Governor Chris Christie
You may not know this, but “Cap and Trade” isn’t just a buzz-phrase for something many environmentalists would like to see the U.S. adopt for regulation of greenhouse gases–it’s been a reality for 10 northeastern states since 2009. With the announcement of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s plan to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) this year, the hot-button issue of Cap and Trade has again come to the surface of environmental news sphere. Cap and Trade, the market-based mechanism that many call for to help steer our energy production from fossil fuels to renewables, has been employed under a cooperative agreement called RGGI (“reggie”). RGGI is a joint venture by the New England states along with New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, to… [view entry]
“If you’re readying a resume, it might help to use recycled paper. The clean-tech and green industries in Massachusetts are hiring.”
That’s the takeaway from the article in today’s Boston Globe.
Amidst our economic woes and rising unemployment, the green energy sector continues to grow, thanks in part to the stimulus bill spending and an extension of tax credits for renewable energy generation.
Within the next two years, Stimulus Bill spending is expected to create or save 79,000 jobs in Massachusetts, and an estimated 3.5 million nationwide. In today’s economy, those are big numbers.
In the last week of February, the Ontario legislature presented the Green Energy Act. The Act includes renewable energy development plans that could generate as many as 50,000 jobs for the Canadian province. Amongst the other parts of the bill is a provision that makes it mandatory homes for sale in Ontario have an energy rating attached to it.
This rating will be generated by a home inspection using standardized evaluation criteria yet to be finalized. The controversy is around what a negative rating might do to home prices throughout Ontario.
The appliances we put in our house all have energy ratings and we certainly pay attention to these when we make consumer choices. Could a ratings for the whole house be far behind? An informal survey of local real estate agents… [view entry]
From a recent Reuters Report:
The Obama administration has high hopes that millions of “green” jobs will be created by investing billions of dollars in renewable energy, but a report on Tuesday warned not all those workers would earn good pay.
“Green jobs are not automatically good jobs,” according to the report commissioned by several U.S. labor and environmental groups, which looked at pay practices at renewable energy companies.
One of the things you’ve probably heard floating around with all the talk of ‘stimulus package’ and ‘green jobs’ is they are the answer to bringing high-paying jobs back into our economy. The Reuters article highlights that the manufacture of renewable energy technology will end up being ruled by global economic realities. If the manufacturing capability exists for it to be… [view entry]
