-owned facilities across the country. However, the number of solar hot water systems purchased in the United States is still quite small compared to the number purchased in the rest of the world. In 1997, for example, Americans purchased approximately 25,000 systems. Of the systems purchased, the majority were for heating residential swimming pools.

Passive Solar Building Design
Building orientation, types of construction materials, glass selection, and architectural features all affect the overall energy performance of a building. For a passive solar building, designers consider these features early in the design process along with taking advantage of solar energy to heat and light a building. They also design the building to be cool in summer.

It may cost more to design a passive solar building, but the savings achieved from decreasing the size of the mechanical and electrical systems to heat/cool and light the building, as well as energy cost savings, more than make up the difference.

Jobs in Solar Power
Growth of the solar power industry creates high-wage, skilled jobs throughout the country for individuals with many different types of training. R&D groups at national laboratories, universities, and private companies develop and continually improve solar products to lower their costs and improve their reliability. Individuals employed in solar R&D generally have professional degrees in electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering; materials science, and/or physics. Many of the people involved with technologies that are still under development, such as parabolic dish systems, focus on R&D.

As each technology progresses from the R&D phase toward full-scale commercialization, an increasing number of both professional and skilled workers are needed to sell, manufacture, design, install, and maintain equipment. The PV and solar hot water industries currently employ the majority of these workers, including electricians, engineers, technicians, and technical managers. As utility-scale CSP technologies become commercially viable, the CSP industry will eventually require an increasing number of these workers, as well as engineers and construction workers to design and build power plants. The passive solar industry involves many of these professions as well, but also employs architects and builders.

Bioenergy

The energy stored in biomass (organic matter) is called bioenergy. People have been burning biomass, such as trees and straw, to cook and warm themselves for thousands of years. Today we not only heat 25 million homes with wood, we also produce 10.2 billion watts of electricity (less than 1 percent of what we use as a nation) from wood waste and waste from other biomass. And we derive up to 0.4 percent of all our transportation fuels (about 1.5 billion gallons) from corn, which is used to produce ethanol.

While we have always used wood and other biomass for heat, the production of electricity and fuels has grown from virtually nothing 20 years ago to what it is today, helping bioenergy become second only to hydropower as the largest source of renewable energy in the world. In addition, we use biomass instead of petroleum to produce between 11 to 15 billion pounds of consumer products, including plastics, glues, furniture, paints, and chemicals.

But as bioenergy technologies and biobased products stand poised to help achieve energy independence for our nation, the conversion of biomass into fuels and products still remains more difficult than the processes used for petroleum or coal.

Jobs in Bioenergy
Universities, national laboratories, and industry are working together to find solutions to the difficult problems surrounding the production and use of biomass for energy and products. These R&D efforts require chemists, agricultural specialists, microbiologists, biochemists, and engineers, just to name a few.

Biofuel, biopower, and biobased product plants are most cost-effective when located near their source of biomass. Thus, bioenergy industry development has a special appeal because it creates direct and indirect jobs in rural areas of the country, and may prove to be a profitable complement for many existing agricultural and forestry businesses.

Engineers and construction workers are needed to design and build bioenergy plants, while electrical/electronic and mechanical technicians, engineers (mechanical, electrical, and chemical), mechanics, and equipment operators are needed to run and maintain these plants. Some may even require individuals cross-trained in areas such as engineering and biology, or chemistry and agriculture.

Jobs in bioenergy today cut across a wide spectrum of specialties and skills. And if R&D and industrial efforts succeed in making bioenergy more commercially profitable, we may see a dramatic increase in the number of bioenergy-related jobs. We’ll need more farmers and foresters to produce and harvest biomass resources, more truckers to transport the resources to the power and fuel plants, and more operators to run facilities.

Geothermal Energy

Heat from the earth, called geothermal energy, is yet another renewable energy resource that people have used over the years. Geothermal energy heats water seeping into underground reservoirs, which can then be tapped for a variety of uses.

Low to medium temperature (70° to 225°F) water reservoirs can be used directly to heat buildings, grow and dry crops, melt snow on sidewalks, and for fish farms. This is called the direct use of geothermal energy. The energy produced from high temperature reservoirs (225° to 600°F) can spin a turbine to generate electricity.

