Money invested in renewable energy reached new heights last year, topping $257 billion.
The 3.1 million "green jobs" the government reported last week was a large number -- it's nearly five times the number of people that work making cars and trucks and over half the amount employed in the construction industry.
Amid all the jockeying of the primary debates, President Barack Obama's 2013 budget was a breath of fresh air that underscored the priorities we should have as a nation. Sure, politicos may call it a campaign document, but even if you view it as only that, it is a much needed reminder of just what we should be focusing on.
Energy secretary Steven Chu is hitting back at criticism of a government loan program for renewable energy in the wake of the Solyndra scandal, saying the U.S. must "compete or accept defeat" in the clean tech race.
Move over Congress. Move over President Obama. Bill Clinton is back -- and he has a lot of economy-fixing ideas.
More and more African fashion designers are taking their business online, hoping to capitalise on a growing trend of boutiques.
In 2010 alone, there were roughly 1,100 attacks on U.S. fuel convoys. This has cost the men and women of our armed forces dearly.
FBI agents, acting with inspectors from the Department of Energy, raided the offices of solar panel maker Solyndra on Thursday, just days after the DOE-backed company filed for bankruptcy.
Unlike in previous jobs speeches, where he's been a cheerleader for clean energy and a green economy, President Obama didn't say the word "green" once in his address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. That seems to fit the mood of the country, but in fact, Obama is missing a stimulus program in every American gas tank.
Residential solar power provider SolarCity and the U.S. government announced a deal Wednesday to put solar panels on military housing units, a move that could double the number of rooftop solar power installed in the United States.
Spurred by a desire to save money and lives by reducing the number of vulnerable fuel convoys they depend on, the Marines last month invited 13 companies to their desert base to pitch them the latest in battlefield solar and fuel efficiency technology.
Construction giant Skanska is a leader in "green building" and now wants to move to "green" retro fit.
Everyone is talking about creating more green jobs, but few people seem to know how to actually do it. That got Chad Holliday, the former CEO of DuPont and current chairman of Bank of America, thinking about solutions. Earlier this year he helped form the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC), a bipartisan group of business leaders who believe that the U.S. needs a long-term energy strategy to transition to a low-carbon economy and create American jobs. Besides Holliday, the council's seven members are Bill Gates, GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Cummins CEO Tim Solso, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, and John Doerr, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. The AEIC is supported by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the ClimateWorks Foundation. Holliday spoke with Fortune's Brian Dumaine on how the AEIC will work.
After decades of watching good jobs disappear, we need solutions that will provide continuous economic growth. The U.S. unemployment rate is hovering around 9.5 percent; for African Americans, around 17 percent.
If the government truly wants America to go green, it's going to have to shell out to support the nascent but important sector of our economy. Green jobs and renewable energy were boldly funded in the stimulus bill, yet whenever Congress and the Obama administration need to scare up capital to fund some other program, they chip away at the initial $37 billion allocated for climate and energy-related efforts.
On the Bonneville Salt Flats, a prototype bike recently racked up a world speed record for electric motorcycles -- 150 mph. This is not your daddy's Harley. The interesting thing about it, however, is that the San Francisco startup that designed it is not really a motorcycle company. Yes, Mission Motors plans to start selling a limited number of the $68,995 bikes by mid-2011. But CEO Jit Bhattacharya sees his company as much more than that. In essence Mission is a software firm that will license cutting-edge electric power systems for all types of machines, from bikes to cars to lawn mowers. Mission takes the best lithium-ion batteries available and packages them with a proprietary cooling and management technology. Think of it as a green version of Intel Inside.
Laid off from her job as head marketer of an IT firm last year, Cynthia Curtis knew where she wanted to go next: into green industry. "Investment in it was expanding, and there weren't a lot of people with years of experience clamoring for jobs," she says. Curtis also had a personal interest, having built a green-certified home.
