In New York State we are fortunate to be surrounded by family farms, a beautiful landscape, and (some) thriving local communities. In the towns in and around the mountains and valleys of the Hudson Valley you will find communities that are supporting their neighborhood businesses, farms, and farm stands. Local produce, beef, chicken, duck, and pork are the rule in resident’s refrigerators, not the exception. Yet local economies in New York are struggling, like much of the rest of the country.
New jobs are needed, along with tax revenue. The fossil fuels industry has made billions upon billions for the elite upper class in this country while very little has seen its way into the betterment of the lives of residents in each town, village, hamlet, or city in this country. In fact, the drilling and mining exploits of big oil & gas has left many areas of the country devastated by environmental damage.  Centralized, globalized Multi-National Conglomerates are dominating and leaving little choice to be had for the average citizen.

The alternative energy industry has been marginalized ever since its inception, even though the possibilities for a renewable & sustainable energy economy are real and expanding as we speak. Thermal Mass Construction INC has developed a system that achieves energy independence for home owners by reducing or eliminating their reliance on fossil fuels for heat and electricity. The call to retrofit homes for energy efficiency is just beginning in New York, and the goal is to create jobs. We are hoping that the new 'Green Jobs Financing Law' will put real investment into helping residents substantially improve the efficiency of their homes and put money back in their pocket. The local contractors can have consistent work rebuilding their communities. Excavators, general contractors, finishers, trucking, and drilling will all get a major boost from this law if serious funds are implemented to make the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy for home owners.

Working class citizens deserve a break. They are locked into the grid and completely reliant upon the fossil fuels industry for the necessities of life (running their home). Renewable energy used with our "Thermal Mass Concrete/Radiant Panels can break that reliance and generate local wealth for the local businesses that are innovating to harness it in the most beneficial and effective way.  By choosing to support Green Construction we are in turn supporting our neighbors, local economies, and the environment.  Once you build a TMC INC Green Home you no longer are tied to the price fluctuations of fossil fuels.  Once they no longer receive billions in government subsidies they will be unable to buy politicians with donations and job offers.  Their industry has caused countless environmental catastrophes and needs to be moved away from.

The cost to our environment is too much.  There are only so many mountain tops the coal industry can blow up, only so many water aquifers Natural Gas can pollute with fracking, and only so many lifeless, industrial swathes of land we can tolerate.  We see things degrading all around us in terms of quality of life; I say it’s time we did something about it.  The planet cannot sustain it, and our wallets cannot sustain it.  Let’s go Green NOW!

As fuel electricity prices rise the average working class citizen is wondering how to keep up with the cost of living. Heating oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed in the past decade due to speculation in the market, and wages have stagnated leaving the average workers reaching for lint their pockets.  Many economists believe the cost of food and fuel will cause another recession, and if the government allows the United States default on its debt we will suffer a hardship not many in this country are prepared for.  It makes us all wonder if there is something more we Americans can do to solve the energy crisis.  The short answer is, we need to empower ourselves, not industrial corporations.

The truth is alternative energy solutions exist all over the globe, but in America we have not done all we can to support and grow the industry. Oil & Gas companies are some of the most profitable corporations on the planet and are extremely influential in the political arena.  The fossil fuel industry is connected to nearly every quadrent of our economy, which is why there is valid hesitation concerning a transition to a sustainable~renewable energy economy. They have worked to suppress alternative energy to some degree on the local and national level, yet right here in New York State we have created a company that can build you a residential or commercial structure 100% off the grid for good.

'Thermal Mass Construction INC' has developed a set of building materials and procedures that allow us to build residential or commercial structures 100% off the grid. With our “Thermal Mass Green Building System” we have a set of options for the level of efficiency a home buyer/owner can afford to achieve according to their budget including the amount of government subsidies and tax credits are available at the time. A client may have certain restrictions on the size and scope of a new build, or the amount of retrofitting they can do at a time.  Yet we are able to offer sustainable energy efficiency in varying degrees to our clients that can be built one phase at a time according to their needs and budget.

Using the materials and procedures developed by Thermal Mass Construction INC new construction for a client is priced at approximately $100 a square foot for the panels and assembly of the structure itself in terms of new construction, which leaves considerable room for profit by the local contractors. Our “Thermal Mass Green Building System” incorporates the heating & cooling system into the mass of the structure itself by way of thermal mass insulated concrete panels that have radiant loops embedded in them.  The system can gather heat from a solar array that is connected to a heating manifold, heating the water in the radiant system to 100+ degrees, or can work in concert with a geo thermal deep well recovery component.

In these hard economic times, it's good to hear positive news about young men and women participating in green job training. One school highlighted recently in the news is Sierra College in Rocklin, CA. Officials there applied for a grant through the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, and are now offering a course for California Conservation Corps members out of Auburn, CA.

This course, titled Technical Education in Energy Efficiency and Construction, will prepare students in topics such as weatherization, energy efficiency, and alternative energy. With the grant Sierra College put together this 128 hour course that will gain students entry-level employment in the Energy Efficiency Construction Industry. The hope is that this course will serve as a model for the rest of the state, and that job opportunities will be filled across the same area. According to a recent study, the Sacramento Region of the state is expected to have the highest rate of green job growth through 2012, introducing as many as 3,530 jobs!