Current drilling technology limits the development of geothermal resources to relatively shallow, water- or steam-filled reservoirs, most of which are found in the western part of the United States. Researchers are developing new technologies for capturing the heat in the deeper, “dry” rocks, which would support drilling almost anywhere.

Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) allow us to take advantage of the Earth’s constant temperature (around 55°F) just a few yards beneath the surface to heat and cool buildings, and to produce hot water. GHPs transfer heat between the building and the ground by circulating fluid through underground pipes. Currently, the majority of GHPs produced in the United States are purchased domestically, primarily in the Midwest. But as technology improvements reduce the costs of installing GHPs, the demand for this technology will continue to grow throughout the country.

Jobs in Geothermal Energy
The geothermal industry employs both skilled workers and those with professional degrees.

Developing hot water reservoirs requires geologists, geochemists, geophysicists, hydrologists, reservoir engineers, mud loggers, hydraulic engineers, and drillers to locate, assess, and access the reservoirs. Environmental scientists prepare environmental impact studies, and permit and leasing specialists obtain the land rights.

Geothermal direct-use technologies create jobs for heating engineers, and in the building and agricultural industries. For electricity production, engineers (electrical and mechanical) and construction workers—along with electrical technicians, electricians, electrical machinists, welders, riggers, and mechanics—are needed to design and construct power plants.

Mechanical engineers, geologists, drilling crews, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractors are needed to manufacture and install GHPs. In addition, mechanical and electronic engineers, geologists, chemists, and materials scientists are required for ongoing R&D.

Hydropower

Hydropower, which uses the energy of flowing water to produce electricity, is the largest and least expensive source of renewable energy produced in the United States today. In fact, hydropower now generates approximately 10 percent of the electricity used in our country (wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass combined produce less than 1 percent). Most hydropower projects use a dam and a reservoir to retain water from a river. When the stored water is released, it passes through and rotates turbines, which spin generators to produce electricity. Water stored in a reservoir can be accessed quickly for use during times when the demand for electricity is high. Other hydropower plants, called “run of the river” projects, do not require dams. Instead, a portion of a river’s water is diverted into a canal or pipe to spin turbines.

Many large-scale dam projects have been criticized for altering wildlife habitats, impeding fish migration, and affecting water quality and flow patterns. As a result of increased environmental regulation, the National Hydropower Association forecasts a decline in hydropower use through 2020. R&D efforts have succeeded in reducing many of these environmental impacts through the use of fish ladders (to aid fish migration), fish screens, new turbine designs, and reservoir aeration. Although funding has been limited, current research focuses on the development of a “next generation turbine,” which is expected to further increase fish survival rates and improve environmental conditions.

Jobs in Hydropower
As with many of the other renewable energy technologies, the design, construction, and maintenance of hydropower plants requires electrical and mechanical engineers, technicians, and skilled workers. If the hydropower project also involves managing the reservoir and the surrounding land, the developer will also hire recreation planners, resource managers, and educators. In addition, state and federal licensing laws now require current or prospective hydropower plant developers to assess the environmental effects of their operation. Thus, the hydropower industry now also employs environmental scientists (biologists, hydrologists, ecologists, and wildlife habitat specialists, for example) to assess environmental impacts and address environmental remediation. Environmental scientists, as well as engineers, also participate in R&D efforts through private companies, national laboratories, and universities.

A career in renewable energy is a valuable way for individuals with a wide range of skills and interests to help guide the United States toward a secure, environmentally conscious energy future. For more information on energy careers, specific renewable technologies, and market forecasts, consult the resource list below.

With your knowledge of Going Green Facts, Homemade Energy can be made with ease to save you money and put the cashola back into your pocket.

The statistics prove that there is non-renewable energy that we consume in our daily lives that can be reversed by a few simple things that can be implemented by consumers with the knowledge of how to utilize what the earth has provided for us with wind, biodegradable materials and solar power. Below are a few shocking statistics that will open your eyes on what we are taking and not giving back.

