May 3, 2012
CleanTech Trends – Future Growth and Potential
An Opportunity for Modern Support of Fossil Fuels and CleanTech
Renewable electricity generation doubled from 2006 to 2011. The price of solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies fell. American manufacturers have regained market share in advanced batteries and vehicles.
Employment in the CleanTech sector grew by nearly 12% from 2007 to 2010. In fact, during the middle of the recession (2008 to 2009) the clean economy grew faster than the rest of the economy, expanding at a rate of 8.3%; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investment in clean energy projects likely spurred much of this growth.
The newer CleanTech sector made up of technology-heavy segments also adding jobs at elevated rates each year over the period. For example, establishments involved in fuel cell production created roughly 3,500 jobs while those working in smart grid added 7,000, with annual growth of 10.3 and 8.6% respectively
“After a record-breaking 2011, the U.S. has proved itself as a viable market for solar on a global scale,” says the executive summary of the report. “In 2011, the U.S. market’s share of global (photovoltaic) installations rose from 5% to 7% and should continue to grow. We forecast U.S. market share to increase steadily over the next five years, ultimately reaching nearly 15% in 2016.”
“What we are seeing in the U.S. is that policies are working to open new markets and remove barriers for solar,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA. “The industry is now poised for years of multi-gigawatt growth and the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs. But we face a number of challenges that have the potential to slow this growth.”
The U.S. wind market is the second largest in the world, for more than 22% of the world’s total installed wind capacity. 2010 was strong and 2011 saw difficulty. Pike Research predicts wind installations to pass 125 GW by 2017 – more than doubling from 2011 to 2017.
“However, the uncertainty surrounding the extension of the production tax credit in the U.S. continues to prevent the country from reaching its full potential,” says research analyst Dexter Gauntlett. “The United States produces enough electricity from wind energy to power 10 million homes – but there is still plenty of room to grow. Wind still accounts for only 2.3% of total electricity generation in the United States, compared with around 20% of total generation in some countries.”
However the U.S. CleanTech sector faces challenges without concerted and consistent policy. The era of increased clean energy spending supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is ending, and this coincides with the expiration of 62 related policy supports. Federal CleanTech funding is predicted to decrease 75% by 2014. The CleanTech sector will have substantially less federal support going forward without a policy in place to invest and foster it. “Without timely and targeted policy reform, several sectors are likely to experience more bankruptcies, consolidations, and market contraction ahead” reports Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.
Is this investment worthwhile? Consider that the U.S. clean economy encompasses 2% (2.7 million) of the total economy, while fossil fuels represent 1% of jobs (1.3 million) – these are jobs that directly support the production of fossil fuel-based energy, derivative manufactured products, and machinery. Fossil fuel subsidies have fostered solid companies and reliable energy for the U.S. economy for decades.
And while 2% sounds small, the CleanTech sector is an innovative force, and in some regions, like in Albany NY, it’s a significant local contributor. The potential of the industry to be a trillion dollar market worldwide means we need to keep our eye on the prize. We have an opportunity to develop a modern system of support that provides predictability for investors and is a catalyst for further innovation and technological improvement, for both fossil fuels and CleanTech. “The end of the present policy regime therefore offers the opportunity to implement smart reforms that not only avoid a potential “clean tech crash” but also accelerate technological progress and more effectively utilize taxpayer resources. Well-designed policies that successfully drive innovation and industry maturation could provide US clean energy sectors a more stable framework within which to advance towards both subsidy independence and long-term international competitiveness,” stated Muro.
Sources, and good all-around reading:
Brookings Institute: “Sizing the Clean Economy – A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment”
Metropolitan Policy Program – “Beyond Boom and Bust”
Investments in North American Wind Energy Installations Will Total $145 Billion through 2017 – March 5, 2012
November 10, 2011
Green Trends
Solar Temperatures Rising!
On all fronts, solar is heating up.
Polemic in congress and by detractors, job & export creation by US firms, and public support.
Polemic
The bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, and ensuing reports of fat bonuses and misconduct, are fueling the detractors and absorbing the media and congress. But let’s not get so focused on the Solyndra tree that we can see the Solar Promise forest. China is investing billions into their clean tech companies, and they certainly have factored in that some will fail.
