Most articles about green jobs focus on answering the question: what is a green job?

As unemployment continues to peak, green jobs have come to symbolize the panacea for many of our pressing ills: global warming, unemployment, lack of connection with the earth, and hollow “day jobs.”

Green jobs are laden with grand expectations: that they will deliver pathways out of poverty, ensure that our work is meaningful, allow us to do good while doing well and provide an opportunity to work towards a brighter future.

While the definition of a green job continues to evolve, the common thread is that a green job is one that benefits workers and the environment. The burning question remains, “Where are they?”

Green jobs in San Diego has been slower to ramp than in LA and the Bay Area, whose initial “shovel ready” American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) submissions included many large-scale green building and renewable energy projects.

The San Diego region has more recently taken significant action to strategically grow our green economy and workforce. Some recent breakthroughs worthy of celebration include:

• CleanTECH San Diego took a leadership role in winning $154 million in federal bond financing for solar installations through the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) program for the San Diego County. These are financing opportunities for 192 solar installation projects for public facilities, which will promote hundreds of new green jobs.
• The San Diego Workforce Partnership has partnered with the California Community College District and many other local public colleges to develop excellent green training certification programs.
  A comprehensive list of these programs can be found at the Green Career Network of the California Center for Sustainable Energy, also a provider of free training.
• San Diego Gas & Electric recently received $28.1 million in stimulus grant dollars from the Department of Energy to install wireless smart grid communication devices. On its application to the DOE, SDG&E estimated the communications project would create 100 jobs in the region.
• The U.S. Navy has allocated  $4.1 billion for green infrastructure projects in our region.
• The DOE has issued Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bock Grant projects totaling $28 million throughout the county.
• The MACC Project includes entry-level weatherization jobs.
• Increased investment in local algae-based alternative fuel companies, such as Synthetic Genomics, HR BioPetroleum, as well as vendure capital investment in Achates Power, Inc. and Advanced Telemetry have created job opportunities.

Green Career Pathways offers more information on green job research, salary information and job search tips.

In future columns, I will identify local green job and business opportunities, green education and training offerings, and provide tips on winning job search methods in the green marketplace.

We will be discussing how you can get in on the ground floor of this emerging sector and accelerate your green career. I say “we” because I invite you to participate in the conversation and help get word out about these opportunities. By sharing information and resources, all boats will rise.

The best way to predict the future is to help create it. Let’s do this!

Debra Horen blogs about green jobs.

Debra Horen, principal at Next Path, focuses on career and workforce development in the biotech and green sectors.