On the speakers list are the EPA Administrator, three U. S. Senators, one U. S. Congressman and two state governors. Attending the green jobs conference will be members from the wind and solar industries, environmentalists, green construction and manufacturing, community activists (and organizers) plus the usual academic crowd.

There will also be a fair amount of small businesses and green entrepreneurs trying to get the attention of the Washington power brokers who will be working on President Obama’s green energy initiatives. As the solar, wind and other green industries are starting to turn brown because of the credit crisis and economic downturn, the conference will be promoting forward thinking solutions such as incentives, rebates and tax breaks.

There will also be much clarification on issues such as the differences between green jobs and green collar jobs, green career resources, current and future greenhouse gas and carbon markets, climate change, renewable energy and sustainability and green education. If green jobs are going to be the mantra for 2009 and beyond, the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference is a significant place to start.

Two of the facts stated in the report are that by 2030, there will be 36 million more new homes built in the U. S. and constructed will be 20 billion square feet of new commercial building space. To accommodate such expansion will take massive amounts of new energy (much of which will be renewable energy).

In addition, it will be necessary to put energy conservation at work for the new expansion including retrofitting current homes and commercial buildings with energy saving methods such as insulation, automating thermostats and for the public to take action to conserve by turning off lights and other methods when not in use. Between 2000 and 2006, Energy Star products have gone from selling $600 million to over $2 billion.

The report states that currently there are over 750,000 green jobs in such fields as renewable power generation, engineering and forestry. This number will likely balloon to 4.2 to 5 million jobs over the next 30 years.

Wind energy is the fastest growing segment in the alternative energy field followed by solar energy. According to the report, “The bulk of jobs related to wind infrastructure will come in the manufacturing of equipment.” But, also operation and maintenance will also account for many green jobs as well.

In regard to solar energy most of the jobs are currently in the semi-conductor area with a hefty amount in the Silicon Valley area of Northern California. The Green Jobs Report also calls for increased spending and job growth in the hydropower, geothermal and biomass industries as well.

The year 2009 may well be the time for considering getting in on the ground floor of a new green tech company. When the mantra for the year will be jobs, jobs, jobs heading in the right direction with one’s core values (such as going green) will also be a large consideration when looking for new employment.

Now, there’s some historical proof that green really pays, well, green. A staggering 1.5 million jobs have been created already since the 1970’s because of California’s energy efficiency programs, saving $56 billion in energy costs and putting $45 billion in the pockets of employees.

Various other experts such as the Apollo Alliance say that 5 million green jobs can be created in the next 10 years if the governmental investment will back this up. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has also stated that he wants to create 5 million green jobs as well, employing people to work in the field of wind and solar energy.

A new work program in Oakland, California called the Oakland Green Jobs Corps is taking people out of poverty and putting them into fighting pollution with new green jobs. According to SFGate, “The city of Oakland provided $250,000 for the program. Private companies and trade unions have also supported the effort, which will lead to 40 paid trainees securing jobs in green construction, energy efficiency and solar panel installation.”

And, California isn’t the only state interested in creating new green jobs for its citizens. States such as Utah, Colorado and Texas are also very interested in green employment, training and education so the future of the country will be clean, green and employed.

A certain rapid growth sector of the overall employment picture are green jobs, especially those in the technical fields. Here is a list of some of the websites devoted to posting green jobs. Some of these sites offer green jobs in the USA, UK or other various locations.

• Grist features worldwide green jobs with a database searchable by job and location.
• Environmental Career outlines a list of worldwide green jobs that can be searched by position and location.
• Ecoemploy offers green jobs in the U. S.
• Earthworks features green jobs in the US, UK and other locations.
• Sustainable Business outlines green jobs in the US, UK and other worldwide locations plus offers searchable database by position and location.
• Bright Green Talent offers green jobs centered in the UK and USA.
• Edie is a large database of green jobs in the UK
• Acres is another job bank offers green employment in the UK.

One shortcoming of a least half of these sites, however is that you can search by job, but not by location, which means one may have to take a bit of time out visually filtering out green jobs that are geographically undesirable. Be that as it may, if you find the green job that is a perfect fit for you then a little extra work won’t be that hard to handle.

Currently, 56 wind turbines at a height 260-feet dot the landscape upon the blustery plains. Dozens of technicians have worked on the Smoky Hills Wind Farm project just to get it online and operational. Dozens more will most likely be needed to expand the wind farm to its full capacity as well.

But, Enel has stated that because of the rapid growth of orders for wind energy by the utility companies over the past couple of years there is now a shortage of wind farm technicians. The technicians most commonly seen on wind farms include meteorologists, mechanics, computer programmers and IT professionals and hydraulics engineers.

Last year, 3,200 wind turbines were installed across the U. S. supplying enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes. Besides Kansas, Texas and Oregon are also areas needing wind farm technicians. On the other end of the scale, Rhode Island may be banning wind farm construction for a year due to environmental concerns.

According to Enel, however, wind farms are such an emerging industry right now that those with just one-year’s worth of experience are highly desired. At this point in time, those with a little wind experience, solid technical skills and the willingness to climb 260 feet can write their own tickets.

But, now more white collar types have been going green with midlife career changes in an effort to live their convictions more fully by helping the environment. Mid and high level executives, lawyers, accountants and others have been switching over to environmentally friendly companies in order to gain fulfillment from their jobs.

And, the topic of green collar jobs has not been lost on the politicians as well. On the campaign trail, both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have been mentioning green collar jobs in their speeches for months.

According to a report by the American Solar Energy Society, there are currently 8.5 million green collar jobs in the U. S. and by 2030, this number will likely balloon to 40 million or about one-quarter of the total workforce. And, the jobs listed are just in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors and don’t include other types of environmental employment.

Kermit the Frog used to say, “It’s not easy being green,” but now green is hot, trendy and popular. Green collar jobs are expected to sprout up and grow over the next several decades. And, this will be putting a little green in many people’s wallets.