The China Development Bank has put $30 billion in credit into solar companies in 2010. The CDB has announced financial commitments of at least $15 billion to aid companies in the nascent wind industry; and China plans on investing around $45 billion in smart-grid over the next five years. Solyndras’ potential loss of $528 million is 1.7% of the solar commitment by the CDB; and 0.5867% of the solar-wid-smart grid investments above. There’s a big forest out there.
Job & Export Creation
The Solar Foundation’s recent “National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce” report found that more than 100,000 Americans are now employed in the solar industry. The solar industry’s job growth rate is 6.8%, which is much higher than the 2% net job loss in fossil fuel power generation and the general economy’s anemic job growth. And manufacturing jobs in solar grew almost 25 %, while solar sales and distribution jobs had the strongest growth and next year is anticipated to grow 35%.
California is the national leader in solar employment accounting for ¼ of the US solar jobs. The top 10 solar employment states are Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The Census found that solar employers anticipate increasing jobs by 24% by August 2012; and over the next year, almost half of solar firms expect to add jobs. The US Solar Industry exported a net $1.9B in 2010, according to GTM Research and SEIA.
Public Support
9 out of 10 Americans Support Solar according to the 2011 SCHOTT Solar Barometer, conducted annually by independent polling firm Kelton Research. Key findings of the survey include:
• 89% of Americans think it is important to develop and use solar power
• 82% support federal solar incentives
• 82% support U.S. solar manufacturing
Redfish Technology Recommends these Reports :
National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce”
4th Annual SCHOTT Solar Barometer Shows 9 out of 10 Americans Support Solar
U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2011
The Redfish Monthly Newsletter
The Redfish monthly newsletter features original articles from executive recruiters and guest bloggers, and covers topics such as:
- Staffing & Employment News
- High Tech Job/Industry Trends
- Green Job/Industry Trends
- Career Tips for Passive & Active Job Seekers
- Employer & Human Resources Best Practices
November 8, 2011
Priority Clean Tech Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are for VP of Sales in Wind, Smart Grid Analysts, Business Development Manager Energy Efficiency, Performance Contracting Engineer, Renewable Energy Scientists, PV Silicon Specialists, EV Project Engineers, EV Design Engineer, Solar and Electric Vehicle Engineers, and more. Read this week’s top priorities: (more…)
November 1, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are for Business Development Managers in Energy Efficiency, Software Engineers in Renewables and Power Solutions, VP of Sales Wind, Junior and Senior Scientists in Alternative Energy, Solar Integrators, Inverter Engineers, Director of Utility Storage, Smart Grid Analyst, and more. (more…)
October 25, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are for Solar Engineers, Senior Director of Engineering Commercial Solar, MES & Wet Process Solar Engineers, PV Integration in CIGs, Electric Vehicle Engineers, Power Electronics Design Engineer, Utility Storage Director, Smart Grid Technical Analyst, Electric Commodity Systems Architect, and more. Read this week’s top priorities: (more…)
October 4, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar, CIGS, Utility Storage, Smart Grid, Electric Vehicles, Energy Efficiency, ESCO. We are recruiting for Sales Executives – PPAs, Senior Director of Engineering, Director of Utility Storage, Business Development Managers, Marketing Managers, Controls Engineers, Electrical and Laser Process Engineers, and more. Read this week’s top priorities: (more…)
September 8, 2011
The Risks to Solar Energy’s Future
 Gary L Hunt, Insight Advisors By Gary L Hunt
Life in the solar energy business is a constant battle between soaring aspirations for long term growth juxtaposed against the terrifying reality of falling prices and global competition. Selling more might actually mean your solar energy business will just lose more money faster. (more…)
September 6, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in solar, CIGs, renewables, smart grid, clean economy, energy efficiency, energy services (ESCO), electric vehicles, energy storage, Utilities, and more. We are looking for Director of Development, Senior Sales Executives, Channel Sales Manager, Director Business Development, Associate Director Project Engineering, Director of Validation, Design Manager, Lead Engineer, PV Device Integration Engineer, Lead CAD Engineer, Electrical Engineer, and much more. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
August 30, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Renewables, CIGS, Solar, Energy Efficiency, ESCO, Performance Contracting, Electric Commodities, Electric Vehicles, Smart Grid, Energy Storage, and more. Here are the top priorities of the week: Market Analyst, CIGS Engineers, Business Development VP, Sales Executives, Systems Architecture Specialists, Project Managers, Shift Supervisor, Director of Validation, Director of Utility Storage Engineering, and more. (more…)
August 23, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Solar, Energy Services, Performance Contracting, and Smart Grid. We are recruiting for Director of Validation, Director of Business Development, Director of Sales, Sales Executives, Site Operators, Integration Engineers, System Engineers, Lead Engineer, CAD Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Project Manager, Technical Analyst, and more. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
August 16, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Data Center Energy Efficiency, Performance Contracting, Energy Storage, Solar/PV, Electric Vehicles, Smart Grid, Clean Economy, Renewables, and Wind. We are recruiting for Sales Executives and Director of Sales, Director and VP of Business Development, Project Development, Control Project Engineer, Lead Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Technical Analysts, and Project Managers. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
August 10, 2011
The Future of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response is Embedded Technology
by Gary L Hunt
Gary L Hunt Congress recently debated whether to overturn the rule banning the incandescent light bulb. The bill did not get the 2/3 vote needed to advanced. Environmental advocates cheered this ‘enlightened action’ but failed to mention that more than a majority of members voted for the bill.