US Energy Consumption By Source

Non-Renewable

• Petroleum: Used for transportation and manufacturing——— 38.1%
• Natural Gas: Used for heating, manufacturing and electricity – 22.9%
• Coal: Used for electricity and manufacturing ———————– 23.2%
• Uranium: Used for electricity ———————————————- 8.1%
• Propane: Used for heating and manufacturing ——————— 1.7%

Renewable

• Biomass: Used for heating, electricity and transportation ——- 2.9%
• Hydro-power: Used for electricity —————————————- 2.7%
• Geothermal: Used for heating and electricity ———————– 0.3%
• Wind: Used for electricity ————————————————- 0.1%
• Solar & other: Used for light, heating and electricity ————– 0.1%

Did you know that if your purchase a hybrid car, plans and build a wind generator or solar panels with Obama’s home energy grant program you can be rewarded by the Federal Government by receiving funding to help with their plan on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels? This is one of their top agenda items for 2009. Depending on what you do, there has been reported funding of anywhere from $600-$2000. That’s a lot of ching! You must have a receipt for your purchase of course, and apply for grant funding at the home energy grants website.

If you are eligible, you will receive a check in a month or two. You can’t however apply for multiple energy grants. For example, if you own a hybrid car, solar panel and a wind generator you can specify the information in the grant kit if you qualify to receive it. What a way to get some of those hard earned dollars put back into your pocket.

Do your research and find out how you can help convert your home into renewable energy and put money back in your pocket. When you educate yourself on the Going Green Facts Homemade Energy is where to start. Whether you choose wind, solar, or both will be the best thing you will ever do for the crisis that all of us are faced with on a daily basis. Green living is not as hard as it sounds and with a little knowledge and a few items, you could get off the grid and let the power company pay you.

With today’s energy crisis you can not afford to waste energy. Let the Sun and the Wind give you all the energy you need. Why Wouldn”t You Want To Learn How To Build Your Own Solar and Wind Energy? Get a jump start on today’s energy crisis with Homemade Energy

What Is Green Power?

Green power is the solution to a cleaner, sustainable energy system. Renewable energy—power from the sun, wind, plants, and moving water—is a sustainable way to meet our energy needs and protect the environment and public health.

• Wind energy converts the power available in moving air into electricity. Wind power does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
  
• Bioenergy is energy from trees and plants. This includes crops grown specifically for energy production and organic wastes ( such as wood residues from paper mills and methane from landfills ). Using bioenergy to generate electricity reduces global warming emissions if new plants are grown to replace those that are harvested.
  
• Geothermal energy uses heat from inside the earth to make clean power.
  
• Solar power captures the heat and light of the sun to generate electricity. Solar energy does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
  
• Hydroelectric power captures the energy in falling water. It does not produce emissions or solid waste, but can have a relatively low or high impact on the environment, depending on the site-specific factors such as maintenance of water flow and water quality, fish impacts, and other land use issues.

Why Buy Green Power?

Choosing green power could make a big difference for the environment because electricity generation is the largest industrial polluter in the country. Electricity generation currently produces:

• About two-thirds of the annual U.S. emissions of sulfur dioxide, the main cause of acid rain and very small soot particles. These fine particles are believed to be responsible for the largest share of the 50,000-100,000 deaths caused by air pollution in the United States each year.
  
• About 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide emissions, which stress forest ecosystems and combine with organic compounds in sunlight to form smog. High smog levels can also trigger heart and respiratory problems and contribute to air pollution deaths.
  
• About 40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions. This heat-trapping gas causes global warming, which may lead to increased droughts, flooding, disease, ecosystem disruption, and severe weather.
  
• Toxic-metal emissions (such as mercury and lead) and nuclear waste.

What Are the Dirtiest Energy Sources?
All fossil fuels and nuclear power contribute to one or more of the problems mentioned above. Since these power sources currently account for more than 90 percent of the electricity generated in the United States, it is not possible to avoid them altogether. But some are worse than others, and you can try to minimize their use.

Coal. Most electricity in the United States currently comes from coal. But coal burning is the leading cause of acid rain, the largest source of global warming emissions, and a significant source of smog, toxic metals, and tiny-particle pollution. Reducing coal usage is critical to slowing global warming and protecting the environment.

Oil. Oil produces high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and relatively high levels of carbon dioxide, as well as problems associated with drilling, refining, and transportation, such as tanker spills. Furthermore, the increasing U.S. dependence on imported oil is economically risky and will continue to increase the U.S. trade deficit.

Nuclear power. After coal, the next largest source of our electricity is nuclear power. While nuclear plants don’t cause air pollution, they do create radioactive waste, which must be stored for thousands of years. As accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl proved, nuclear plants also carry the risk of catastrophic failure. And nuclear power can be very expensive.

