The venue? Washington DC

The focus? Green Jobs..and I'm not talking about the Presidential Inauguration, although I find the timing uncanny. Remember Joe the Plumber? Now he is...Joe the Solar Guy!!!

The Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference is scheduled for February 3 - 6, 2009.

The event promises  "government decision-makers and elected officials will join labor, environmental and business advocates to forge and agenda and share ideas and strategies for a refashioned, green economy."

Many I talk to are skeptical about how many jobs can be created by this burgeoning industry we call "green." On the conference website, you will be able to download two very important reports. One is from the US Conference of Mayors, Current and Potential Green Jobs in the US. The other is a report out of the UN, Emerging Green Economy Could Create Tens of Millions of "Green Jobs." Personally, I have downloaded these for later reading. The report from the UN is several hundred pages!

         There is a lot of hope that green jobs will be part of the answer to the economic woes that plague our country.

     AND....Much Skepticism....

        When we look at the small scale, two guys constructing a foundation for a small wind generator it seems, well, small scale.

        It's hard to believe that this is going to get our country out of trouble.

Like the conference, let's focus on the jobs for a moment. Let's take just a quick walk through ~

Cliff Notes if you will ~

Just like the foundation on a building, site preparation is very important. It takes man hours to move that dirt around and get it right.

The crew of two we see has assembled different materials just for the foundation...various woods for the forms, rebar or rerod, a sonatube....these materials were all manufactured, transported and sold to the contractors. Commerce at it's finest. The man hours in assembling the foundation were also numerous.

Next comes our cement....(another fine Consumers Concrete job!)

      Behind the scenes...permits from municipalities, foundation and electrical inspections, engineering designs....

      All this before the first blade on the wind generator  turns......

There are also manufacturing jobs to create and assemble the materials...wire, tower, rotor, blades, inverter, and the list goes on...

Now, I want to try to make sense of this in numbers the average person can understand....

It is said that installation of one small wind energy system can provide a 40 hour work week, for one month, for one person. That is 160 hours into one installation. These numbers do not include the manufacturing process work hours.

A full time work week adds up to 2000 hours over a year. So if we extrapolate those numbers, 1000 small wind energy systems would provide 80 jobs for a year....

10,000 systems would provide 800 jobs for a year.

... not including manufacturing.

These numbers are still too small to have a major effect on the economy alone.

But just think of it!!! Extrapolate on your own. Isn't it exciting???

This example only focused on a very small but growing portion of the new green industry...

Small Wind Energy Systems....would 800 jobs help your community? your state?

I am in Michigan...we are losing that many jobs by the week. It has been said of Michigan,

"Last one out turn out the lights."

There are many in Michigan who will not leave, but will stay and keep the lights on with the new technologies in the market that will provide local jobs for local folks who will spend their money locally.

The end product is a beautiful example of independence...

                what this country was founded on.

Let us once again declare independence...

I will be watching and listening to what comes out of the 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference.

I will also be watching and listening to you when you tell me,

           What is going on in YOUR local area!

**photos: FCB Solar and Contractors Building Supply, Mary Bigelow Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.

COPYRIGHT © 2009 Mary McGraw-Bigelow All Rights Reserved