Does that mean the majority are rejecting energy efficiency?
The push for energy efficiency has been around at least since Jimmy Carter was president and there are true believers. It’s not that energy efficiency isn’t important—it is! It’s not that we don’t have opportunities to be more efficiency—we do! In the United States residences consume about 20% of all energy used and a lot of it is wasted.
Why we turn-off our energy efficiency enthusiasm:
- Energy Efficiency is a big hassle.
- Energy Efficiency savings are not worth that hassle for most customers.
- Energy Efficiency programs are intrusive and want to change our lifestyles.
While most utilities are required by regulators to be energy efficiency cheerleaders, they get paid when we use energy not when we save it. A few states, like California, have ‘decoupled rates’ shifting the rate of return utilities earn away from commodity energy sales and more toward achieving performance targets. This helps better align the interests of utilities and customers but it isn’t sufficient to get the energy efficiency potential available.
California is again a case in point. The big three California investor owned utilities recently filed their smart grid deployment performance reports with the California Public Utilities Commission. The reports suggest that utilities are mostly focused on demand response and have begun implementing peak day pricing to encourage customers to respond to high energy use periods. But energy efficiency and especially encouraging home area networks and other strategies to put all that smart meter technology to work to enable “self help” has been a big bust. Perhaps that explains why Google abandoned PowerMeter and Microsoft scrapped HOLM for lack of customer interest.
 CA Art Rosenfield Effect of EE Rules on Energy intensity
Back when Jerry Brown was Governor the first time in the 1970’s California adopted its first energy efficiency code. Today the result of that great experiment in energy efficiency is that California’s energy intensity is fully one-half the national average. Because of the size of the California market, appliance makers built better products just like automakers reduced emissions and the benefits spread beyond California’s borders.
Disruptive Technology is both the problem and solution for energy efficiency.
The California Energy Efficiency Code worked well for several decades until the disruptive technology of flat screen HD TV’s arrived on the scene. In a span of as little as five years, the rapid growth in the market penetration for HDTVs overwhelmed the energy efficiency savings to date. Those HDTVs used a lot more energy and they ate up the efficiency savings from all the laundry and kitchen appliance improvements for the last twenty years! Poof! Gone in the flash of a gazillion megapixels. So California amended its energy efficiency code to apply to HDTVs and the balance is being restored as new energy efficient HDTVs replace the first generation ones. We’ll buy them too because they are bigger, brighter, and cheaper—and we want them!
So what’s the lesson?
1. Embed Energy Efficiency Technology. If we want energy efficiency—and we do, we need to embed it in the technology we expect to use and make it part of the products we buy not something we must think about, decide up or do separately from living our lives.
2. Make it EASY! So why don’t we make use of home area networks? We know the answer– because it is not yet fast, easy, cheap or convenient. We don’t want more gadgets, we want better apps on the gadgets we already have and use. This is the lesson we learned when less than 20% of us bothered to learn how to program our old VCRs, or set our programmable thermostats, and why Microsoft finally set up Windows automatic updates—because doing this stuff is a big hassle.
3. Give Me Control and Don’t Try to change my Lifestyle. Most start-ups in this space are focused on building software, gadgets, dashboards and devices. Most will likely reach the same conclusion as Google’s PowerMeter and MSFT HOLM not because these are not good products, but because we don’t want them. We want simplified integrated solutions that give us control over our lifestyles. We don’t want big brother (utilities, government or big companies) tracking us, measuring us, alerting us or shaming us into saving energy. We don’t want more gadgets or devices. We don’t want our personal information stored in some ‘hackable’ cloud server. What is missing is that fine balance between embedded technology that helps me optimize my use based upon decisions I make that gives ME control over my lifestyle and the ability to change my mind.
