Green Collar Blog

If you're like me, you've been watching the Natural Gas Fracking situation unfold like a slow motion train wreck, devastating large parts of the country. The concept is that the gas companies buy drilling rights on people's property (which is very attractive for the landowner's because they get some good coin!), then the gas companies pump massive amounts of water and chemicals way underground to crack (or fracture - hence frack) the earth in order to release natural gas deposits.

The problem is that this is poisoning the ground water in many communities to such an extent that residents can often light their tap water on fire (no joke!). Imagine the carcinogens and poisons that people are ingesting even if the water never gets to the flammable stage. I thought you would enjoy this video explaining how fracking works and why it is so dangerous to our society. Good music, good beat, informative....what's not to like? Help spread this one around! - -

I just ran across this site, thanks to SmartPlanet .  It is by Streetfilms.org and is called Moving Beyond the Automobile .  It has excellent, high quality short films educating you on proven  methods for streamlining municipal transportation and helping the environment.  

 I watched the one on Rapid Transit Busses (it won't work in Boston because our roads are old cowpaths, but very cool idea in cities with lots of land). Scroll down below the first video to see all of their videos.

 
Sorry for not embedding it, my antique CMS doesn't play nice with iframes.

Let me know what you think. 

In this interview with Dr. Neno Duplan, the CEO and founder of Locus Technologies , we discuss the current thinking and approach to water in today's business landscape.  Locus, is a leading company in the environmental software space and they have been helping organizations track their water usage and quality and ensure regulatory compliance related to water for over a decade.

This led to a discussion about the current shockingly low cost of water (less than 1 cent per gallon, even in water scarce regions) and how it leads us to disregard this vital resource and consider it free.  Dr. Duplan does not see any price increases on the horizon, but obviously a price on carbon would cause businesses to start looking hard at water and curtail overuse and contamination.

The real business opportunity exists the further companies move down this process.  When it comes to water, organizations that are finding ROI are moving from simply collecting and reporting data needed for compliance, to using that vast amount of data to identify business processes that can be improved.  This leads to lower costs, improved efficiencies and increased profits. 

Listen to the whole interview

If you are interested in pursuing a green career or looking for a company that espouses green practices, you've hit on a growing demand cycle. To properly leverage all the new opportunities out there, you not only need to have the required skills, but the right attitude and "brand". Employers are looking for professionals who not only bring high energy, but a real devotion to green philosophies. This shouldn't come as a surprise as companies who pursue a green business model are concerned not just about the bottom line, but how their activities contribute to a better future.

How To Build A Personal Brand

In essence, your job seeking "brand" is a reflection of who you are and should be focused on what an employer will value.

1. Keep your message consistent. It is no longer possible to separate your business persona from your personal life. Employers are hyper-sensitive to any appearance of subterfuge or dishonesty. This means your message includes not just your education and work history, but what you do with your free time. Are you active in charities or causes that support the environment? Do you pay attention to your own carbon footprint?

   Walking the walk is reflected in many simple ways, from your power settings on your computer to being connected with what's happening in your community. You should be conversant in any initiatives in your area and the green movement in general. Industry specific advances are an expected part of what you bring to the table. You can take a Green Quiz here to get in the mood, and read about green living all over the Internet. Remember, this isn't an adversarial relationship; employers are looking for you precisely because you bring the right conservation attitude to the mix.

2. Your online image.This is a perilous trap you can avoid simply by investigating yourself as if you were a potential employer (or ask a computer savvy friend to do it). You may, in your heart of hearts, be the most concerned and caring person on the planet, but if your Facebook page has pictures of your unmuffled Harley and a recipe for your famous "knock you on your butt" cocktail - this can be discovered and will end up working against you; even if it never gets mentioned.

   What forums do you post on? What does your LinkedIn page say? Let your online persona reflect your best and brightest self. What you post in blogs and elsewhere will be counted as part of your brand, if only because employers think this is a clearer reflection of your true self. You can improve your brand by adding industry specific links and articles that have an eco-centric bent. Just tap into what you are already interested in and share it with others in a natural way online.

3. Understand the realities.This is the obverse of the above. Sometimes, in our anxiety to impress, we come off as too critical of the current state of affairs. Understanding the realities of a business you are applying to means a willingness to start from wherever a company or community happens to be.

   You may be asked to make an off-the-cuff assessment, but criticisms have to be combined with suggested solutions or ideas. Without this pairing, it is better to be graceful about what you feel are poor practices. A businessman will understand there are improvements to be made, but if you are over-critical, it is just insulting. Hiring is hugely biased by personality. Don't be so aggressive in your drive toward eco-friendly that you become an irritant.

4. Understand your future employer's concerns. It should be a part of your investigation of any company - what are their policies and vision on the ecological front? How will current trends feed into this? Are they hoping for a push toward solar? Do they envision a combination of wind farms and free-range as the best use of available land?

   Companies that will interest you will be upfront on their website and promotional materials about initiatives they have in the works. You should be familiar ongoing projects and be familiar with the challenges as they relate to your own area of expertise.

