Filling Tennessee’s green job openings
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 8:34 am
The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, the State Workforce Investment Board and MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center have received a $765,340 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to improve the matching of the state’s green jobs with workers.
The survey will focus on public and private interest in renewable transportation, sustainable agriculture, and Federal funding focused on the State’s burgeoning green economy. This survey will expand on prior green studies (Growing Green: the Potential for Green Job Growth in Tennessee 2008) by providing current estimates for the number of green jobs and green job vacancies within the 13 labor and workforce investment areas of Tennessee. A focus of the grant is to help workers affected by significant automotive-related restructurings connect to career pathways in green industries. Additionally, the grant will develop an enhanced online self-service labor exchange module to match green job seekers with respective employers.
All the DOL grants are here.
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Big utility joins Nissan’s electric car push
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm
In Los Angeles for the U.S. unveiling of his LEAF electric car, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced his company has enlisted Houston-based electric utility Reliant Energy to help flesh out the infrastruture that will be needed to charge electric vehicles.
Music City cited for sustainability
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 7:17 am
A new white paper published by the American Institute of Architects includes a case study of Nashville’s efforts to infuse its growth plans with green building and development thinking. The snapshot — sanitized a bit by phrases like ‘millions of dollars in building still scheduled for completion’ when talking about The Gulch — is part of a broader AIA plan to make the U.S. built environment carbon-neutral by 2030.
SEE ALSO: An update on some of the millions that have already been spent on The Gulch
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A treehugger and a union boss walk into a bar…
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 7:57 am…And come out allies in the battle to preserve America’s jobs base. So sayeth the Hoffa:
“We have been forced to make a false choice in the past—good jobs or a clean environment. The pundits said that if we wanted clean air, the economy would suffer and jobs would be sent overseas. Well, look what happened—we let the big corporations pollute and the jobs went overseas anyway. But today is a new day.”
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Legislating green construction
Posted on September 10, 2009 at 6:58 am
Their prospects for wholesale passage aren’t great, but the various versions of climate-change legislation include ambitious targets for lowering the energy usage of residential and commercial buildings. Baker Donelson’s construction practice breaks them down and says that, “if passed, the House bill will no doubt significantly increase the usage of the LEED rating system because all new buildings will already be meeting many of its provisions anyway.”
SEE ALSO: Our recent story on the legalities of green construction going bad, something that builders and developers will have to deal with more in the future
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HCA joins sustainability group
Posted on September 1, 2009 at 12:01 pmThe nation’s largest hospital company has signed up with Virginia-based Practice Greenhealth, an umbrella group that seeks to promote environmental practices in the industry.
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Home contractor hosts green contest
Posted on August 20, 2009 at 10:06 am
A division of local contractors Broderick Builders, Green Hills Handyman, is hosting a contest for homeowners looking to “green up” their homes. The contest calls for homeowners to submit a 500-word essay about what sustainable improvements they would do to their home with a $5,000 budget.
The winning entry will receive the sum for material and labor for their chosen project. The contest runs through October 15. For more details, see the release.
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More than 200 green factory jobs set to move here from China
Posted on June 23, 2009 at 8:10 am
Venture Nashville reports on a promising alliance between a Vancouver company and Murfreesboro-based entrepreneur Jimmy Davis that looks set to bring to the region 250 jobs making energy-efficient street lighting.
He added that Middle Tennessee’s slumping automotive related companies “are all looking for another industry” and have exactly the capabilities needed by the green industries he’s targeted. “We think we let the [economic emphasis] on the auto industry run way too long,” he added.
Study: Green investments would create 10,000 Nashville jobs
Posted on June 18, 2009 at 1:37 pm
A report from UMass researchers, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Green for All says that ramping up Middle Tennessee clean-energy investments of $815 million a year — a figure based on what a think tank sees being generated by stimulus, subsidies and the like — will generate more than 10,000 jobs in the region, more than half of them for people with high-school degrees or less.
The $815 million number is based on a $150 billion national number that amounts to 1.1 percent of GDP. For some perspective, that amount equates to the construction of five Pinnacle at Symphony Place office towers every year.
Green Wagon rides into East Nashville
Posted on May 27, 2009 at 3:12 pmJennifer Casale is expanding her environmentally conscious store across the river.
SEE ALSO: Green shopping in Sylvan Park
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Belmont’s bottles on the way out
Posted on April 20, 2009 at 11:31 am
Belmont kicks off its Earth Week by saying bottled waters will be gone from campus in a month.
“Bottled water is shockingly expensive to the consumer and the environment. And given what we know about the quality of water from the tap and in the bottle, it’s completely unnecessary. Recycling the bottles doesn’t solve the larger problem of excessive resources needed to produce and transport something that is solely a convenience.”
How green is your insurer?
Posted on April 14, 2009 at 3:05 pm
A new locally based Web site – brought to you by the same folks who have developed fartfactory.com – features a framework of factors that will tell you.
Publisher Michael O’Dell says, “The U.S. is behind much of the developed world in choosing eco-friendly auto insurance. So this site is a way for the nation’s green consumers to start speaking with their wallets when looking to insure a car.”
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