Dear Annie: I'm a sophomore in college, majoring in business. Even though I still have two more years of school ahead of me, I'm trying to figure out what kinds of jobs are likely to be available when I graduate. For one thing, having a handle on that would help me choose a minor. I'll also be graduating with loans to pay off, so I'll need to start working right away.
Wednesday's speech from President Obama unveiling his new strategy on offshore drilling, which will keep some sensitive coastal areas open for drilling, hits close to home for me.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar talks with CNN's John King about new offshore drilling plans.
Lots of people, especially those trying to battle high utility bills, believe in energy-efficient homebuilding.
President Obama says jobless rate is better than expected and tomorrow's jobs will be in the clean energy sector.
Dear Annie: I lost a pretty good job as head of the training department at a financial-services company a few months ago and, rather than look for another similar position, I want to change careers. I'm passionate about the outdoors and would like to do something related to protecting wildlife and the environment. But I'm having trouble figuring out where to focus my search. Can you point me to some good sources of information about green jobs? -- Boston Birdwatcher
Van Jones is an American treasure.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux talks to NAACP President Benjamin Jealous about honoring a White House official who resigned.
The champions at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver can stand on the podium proud of their achievements, but the eco-minded among them can be extra proud that their medals are made with traces of precious metals recovered from e-waste.
Quick: which nation builds the most wind turbines? If you guessed America, with its blustery Great Plains dotted with whirring GE blades, you'd be wrong. In 2009, China became the planet's largest producer.
While Van Jones may have left the White House under a cloud, the NAACP says that's not his whole story.
Some people follow rock stars. Steve Greenberg follows inventors.
"Green jobs." You may have heard President Obama use this phrase often. But what does it really mean? It's one of those phrases that isn't really specific -- so we set out to demystify the phrase -- digging down into the sectors of business that people are referring to and actual job titles when they reference green jobs.
When President Obama visits China next week, global climate change will top the agenda. The stakes could hardly be higher -- for the two Pacific powers and for the world.
Dear Annie: I graduated from college with a civil engineering degree last spring, and I'm planning to go to architecture school. I want to focus my training on learning how to retrofit existing buildings and power plants to be more energy-efficient.
At the UNIDO/UNEP/UN ESCAP/ILO conference on green industry in Asia, held in Manila, the Philippines in the second week of September, I proposed the formation of an International Green Finance Association in support of green industry and green economy in general.
CNN's Barbara Starr reports on how the U.S. military prepares for future ecological challenges.
Pittsburgh conjures up visions of steel mills and gritty sports teams for many. The host city of this week's Group of 20 summit hopes to update that image.
Just a couple of years ago the only people putting solar panels on their houses wore Birkenstocks and preferred tofu to T-bones. But now that energy bills are skyrocketing and it has become downright fashionable to reduce your carbon footprint, the idea of adding solar electricity to your home doesn't sound all that far-fetched to the rest of us.
In a recent CNN commentary entitled "Green jobs: hope or hype?" Samuel Sherraden argues that green job creation will be insufficient to bring America out of recession. But Sherraden narrowly defines green as a "sector," and fails to see its potential as a strategy for the revitalization of the entire economy.
In today's uncertain job market, even the jobs once marked as "recession-proof" are not as safe as we thought. So where should you focus your job search?
After the release of a miserable June jobs report, President Obama stood with a group of green company CEOs and told reporters that "men and women like these will help lead us out of this recession and into a better future."
Meet Van Jones, President Obama's Special Adviser on Green Jobs. CNN's Elaine Quijano reports.
Van Jones defies environmentalist stereotypes. He's not the earthy-crunchy, Birkenstock-wearing type. Nor is he a contemporary and corporate version -- a hedge fund-fueled entrepreneur looking to make millions by building wind farms and solar-powered corporate headquarters.
CNN's Eunice Yoon looks at innovative ideas by eco-friendly businesses.
