[Fat Charlie]

A comment I saw in another thread tonight has got me thinking. I'm sure we've all seen stuff in the news about the growth of the 'green industry'. What i'm wondering is what this could mean to the average joe such as myself who would like to train for a career in this area

When they say that there will be a demand for 'green collar workers' what does this mean specifically?

Does it just mean that existing tradesmen and construction workers will have the opportunity to divert into energy saving work, building solar panels and such?

Obviously it's very appealing to have a genuinely ethical career, but I have no qualifications or skills to speak of apart from two years working at a 'recycling centre' (council tip ) I don't even have a flippin job at the moment! I wouldn't say i'm a hardcore flag waving environmentalist but I try to not be consciously wasteful and recycle my rubbish as much as possible. Working at a tip you can't help but be shocked at the sheer volume of the crap and waste that we as a society generate.

I'm just wondering if cleverer heads than me can throw up some suggestions on specific job roles in the 'green industry' that might be available to somebody like me, and any general thoughts or views on the topic are welcome.

Thanks

This post has been edited by robot chicken: 07 June 2010 - 02:25 AM

[Freecookies]

Oil will always be king

[ritchtbiscuit]

Freecookies, on Jun 7 2010, 03:43 AM, said:

Oil will always be king

no it wont...

[bhudika]

The "Green industry" will dissapear along with Man Made Global Warming now labour have been booted out of power, notice global warming and sandal weaving hasnt been in the press for a while now? keep watching

[Mr_cocofibrelover]

there are plenty of " green police " jobs going... if you really want to be a government Nazi enforcement officer....

check out your local environment agency website...

as long as the Gov drive around in 3 litre motors, i wont be living green, not 100% anyway... fucking hypocrisy...

[I-KUE]

bhudika, on Jun 7 2010, 07:51 AM, said:

The "Green industry" will dissapear along with Man Made Global Warming now labour have been booted out of power, notice global warming and sandal weaving hasnt been in the press for a while now? keep watching

[snatch]

greentip, on 15 April 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

Recycle computer, printers, it equipment.....collect free, clean, sell on.

Collect empty ink cartridges and recycle or sell on....

Plenty of ways to make a living from being green.

the solar pannel industry ends this year or nxt year whitch is funded by the shit goverment we have BECAUSE TO MANY PEOPLE JUMP ON THE BAND WAGON TO GET FREE ELECTRICTY AN THEY DONT GET FUCK ALL FROM IT IT THATS Y CANNIBIS IS ILEAGL COZ THEY DONT GET TAX FROM IT

[Fatbudz]

The green energy industry is here to stay for the medium term at least, the driving force is the kyoto agreement, that's the motivation and "we" are governed by and obligated to get carbon emissions down or hefty fines will come! To the government.

The issue is we are paying for these renewables thru our energy bills! So there not really free, the feed in tariff for solar pv has been dropped to 15pkwh but its still worth doing!

There is a heat in tariff too now for biomass boilers, that's a good renewable to get into or thermodynamics. Most panels are not made in the uk tho but the industry is doing well, although by all accounts with "fracking" there is an awful lot of untapped oil out there!

[distracted]

ETA Sorry FC for not helping with your question.... decommissioning of traditional hydrocarbon production and power generation is also a potential growth industry should you want to look at that

bhudika, on 07 June 2010 - 06:22 AM, said:

The "Green industry" will dissapear along with Man Made Global Warming now labour have been booted out of power, notice global warming and sandal weaving hasnt been in the press for a while now? keep watching

The tories and their shadows have just pledged £1,800,000,000 to poor countries that we may have have damaged through our carbon emissions..... it's not in the press much as it is the global stage they are interested in, not domestic on that front... especially as they have just created a new alternative gas department to approve fracking the fuck out of Lancashire which is just bizarre

This post has been edited by distracted: 09 December 2012 - 10:52 PM

[bizzaro]

av a word in tony's shell like.....

il get mi jacket..

This post has been edited by bizzaro: 09 December 2012 - 11:04 PM

[distracted]

I know it is an old post Charlie but I was serious about decommissioning as being green jobs.... removing hydrocarbon infrastructure and making good the sites and responsibly dealing with pollution issues is as important as building the cleaner replacements but you have to be prepared to travel and the big money is offshore which requires offshore tickets although there may be funding assistance for that. I assume with your prior job you have a had training with dealing with potentially hazardous materials? That 2 years in the recycling industry can be spun up into a CV if you add all the onsite training, happy to help by pm if you think that would be useful.

Are you still considering this as a career route?

What do you want to do? Are you good with your hands? Does working outdoors appeal? It is such a wide area to consider. Have you considered going self employed? If you are in a big city you may be able to create an environmentally sensitive House Clearance business... people don't really want all their loved ones unwanted possessions ending up in landfill without any effort to sort but it is hard to see an environmentally appealing solution during grief... a recycling and up-cycling service may be very appealing and the spoils of house clearances can be very good, my cousins used to do it and the valuable stuff they used to get was shocking.

If it is the heavy infrastructure that appeals then local papers and the planning office will give you details of projects in the pipeline from wind farms, solar farms, anaerobic digesters, etc, even change of use for a building... you have the chance of getting in on the ground and it shows initiative, many years ago I did the same to pick up security work and got most of the contracts I found like that

I think the solar industry is pretty competitive though going on the comments of a few members on here... some of the solar equipment suppliers run short training courses I believe if you do fancy that route but you will need to know some basic electrics / electronics I'd have thought, not sure if you need a sparkies cert in this country

[Herbsman]

Fatbudz, on 09 December 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

There is a heat in tariff too now for biomass boilers,

Yet another scheme to give money to those who already have plenty. Basically the scheme pays rich farmers for the heat they produce.

[Fatbudz]

Herbsman, on 10 December 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

Yet another scheme to give money to those who already have plenty. Basically the scheme pays rich farmers for the heat they produce.

Well it pays the end user. The key here is that the money is being paid back into utility companies who are raising there prices so it's a bit of a catch 22 but for me it's still a better way forward. If you are looking at biomass for example, you want to make sure it's from a sustainable source otherwise it defeats the object, well partly atleast. Green deal will help out those who don't have much money to get these renewbles on there properties.