What About Natural Gas?
In 2004, natural gas accounted for about 19 percent of the U.S. electricity mix. Use of natural gas is projected to increase dramatically in the next two decades if we continue on our current path, but supplies are limited and imports are increasing. Our growing reliance on natural gas combined with limited supplies makes this fuel subject to price spikes, which can have a significant impact on consumer energy costs. In addition, though natural gas is much cleaner than coal or oil, it does produce global warming emissions when burned. So, while the use of natural gas serves as a good transition to a cleaner future, it is not the ultimate solution.

What are My Green Power Options?

Green Pricing Programs
Green Pricing is an optional utility service for customers who want to help expand the production and distribution of renewable energy technologies. With green pricing, you do not have to change your electricity provider. Instead, customers choose to pay a premium on their electricity bill to cover the extra cost of purchasing clean, sustainable energy. As of March 2006, more than 600 utilities, electricity providers in 36 states offer a green pricing option.

The majority of green pricing programs charge a higher price per kilowatt-hour to support an increased percentage of renewable sources or to buy discrete kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy. Other programs have fixed monthly fees, round up customer bills, charge for units of renewable capacity, or offer renewable energy systems for lease or purchase.

• To see what green pricing options are available in your area, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Green Pricing page.

Green Marketing
Green marketing is the sale of green power in competitive markets, where consumers have the option to choose from a variety of suppliers and service offerings, much like they can choose between long-distance telephone carriers. The key difference between green marketing and green pricing is that with green marketing, you are actually switching electricity providers. 

Green marketing is offered in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

• To see what green marketing options are available in your area, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Green Marketing page.

Renewable Energy Certificates
Consumers throughout the United States have a third green power option: Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs or sometimes “green tags”). A REC represents the environmental attributes or benefits of renewable electricity generation (usually one credit = one kilowatt-hour). RECs can be purchased in almost any quantity and are usually available from someone other than your electricity provider. What you pay for is the benefit of adding clean, renewable energy generation to the regional or national electricity grid. The overall environmental benefit of purchasing a green pricing or green marketing product versus RECs is exactly the same. RECs provide a “green” option for people in any state, but are ideal for people who live in states where green pricing and green marketing options are not available. 

• For a list of REC or green tag marketers, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Renewable Energy Certificates page.

How Can You Tell If You’re Buying Green Power?
When power flows from the generator to your house, electrons get mixed together on the wires. You can’t specify which electrons you get, but you can make sure that your money goes to support clean, sustainable  generators, which has the effect of making the whole system “greener”. To do this, you will need to look closely at utility marketing claims and materials. To ensure that the claims are truthful, many states now require disclosure labels, just like the nutrition labels on food packages. But don’t hesitate to ask for more information directly from potential suppliers, including the percentage of power derived from each fuel source and the level of each of the above emissions compared with the regional average.

Other important information to discover is whether a company’s renewable offering will lead to new projects, so that you know your money is adding to renewable energy use in your region, and whether the company provides comprehensive energy-efficiency services to help reduce your power use and your bill. Be skeptical and ask questions.

Green-e is a voluntary certification program for renewable electricity products. The Green-e program establishes consumer protection and environmental standards for electricity products, and verifies that these products meet the standards. The Green-e logo certifies that at least half the power supplied is from renewable sources. Many products will carry the Green-e logo, and the best way to find the most environmentally sensitive providers is by doing some comparison research. To find out which Green-e certified products are available in your state, visit Green-e’s electric choices page. Questions about particular providers can be directed to the Center for Resources Solutions, which administers the Green-e program, at (415) 561-2100.

Power Scorecard is a web tool that rates the environmental quality of electricity offered to customers in California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It will help identify products that have the lowest overall environmental impact on our air, land, and water, and those that will lead to the development of the most new renewable energy generation. Power Scorecard will be expanding into other states in the near future.

The Future
Some renewable power sources now cost somewhat more than conventional power, because the market for renewable energy is not fully developed and renewables have received fewer subsidies than fossil and nuclear fuels. Also, the damage to the environment and human health—otherwise known as externalities—caused by fossil fuels and nuclear power is not included in electricity prices. Renewable energy needs your support to overcome these barriers and become less expensive in the future. Look into becoming a green power consumer today!