Dear Annie: I just finished reading Matthew B. Crawford's new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, and it has really got me thinking. I always liked working with my hands, and I spend most of my free time woodworking (building furniture and cabinets for my family and friends) and tinkering with old cars. But like lots of other people, I got a college degree because I was told it would be the ticket to a lifetime of employment security. Ha! Pretty funny, right? Having been laid off twice in three years, I'm not laughing. Meanwhile, my wife's brother, who did an apprenticeship instead of college, owns a successful business as an electrician and has been urging me to come to work for him. It would be a complete career change but, having read Crawford's thoughts on how satisfying his motorcycle-repair shop is, I'm seriously considering leaving the corporate world behind. I'd be interested to hear what you and your readers think. -- White Collar Blues
Massive investment in renewable energy could ultimately create 4 million manufacturing jobs. But for the workers in the bottom rung of this movement, the shift to green jobs could very well mean a pay cut of nearly 60%, a trend spreading across the entire manufacturing sector.
About 200 miles south of Detroit, America's industrial heartland gives way to the Ohio countryside.
The House on Thursday passed a $6.4 billion school modernization bill that would commit funds for the construction and update of more energy-efficient school buildings.
FORTUNE's Brainstorm: Green conference is not even 24 hours old as I write this and already we've had a lot of memorable moments. Here are some of the things we've heard so far:
In the midst of our economic and environmental crisis, I am grateful our new president embraces the potential of green ideas.
In the lodging world, green has gone mainstream. Once chided for being wasteful, the big hotel chains are now constantly trying to one-up each other with smart eco-design upgrades and stringent water and energy conservation policies.
In early 2008, Sander Coovert was feeling pretty good about his business, Absolute Tile and Stone. The previous year had ended with sales up 27%, to $2.8 million, at the St. Louis company, which cuts tile and slabs of marble and granite and installs them in residential kitchens and bathrooms. That year Coovert, 40, saw his largest profit ever. But by the end of 2008, as the housing bubble burst and the recession hit, revenue dropped to $2.1 million and the company lost money.
An off-shoot of the Jane Goodall Institute is Roots & Shoots, a youth group that promotes positive environmental change.
CNN's Anna Coren speaks to renowned primatologist Jane Goodall about the big environmental issues facing the world today.
As a record number of Americans collect unemployment benefits, some U.S. economists predict that jobless claims are "nowhere near their peak."
The United Nations is urging countries to invest in green jobs working with "sustainable forest management" to address the growing problem of unemployment worldwide.
Question 1. Where can I find one of these entry-level green collar jobs? - Casey, Pennsylvania
When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can't help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin.
President Obama says the U.S. must find energy alternatives to gasoline.
At the Bright Hope Baptist Church, dinner is served on tables with neat, white tablecloths. A vase with a plastic flower is the centerpiece.
Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter says the stimulus bill is all about creating jobs.
President Obama's task force on the middle class formally began its work Friday, focusing its first meeting on green jobs and how they might strengthen the economy and the middle class.
It seems that saving the U.S. economy, and greening America, is going to take a staggering amount of money.
Is Obama's stimulus package green enough? CNN's Kristie Lu Stout asks Robert Heilmayr of the World Resource Institute.
Recent world events have shown in stark relief how financial speculators hype industries up, only to scare and scatter when a bubble bursts leaving the value of stocks and shares to tumble.
Sun-powered city
updated: Mon Jan 26 2009 04:12:00
A new city in the United Arab Emirates could run on zero emissions by relying on solar power. CNN's Stan Grant reports
You might want to go green, but how do you know what you're buying is truly ethical? Greenwash -- the ignoble art of misleading consumers about a product's true green worth -- is on the rise. But thanks to the work of increasingly vigilant regulators, some of the more curious and downright spurious claims are being weeded out.
You wanted to know more about greenwashing, and Scot Case, from environmental marketing firm TerraChoice, answered.
Why saving the economy and saving the environment have to be one in the same
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