Stimulus Funded "Green Jobs" Begin Sprouting

Announcements of green job creation from around the nation last week were poking up like the jonquil sprouts in my back garden. Conservation Services Group, an energy efficiency consulting firm headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts has begun hiring 200 employees, a 50% increase in its workforce, for stimulus funded projects in 22 states. California's Governor Schwarzenegger announced the creation of California Green Corps, a 1,000 person pilot program to train young adults for solar panel installation and wind turbine manufacturing jobs over the next 20 months. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has begun distributing $132 million in stimulus money to not-for-profit organizations for low income homeowner weatherization projects, an 11 fold increase in that state's energy assistance program. Steven Horsford of Nevada, Senate Majority Leader, announced that his state will devote $37 million in stimulus appropriations to weatherization of low income housing, schools, and other public buildings in his state.