The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act makes available over $787 billion federal dollars nationwide for investments in new projects, development to be used for green building, retrofitting, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including those in federal facilities, states, localities, tribal areas, schools and housing. So, I am curious how us greenies can make the most of the opportunities available from the allocation of over $55 million in green job grants?

This funding is great to get green initiatives rolling, and hopefully we will soon see solid results in increased job placements and the promotion of economic growth.  But, according to the LA Times, California's unemployment rate increased in October from September's rate of 12.2%, giving the Golden State the fourth-highest spot in the country. Still, the state gained 25,700 jobs last month.  So, while the pace of unemployment has slowed, it doesn’t look like green jobs have arrived in force or maybe they are just not easy to find. Either way, things look promising on the horizon. Additionally, a new national program has been unveiled to re-train the workforce for green jobs starting with the renovation of public housing to become more efficient by exceeding basic LEED standards. Not only can with this reduce energy costs for the tenants and the government, it can help offset many layoffs. Hopefully this type of program can expand to other business sectors as well.

So it appears to me that offering financial incentives to green businesses will inspire innovation in new products and manufacturing utilizing a largely unemployed, but trained workforce.  This initiative will make us more competitive on a global scale and energy independent at the same time creating new jobs that will certainly transform our economy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promised to create 3.5 million jobs by 2010, but reports from the Administration show that only about one million jobs have been created. I wonder how many of these jobs are green.  Do you think that we need to offer money to inspire innovation, or would jobs just go green, because it makes financial and environmental sense?