Who’s on First Customers or Utilities?
Many of the start-ups and vendors in the energy efficiency and demand response space are focused on utilities not end-use customers. The energy and utility markets are still too fragmented to afford the scale needed for retail customer aggregation at this stage. Vendors see utilities as their customers buying EE and DR deliverables vendors get from aggregating commercial and industrial customers. So far this has worked OK for vendors focused like EnerNOC, Comverge and CPower, but theirs is a transitional game and continued growth means they must constantly expand into new markets.
The utilities are procrastinating until standards are adopted like the proposed Smart Energy Profile 2.0 HAN national standard, but that might take another five years. California’s big three investor owned utilities say they have pilot programs but the number of devices in active use is small. The risk for utilities is they are wasting their lead time while they still control the gateway to customers when they could be offering fast, easy, embedded technology solutions that would improve customer engagement, overcome angst about smart meter deployment changes in rates, and set the stage for a more distributed energy future for themselves and their customers. This will likely prove as big mistake.
The door is opening for more disruptive technology change ahead as smart meter saturation gives way to more and better ways to use the meter data insight to create new products and ‘wise up’ old ones. I predict a race ahead between the utility-centric vendors and the customer-centered vendors.
Utilities will wake up to the need to catch up after having wasted this lead-time and will scramble to offer their customers better solutions that enable use of smart meter data, energy efficiency and demand response services, and distributed generation options. Few are likely to succeed because they are not working NOW to engage customers, and organize them into a loyal social network that sees the utility has “on their side” in understanding and making effective use of smart grid enabled disruptive technologies.
Advantage will likely belong to new vendors who use social networking and customer aggregation to create the scale needed to make new disruptive technology driven solutions scalable and profitable. This is a marketing play not a device sale play. It is a segmentation play not a one size fits all solution. It is who do you trust not what do you have to sell me. For smart grid to succeed requires scale and the ability to cross artificial market boundaries. The consolidation process is already underway in each stage of the energy value chain.
Bigger players are emerging offering end to end solutions. New entrants using new applications of disruptive technology will surprise us as customers and will swamp the boat of procrastinating utilities and complacent gadget makers. All you have to do is imagine the disruptive technology power of an “Energy Groupon’ working with vendors to seduce us into playing the energy efficiency and demand response game for fun and profit. What profit? The kind utilities never offer us—winner of the biggest saver in the neighborhood award. A chance to enter the Hawaii vacation sweepstakes from among the neighborhood winners in my town. The competition between schools for a big prize for the most energy savings by households of students.
- Help us win and we will help you save energy. Let me track my progress on my Comcast home energy channel or change my settings on my iPhone app.
- Make it competitive and fun to save energy. Show me the competitive scores on EE by neighborhoods in my neighborhoods score compared to its savings potential for the current quarter’s Sweepstakes.
- Empower me to save energy with embedded technology. That embedded technology turned HDTV from scoundrels into energy efficiency champions while giving me bigger screen, brighter picture AND energy savings in one generation of technology, but it took the amendment to energy efficiency code to achieve it. If other states did nothing more than adopt the California Energy Efficiency Code or the new national standards based code, we could dramatically improve energy efficiency and intensity.
Creating the consumer demand for better products using less energy from disruptive new technologies that also lower costs—that is the big pay-off for all of us.
Related articles
National Demand Response Action Plan Message to Customers: You Win! (insightadvisor.wordpress.com)
Cost-saving claims add up to barefaced cheek (guardian.co.uk)
Smart Energy Data Frienemies (insightadvisor.wordpress.com)
Landlord insurance holders ‘need to be more energy efficient’ (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
Home Energy Auditor in Maryland Participates in Pepco’s Home Performance with Energy Star(R) Program (prweb.com)
EPA: New Energy Star Initiative Recognizes Cutting-Edge Products with Highest Energy Efficiency (bespacific.com)
Support For Energy Efficient Bulbs Dims Among GOP (npr.org)
Why Fighting Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs Is So Stupid (ecocentric.blogs.time.com)
About the author:
Gary L. Hunt has been a trusted advisor on energy and technology issues for more than thirty years. He served as CEO of a wholesale power producer in New England, ran utility systems in Austin, Texas and Oakland, California, and, for the past ten years, been a strategic consultant focused on energy markets, fundamentals, prices and risk. The views expressed here are his personal observations and insight and do not necessarily represent those of his employer, clients, colleagues or wife.
