Vice President Joe Biden is on a victory tour, swinging through the country exulting the $787 billion stimulus package as a green job creator. In Denver, he boasted about the $11 billion for improving the electricity grid as well as the estimated 450,000 new jobs the bill will create. Despite the difficulty in defining a green jobs and counting the number the bill will create, spending such sums will no doubt lead to some employment.

Many businesses and potential entrepreneurs are scurrying around the stimulus package and the pending climate change regulation to find opportunities. The activity in Washington will no doubt create openings for traders, biofuel plants, and wind and solar power companies (as well as opportunities for the IT and health care sector ).

However, there is also a downside of the stimulus bill and the pending climate and energy regulation. …..click here to read more

China-based solar producer Suntech Power announced plans this week to build a manufacturing facility in the United States to serve the growing U.S. market for large-scale utility projects and to take advantage of government incentives.

“We believe in the outstanding long-term prospects of the solar energy market in the United States” Suntech Chairman and CEO Zhengrong Shi said.

The Suntech announcement reflects the value of federal and state incentives for renewable energy. It also counters a favorite argument of climate action opponents on Capitol Hill that shifting the United States to a clean energy future will send U.S. jobs overseas. Suntech, the world’s largest solar energy company in terms of photovoltaic module production, said it could cut transport costs and emissions by building closer to its market. The cost of shipping heavy renewable units, combined with the fact that the U.S. and EU currently constitute the majority of clean tech demand, makes local manufacturing facilities a sensible strategy for long-term growth.

Political considerations were also not lost on the company. Appealing to both green jobs enthusiasts and those who perceive China as taking manufacturing jobs from the U.S, Shi said he is hopeful that “initiating manufacturing in the U.S. will drive further growth of green jobs.”

Suntech America President Roger Efird said as many as 1,000 jobs could be created through Suntech’s U.S. operations over the next few years. The company plans to settle on a location in the next six months.

“We are currently in discussion with the governors of three different states who have been recruiting us to build factories,” Efird has said.

In making the announcement this week, the company specifically identified that its decision would be based on “local manufacturing incentives” and “long-term policy commitments.” …..click here to read more