Green Investing and the US Military

The green investments market has recently seen a number of factors come together which act as a strong buy signal. Many green stocks have rallied, and an ever increasing number of investors are looking into the green markets. The tipping point for green investing has arrived, and there can be no doubt that it is no longer a 'fad' sector (as it was considered by many just a few short years back), but in fact the sector of the future: there was the gold rush, the oil rush, and now we are all set for the green rush.

Even the US military is going green - transportation of fossil fuels such as diesel costs lives - the military has calculated more than 250 lives are lost a year in the transportation process. 6000 conveys are needed a year in Afghanistan and Iraq to meet the energy needs of the military in and there is a casualty in one in every 25 conveys. The military is a massive consumer of fuel, using more than many countries. It, for instance, uses twice the amount of fuel than the whole of Ireland.

Solar technologies are of particular interest to the army. These include solar technologies such as portable solar chargers, and low energy lights, such as LED's. The ultimate aim is for army bases abroad to be completely self-sufficient in terms of energy.

The navy aims to make its island bases energy independent as well. It has a wide range of projects currently on the go, amongst which is to generate energy through wave power. This is done by placing a very large buoy offshore which turns the lateral movement of the waves into electricity via a generator, and that electricity is then delivered to where required via an underwater cable.

The US Air Force intends to run its jets on a 50-50 mixture of traditional jet fuel and biofuel. It has recently completed a test flight on a plane using this fuel mix. Biofuels can be produced practically anywhere in the world, even in desert conditions.

Such projects are not based on technologies which are purely experimental and at the laboratory stage, but real products that are on the market right now. One of the forerunning companies in wave power, for instance, is Ocean Power Technologies. The company has already supplied the navy in Hawaii with power generating buoys. As green investments go, this is exactly the sort of company investors should be researching into. There can be no doubt that their potential is huge.

There are a number of US biofuel companies that will be conducting IPO's in the near future, such as PetroAlgae, and Gevo, based in Florida and Colorado respectively.

These sort of companies are well worth observing as a potential future investment. As things are now, the value of these companies needs to be established, and some history needs to be developed. Make sure you do your research, and your green investments maybe the best you ever did!

Click here for a wide range of articles on green alternative energy investments.

Content writer for http://www.bionomicfuel.com and extensive blog that covers green energy investments and news

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Green Job? Heck Yes, Workers Say

Those on the unemployment line aren't the only ones hoping for a break.

Many who are out of work or have had to take anything the job market has had to offer these past two years are hunting and/or daydreaming about a better position and future. And all this tepid economic news about a slow recovery -- coupled with almost daily reports of growing fallout by shadow foreclosure inventory and about 25 percent of U.S. homeowners under water on their mortgages -- doesn't help.

The recession-plagued economy has elevated interest in so-called green jobs, especially when a number of reports tout the up-and-coming sector's influence. Yet when these forecast jobs materialize and what they will look like remain as hazy as the view from Fresno to the Sierra Mountains. (For those who haven't gotten the opportunity to see what I'm referring to, let's just say it's very hazy and sometimes muddy.)

It's a concept that has captured my interest. I work for a nonprofit administering federal stimulus funds to 39 cities in California's central San Joaquin Valley. I fell into the job mostly by way of knowing the right people after being out of work seven and a half months. I had spent the past 24 years or more working in the newspaper industry, most recently as business editor of the Fresno Bee.

San Francisco-based research and advisory firm Clean Edge Inc. offers some clarity and digestible information with its report "Clean Tech Job Trends 2010." Company co-founder Ron Pernick, senior editor Clint Wilder and research associate Trevor Winnie summarize and gather data from other reports and bring their own findings to plot out a fairly optimistic view of the future of clean tech in the realms of wind, solar, water, materials and transportation.

"There are many challenges facing the sector, but clean energy and more broadly, clean tech, offer some of the largest growth opportunities on the global economic horizon," they write.

Clean Edge carves the market into four parts: energy, transportation, water and materials. Energy includes everything from wind, biomass and the smart grid. Transporation includes battery technology, trains, hybrids and hydrogen. Water includes recovery and capture, drip irrigation and energy efficient desalination. Materials includes bio-based materials, green chemistry and building materials and reuse and recycling.

The list is diverse and the job requirements even more so. But promise radiates from every sector.

Clean Edge says its research shows that "the solar photovoltaic industry alone now represents approximately 300,000 direct and indirect jobs globally, while the wind-power sector includes more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs worldwide."

Not bad. It also cites reports that say Ireland, Denmark and Great Britain are on track to receive about 40 percent their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, following the lead of Portugal which reportedly is to reach 45 percent this year.