You can read his blog Insight Advisor at: http://insightadvisor.wordpress.com/
August 9, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar/PV for VP and Director of Business Development, Sales Director, Project Managers, Engineers, and Supervisors; in Energy Storage for Director of Utility Storage and Engineers; Energy Commodities Channel Manager; Smart Grid Analyst, Renewable Energy Engineers; Electrical Vehicle Electrical Engineers; Wind Senior EE and Control Systems Engineers; Senior Salesforce Leader in Clean Economy; and more. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
August 4, 2011
Green Trends
How can the Clean Economy be fostered and what is the potential?
In the midst of the ideological divergence and posturing in Washington, it is refreshing to see some clear numbers that point to positive impactful investment and jobs in the green economy. The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute recently published their report “Sizing the Clean Economy” which ask and answers “The question before us: at a time of economic uncertainty and federal polarization, can America’s cities and metropolitan areas lead the nation to a clean economy—to create jobs in the near term and retool and restructure our economy for the long haul?”
This report discussed three important findings. First, the clean economy is a significant emerging market in the U.S. Second, metropolitan areas are the innovators of the clean economy. Third, to fulfill the potential of the emerging clean economy, the entrepreneurial energy and dynamism of these metropolitan engines must be liberated. (more…)
August 2, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar Business Development, Commercial and Federal; Sales Directors PV; Product Engineering in Solar; Smart Grid Analysts; Clean Energy Physicists; Wind Engineers – Senior EE and Control Systems; Energy Efficiency Project Engineers; Energy Storage Director and Engineers; Renewable Energy Asset Management; Energy Commodities Channel Sales Manager; and more. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
July 26, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar, Clean Energy, Energy Commodities, Smart Grid, Performance Contracting, Renewable Asset Management, and more. We are recruiting for Director of Sales, Director of Business Development, Channel Sales Managers, Utility Storage Engineering Director, Controls Engineer, Electrical Engineers, Analysts, and Industrial Physicists. Here are the week’s top priority jobs:
(more…)
July 19, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar, PV manufacturing, Wind, Clean Energy, Storage, Smart Grid, Energy Efficiency, and Performance Contracting. We are recruiting for Sales Director, Project Development Manager, Engineering Director, Sales Engineers, Analysts, Controls Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Lighting Construction Manager, and more. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
July 12, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar, Smart Grid, Clean Energy Systems, Energy Storage, Energy Efficiency, Performance Contracting, and Renewables. We are recruiting for Sales Director, Engineering Director, Lead Engineers, Analysts, and Managers. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
July 5, 2011
Priority Green Jobs from Redfish Technology
This week’s top green career opportunities are in Solar, Wind, Renewables, Clean Energy Systems, Electric Vehicles, Smart Grid, Performance Contracting, and Energy Efficiency. We are recruiting for Director of Sales, Sales Engineers, Project Managers, Project Engineers, Analysts and Industrial Physicists. Here are the top priorities of the week: (more…)
June 23, 2011
Ultra High Voltage (UHV) Transmission Could be Our Renewable Energy Interstate
 John Whitney By John Whitney AIA
The renewable energy transformation of the United States is confronted with two serious challenges: Addressing intermittency in power generation and transmitting low cost renewable power from renewable resource rich regions to the rest of the country. In just the past three years, China has taken the lead in development of ultra high voltage (UHV) transmission lines to address both of these issues. China’s elegant, simple, and cost-effective solution to these challenges is now being implemented in Brazil and India, but in the U.S. depressingly little activity on this front can be observed.
While viable renewable energy resources are available throughout the United States, certain regions are blessed with truly remarkable renewable assets: Solar power in the insolation intense Southwest, on-shore wind generation in the windy Great Plains, hydropower in the Northwest and Northeast, and deep enhanced geothermal in the West. With constantly improving technology and steadily dropping costs, renewable energy power generation is now cost effective in many regions of the U.S. However, apologists for the conventional power generation industry continue to argue that without aggressive incentivization and subsidies, power from renewable generation sources is just too costly for most of the country. (more…)
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