5. Don't overplay your hand. There are two realities at play here. The first is whether you have the background and skills for the job. The second is your "brand" when it comes to dedication and your own sense of "best practices." However, if you overplay your hand and attempt to be Mother Earth's Own Prophet, you risk coming off as, well - a bit nutty. Passion is one thing, extremism is another. The green revolution came, not from the rabble, but from honest people who addressed real problems in a mature manner - that's the proper tone.

   Don't rely on your environmental IQ overcoming a lack of necessary education or work history. Think of your brand as augmenting your demonstrated skills, not a way to oversell yourself.

Final Tip

Examine your resume with an eye toward your brand. If I had never met you, could I tell from your resume that you are involved with environmental trends?

One tactic is to leave some of the things that give you your best credibility less than fully developed. Mention them, but don't put in details - give some natural openings for questions at an interview. This works wonderfully when you've had previous employment in the sector or are active in environmental causes. One line in a resume can lead to a ten minute chat about something you know well and care about.

Brendan Cruickshank (Vice President of Client Services) - Brendan is a veteran of the online job search and recruiting industry, having spent the past 8 years in senior client services roles with major sites like Juju.com and JobsInTheMoney.com. These sites cover employment searches on everything from jobs to North Carolina Jobs.

Part 4 in a series of 4 posts from Dr. Nicole Peill-Moelter, the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Akamai, in which she documents what she learned while deploying a solar system on her home in California.  

Calculating Your Effective PV KWH Rate to Estimate Your ROI

To estimate the ROI of your PV system you'll need to calculate your current KWH rate from your utility and the effective KWH rate of your PV system.  The latter calculation will vary depending on the financing option you choose.  Let's look at an outright purchase first and then a leasing option.

PV System Purchase KWH Rate

In this case you need to estimate the total KWH the system will produce over its lifetime accounting for the annual reduction in the system performance, 1% per year.  Conservatively the system lifetime is 20 years, the typical warrantee period, but more likely longer, e.g., 25-30 years.  Next calculate your cost.  This should include any interest rate cost if you finance the system and also any state rebates and federal tax credits.  It should also include $1-2,000 for the replacement of the inverter about halfway through the system's lifespan. Inverters are generally waranteed for 10 years.  Then divide the total cost by the total system output to arrive at your effective PV KWH rate.

PV System Leased KWH Rate

The calculation is similar to the purchased calculation.  The PV system vendor will guarantee an annual KWH output for your system which you then total up for the term of the lease, e.g., 15 years.  You then need to calculate the net present value (NPV) of your lease payments including any down payment and financing charges.  Doing a NPV calculation takes into account that a $100 payment 10 years in the future is worth less than $100 payment now - depreciated each year by the discount rate.  This is your total system cost.  Again, divide the total cost by the total system output (KWH) to arrive at your effective PV KWH rate for your leased PV system.

PV System ROI

Now, the number you've been waiting for [drum roll] the ROI of your PV system.  The easiest way to do this calculation is to multiply your PV system's total lifetime output in KWH by your current utility KWH rate.  The ROI is the difference between this value and the PV system's cost.  Technically, to be accurate you should do a net present value calculation of your utility payments over the system's lifetime.  However we can make a simplifying assumption that the discount rate used in the NPV calculation and the rate at which electricity prices will increase are about the same.

We leased a system for 15 years with an estimated payback of 7-8 years.  We leased because once the kids are out of college we plan to downsize to ensure they don't come back to live with us!

Food for Thought

Two additional things to consider when mulling over whether a PV system makes sense for you is the future cost of grid electricity and water usage associated with the traditional production of electricity.

With the installation of smart meters it's very possible that utilities will start to price electricity based on time-of-day.  This is because electricity is most expensive to produce during periods of peak usage which just so happens to be during the day and early evening when you are likely to be using the most electricity, e.g., 1-8pm.  If that's the case, your future electricity rates could be substantially higher than the current flat rates you are paying today.  A PV system locks in your rate for 15-30 years.  The only risk you run is that utility rates will decrease in that time span to below your PV system's KWH rate - and how likely is that??  So I think a PV system is a pretty good bet!

Water Used in Electricity Generation

An astounding fact that I learned recently is that for every kilowatt-hour burned 20-40 gallons of water is consumed in the generation of that kilowatt-hour.  This water is used to cool the steam generated by a coal, nuclear or natural gas power plant. A typical American household uses ~100 gallons per day.  But if you include the water inherent in the electricity usage, that figure increases to over 1,000 gallons of water per day!!  You can bet that as water becomes an increasingly valuable resource, especially in water constrained areas like the southwest and southeast US, this will add to the cost of electricity.

A PV solar system would eliminate this entirely because except for the manufacture of the solar energy  panels, no water is consumed to produce the electricity.  Very cool indeed!

I hope this series of findings was helpful to those of you out in the market considering PV for your home.  It has been a wonderful experience for me and my family and we are looking forward to many years of net neutral energy bills thanks to our new PV system.