Employment related to environmental sustainability and ecological trade is anticipated to grow in the decades to come, leading media pundits to call blue collars "green." A study by the Cleantech Network, a US-based firm which tracks green investment, found that for every $100 million in green venture capital, 250,000 new jobs could be created. The same analysis also estimated that as many as 500,000 "green collar" jobs could be created by 2010, when green technology investment is expected to reach at least $14 billion. According to a recent report in Greenbiz.com, "green collar" workers will be needed for everything from the research, design, and engineering of new systems to the manufacture, installation, and maintenance of clean-tech investments. Think: chief sustainability officer; solar electricity installer; green maintenance supervisor; biological systems engineer; energy rating auditor; sustainable-design architect; environmental lawyer; or urban arborist. These are a few examples of green collar jobs already in existence and expected to grow within the next few decades. An energy rating auditor, for example, performs a comprehensive analysis of a building's energy efficiency. An environmental manager coordinates the management of an organization's environmental performance - specifically the extent to which it conserves environmental resources. Biological systems engineers develop systems and equipment that produce, package, process and distribute world food supply. Green product designers design products that use less energy and raw materials. And urban arborists are landscapers who understand conservation and renewable resources. According to the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), by 2030 one in four workers will be working a green collar job. The same report also estimates the creation of up to 40 million green collar jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Well-paying manufacturing jobs, management and sales opportunities will exist in the new “green economy;” as will huge numbers of jobs be generated simply through retrofitting structures and industrial processes already in place. The report, "Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: Economic Drivers for the 21st Century," found that industries currently generate about 8.5 million green collar jobs and almost $1 trillion in revenue. "The green collar job boom is here," said ASES's Neal Lurie. "Renewable energy and energy efficiency are economic powerhouses." Indeed – as other studies have shown - renewable energy creates twice as many jobs per unit of energy than traditional fossil fuel-based generating technologies. The annual revenue for solar power, wind power, biofuels, and fuel cell companies already increased by 39 percent between 2005 and 2006; and Market Research firm Clean Edge forecasts that these four technologies will become a $226 billion market by 2016. According to Kevin Doyle, the national director of program development for the The Environmental Careers Organization in Boston, a list of common "green collar" jobs are: 1 – Conservation biologists
2 – Ecosystems managers
3 – Information systems/geographic information systems specialists
4 – Global climate change scientists/researchers
5 – Renewable-energy specialists/energy management
6 – Environmental/land use/regional planners
7 – Policy integration specialists
8 – Community fundraisers
9 – Fundraisers (nonprofit), or business development pros (for profit)
10 - Industrial ecologists
11 – “Dual track” environmental professionals (e.g. economics and engineering, environmental science & MBA)
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