Of course, all this comes with a downside. Renewables -- at least on their face and not including all the damage done by greenhouse gas emissions -- cost more than fossil fuels. Without government assistance, they can fall flat. For instance, Spain -- a leader in solar -- is reportedly pulling subsidies, or feed-in tariffs, for renewables, threatening the future of many new projects and others countries are doing the same to a lesser degree.

And in the blogosphere, the issue has generated controversy. A comment on a greentechmedia.com story about incandescent bulb plants disappearing got this from a responder calling him or herself John Galt: "A set of technologies and products created at great cost to solve a problem that had already been solved (generating electricity), at costs considerably higher than the costs of the technologies they seek to supplant? My 12 year old daughter knows that's a losing business proposition."

Environmental strategist and author Andrew Wilson says the debate over green jobs is far more nuanced than simply focusing on solar panel installers. He writes in HuffingtonPost.com that the international job market is facing a choice of decline or prosperity, with fossil fuels comprising the former.

"Oil is basically at peak production globally, and coal plants are nearly impossible to build in the U.S. anymore," Wilson writes. "Even as the world demands more energy, and even as fossil fuel production continues, these companies will continue to get more efficient with labor. So don't count on the fossil guys to create new wealth and jobs."

Wilson and Clean Tech point to a future of green-related jobs over a wide array of industries, linked only by concept. The mainstays, solar and wind, will provide positions but the multiplier effect comes from the spin-offs, the related support and supply jobs.

"There are more subtle shifts in labor going on as companies that did one thing in the old economy are finding their skills useful in the new one," Winston writes. He cites the case of an oil-patch cable company laying undersea electrical transmission lines for offshore wind turbines.

Pernick and Wilder at Clean Edge acknowledge clean tech needs assistance from government. They called for five national policies and initiatives they believe could play a critical role in ensuring clean-tech growth and job creation.

The first is requiring that a certain percentage of power generation come from renewables. The others were supporting green infrastructure development, enforcing emissions rules, establishing green banks, bonds and funds and implementing carbon taxes.

So what's it mean? Clean Tech's report listed the top metro areas with clean tech job activity. At Nos. 1 and 2 were San Francisco and Los Angeles. Boston came in at No. 3, with New York, Denver and Washington, D.C. filling out the top six. And the salaries aren't bad.

"A new green economy is just that -- a whole new economy, with job openings at all skill levels, from truck drivers to inventors of new battery chemistry," Winston says.

And someday soon something might just pop up on Monster.com for you.

Mike Nemeth, project manager of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, spent 24 years working as a newspaperman editing and reporting from Alaska to California. The SJVCEO is a nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life through increased use of clean and alternative energy. The SJVCEO is based in Fresno, Calif. and works with cities and counties and public and private organizations to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the eight-county region of the San Joaquin Valley. For more information, go to http://www.sjvcleanenergy.org.

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Green Driving and Hybrid Cars

A lot of people today are doing their part in helping out the environment with recycling and re-using. Although these are very important factors in making a difference they don't attack one of our biggest problems which are the amount of emissions released into our air. There is a way the average person can make a difference in cutting down car emissions and that is by simply applying something called 'Green Driving'.

Green driving is not only beneficial to the environment but also to your pockets as car insurance companies are offering discounts for owners of hybrid cars. Obviously the best way to cut down car emissions would be stop driving altogether but not everyone can do that. However you can walk, cycle or use public transport wherever possible to help with this. If you can't give up your car for any reason or if you just prefer the comfort of being in your own vehicle then there are a number of practices you can put in place to make your driving more environmentally friendly.

Avoid heavy acceleration and braking as this will release fuel at a slower rate, it is also a safer way to drive. Also stick to the speed limit because once again it's a more "Green" approach.

Plan your journey - Simply know the quickest route to your destination so you are not driving around lost looking for it. Get out your maps or your sat nav and be 100% sure of the way to go.

If you are in heavy traffic switch the car off instead of leaving the engine running. Idling burns more fuel than restarting the engine does so if you are going to be stuck for a while be sure to turn the key. Travel light where possible and remove the roof rack when it's not in use. This helps with wind resistance which will also save on fuel.

Finally, you could get a Hybrid car which has many advantages against fuel based vehicles. They have less wasted energy, fewer emissions, less fuel consumption and motor insurance will be cheaper. Also, there are several insurance companies out there like one provider of car insurance in Ireland, which offer discounts on car insurance for hybrid car owners. These cars run on a combination system, they have an electric motor and a gasoline powered engine. These two perform together to help bring out the best of both.

Help out the planet by applying what you can.

Check with car insurance Ireland providers for information on green driving and how you can help your environment. Remember there are a number of insurance companies out there like one provider of car insurance Ireland who do offer discounts on hybrids.

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