This week Silicon Valley based Khosla Ventures, a group of venture capitalists welcomed the newest member to their team of green tech investors, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.  

With over 1.1 billion invested in tech firms that not only include clean technology, the venture group announced the addition of Blair as a senior advisor at their summit for limited partners in Sausalito, California.  As a new advisor Blair will advises Khosla portfolios on public policy.
Khosla continued investing in clean tech companies over the last few years, while total investment capital fell to $2.3 billion in 2009 from $4.1 billion in 2008, according to the National Venture Capital Association.  

Blair brings to the table his involvement in the leadership of “Breaking the Climate Deadlock” effort, an endeavor to raise awareness and build consensus towards an international climate policy.   

Whether or not you are a climate change skeptic or believer, this group is focused on technology, not just to address emissions, but to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create new innovative technologies and jobs.  Silicon Valley is known for it’s creative, ambitions and innovative start-ups of the 90’s, and I would love to see an infusion of cash pumped into new and emerging companies that can design and create new and inspiring products for intelligent, sustainable and  smart design.  With investments in green tech, we can compete on a global scale in new manufacturing opportunities, retool existing facilities and employ a displaced workforce to create a new tech revolution.  

Khosla is one venture capitalist firm. Hopefully others will follow suit and move our economy forward with an infusion of funding that is not available from the banking industry for small businesses and start-ups.

Last week the Governor of the Golden State gave his final State of the State Address before a joint session of the California Legislature.  In this address he laid out plans to spend $500 million on workforce training to create an estimated 100,000 jobs in addition to other measures to stimulate our struggling economy and slow the unemployment rate.  Doing the math, this seems like quite a price to pay for new jobs.
This ambitions spending proposal known as the California Jobs Initiative includes a reduction of sales taxes for the green technology sector.  Solar manufacturing companies can benefit with the discounts on purchasing equipment and this could possibly help this fast growing business sector in the state.  

This doesn’t seem to be enough to inspire those with an entrepreneurial spirit to start a new business or even possibly find a business loan to start or expand a small business.  It seems to be a fatal flaw.  I’m all for re-training a work force for jobs, especially green jobs, but this package includes a green light for the construction of new projects without environmental review.  This just increases the difficulty for opponents to block big construction projects by using environmental regulations, seems to be at odds with the views of the majority of California residents.

Historically in poor economic times inspiration spurs the instinct to start a new enterprise and seize the opportunity of low rent, free time and lack of competition.  This is what inspires innovation that can and will lead be a long term solution to bring our economy out of the red.  

My not so golden state is facing a $21 billion budget gap and high unemployment rates, how is funding such job training if company’s are leaving the state and no jobs are available.  I’d be up for funding new business ventures and once we have new companies, the jobs and training will come.

Obama reached an agreement with world leaders at the climate conference in Copenhagen to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius and to require countries to list their national actions and commitments to achieving emission reduction goals. Thus leaving the US in control of it’s own destiny..  Business as usual. 
I do hope we can move along with common sense to build green jobs as well as a manufacturing base, built on sustainability, so that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

This agreement makes important steps towards transparency, but what will the Senate do to pass the climate bill and really make a difference?  This decade is crucial  to meet the demands of a clean energy century, cap our carbon omissions and create jobs in the process.

I am so excited to follow the Copenhagen climate talks and to see what transpires at the conclusion of the summit.  With the recent revelations of emails leaking information  undercutting the evidence of anthropogenic climate change, I look forward to new interactions regarding climate change without drama.  Whether you feel strongly about global warming or just passionate about green building this is an event to remember. 

Our current administration is committed to creating green jobs, a key topic at Copenhagen, but it seems that the United States isn’t leading the way.  China and most of Europe are poised to embrace green as a way to expand new industries and create new jobs by developing new technology based on wind, solar, nuclear and low-emission energy.  We need strong leadership to get the US moving towards tackling our energy issues sooner rather than later.  This should include changing the thinking focused on global warming towards more thoughts on economics.

Despite the construction of the largest solar plant in the United States that once had 300 plus employees, the DeSoto Solar Center in Florida now has only 2 full time jobs.  How is this possible with all the stimulus money flowing towards green jobs?

I read so much about the funding of green jobs as a way to jump start our economy and I truly believe that green can and will be a new beginning to our manufacturing base. This story, however, seems contrary to all the stimulus plans, since all the plants parts are manufactured abroad - in several different countries.   This seems so inefficient and un-green when you look at the whole life-cycle of product production.

I admire this administrations efforts towards sustainability and the creation of green jobs, but at this time they seem temporary as most of the funding is geared towards research and the start up of only a few companies. The fact remains that the only green jobs we hear of are paid by taxpayer subsidies and government mandates.  Will this change, or is this the only news we read?

The funding is commendable, but I would love to see significant subsides and business capital designed to guarantee market share towards more renewable energy especially in regard to wind and solar.  These energy options have short cycle sourcing and  product production with life cycles that begin in one country.  It would be great to see more green and clean jobs based on marketplace funding rather than taxes funding temporary green jobs.