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Energy Solution/Oakland, CA

Software Design Project Manager

Energy Solutions was founded in 1995 to address climate change and sustainability issues through energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. As one of the leading consulting firms in our field, we specialize in energy efficiency program and project design, implementation, and marketing, as well as solar and other renewable energy system feasibility studies, project development and financing and water conservation programs. In our 15 years, we have built a solid reputation for quality services that routinely exceed our utility, governmental and private sector clients’ expectations.

Energy Solutions is a fast-paced and innovative firm with 60+ employees. We are seeking to fill a Software Design Project Manager position in support of our projects emphasizing Information Systems solutions for energy efficiency and sustainable energy programs. As a member of Energy Solutions, you will experience working for a growing team, delivering support to our existing technical staff who externally deal with all Information Systems program related projects, while at the same time have a broad impact on energy efficiency markets and greenhouse gas reductions through our work for major California and Nevada utilities, the California Public Utilities Commission, and other national leaders in energy efficiency.

Daily responsibilities include but are not limited to:
• Collaborate with IS team on analysis, design, implementation and verification of computer software systems
• Create and execute project plans and revise as appropriate to meet changing needs
• Draft new requirements specifications for changes requested by clients.
• Compile documentation of program development and subsequent revisions
• Interact regularly with technical team and clients, monitor the development of projects and communicate progress to management and clients
• Maintain existing client relationships and cultivate new business relationships

Minimum qualifications:
• Strong written and verbal communication/presentation skills
• Project management and client management experience
• Software design experience (such as business and functional requirements, user interface/human factors, software design processes, focus groups, usability testing, wireframes, visual design)
• Two to four years of industry experience
• Bachelor’s degree
• Energy efficiency/renewable energy domain experience a plus
• Developer skills a plus

Our BART-accessible office is located in downtown Oakland, California. Compensation is commensurate with experience, and includes a generous retirement package. Energy Solutions provides an excellent benefits package, including medical and dental insurance and other pre-tax contribution plans. Please email a cover letter with your available start date and your resume to jobs@energy-solution.com. For more information about Energy Solutions, please visit us on our website at www.energy-solution.com. Information will be requested to perform the compulsory background check. EOE.


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Green Restaurant Association/Boston, MA

Grant Writer
Green Restaurant Association
Boston, MA

Job Type: Full Time, Part Time, Per Diem, Temporary/Contract Project

Location: Downtown Boston

Hiring: November 2010

Green Restaurant Association (GRA), founded in 1990, is an international, non-profit organization with the mission of creating environmental sustainability in the restaurant industry.

Position Summary:
The Grant Writer will research potential funding resources, do grant proposal writing, evaluate, and manage the grant program.

Responsibilities:
• Research potential donors, grant giving agencies, and other funding resources.
• Write, edit, and develop grant proposals to be presented and submitted.
• Manage grant library

Qualifications/Skills:
• Very successful track record in grant writing
• 3-5 years experience writing government and foundation grants
• Attention to detail
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Understanding of relevant sustainability issues
• Self-motivated
• Flexible

Salary range: Commensurate with experience.

To Apply:
• Email cover letter and resume to gra@dinegreen.com
Cover letter should include a list of grants which you ascertained for an organization via your grant writing, including name of grant, name of organization, date, amount, and what part you played in getting the grant and/or managing it. List how many grant applications you have written and how many you were successful in acquiring.
• Include salary history and requirements.
• Include available start date
• Put “Grant Writer†in subject line of email.
• No phone calls please.

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by Todd Woody.

Unless Congress acts over the next four weeks, at the stroke
of midnight on Dec. 31, renewable energy advocates will bid auld lang syne to a
federal cash grant program that covers 30 percent of the cost of building big
solar and wind projects.

“It’s absolutely
critical that during the lame duck session that Congress extend this program
and give support and consistency to those companies who are investing in the
solar industry so that they continue to be able to grow,” Rhone Resch,
president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, said
recently during a conference call. “A two-year expansion of the program will
create 65,000 additional new jobs in United States.”

The so-called Treasury
grant Section 1603 program was enacted as part of the stimulus package in 2009 and
gives renewable energy developers the option of taking an existing 30 percent
investment tax credit in the form of cash.

The cash option proved crucial. Although the investment tax
credit does not expire until the end of 2016, few green energy companies are
rolling in revenues, and thus have no taxes to offset with the credit.

In years past, they would sell those credits to what are
known as tax equity investors in exchange for cash to build their projects. But
the tax equity market collapsed along with the rest of the economy during the Great
Recession. And so the ability to take the credit in cash makes it easier for
developers to secure financing for everything from residential rooftop
photovoltaic projects to multibillion-dollar solar thermal farms.

“We’re not looking
for permanency for this program,” Resch said. “We’re looking for two more years,
as that’s the time we think we need for tax equity markets to come back.”

Edward Fenster,
chief executive of SunRun, a San Francisco startup that finances rooftop solar
systems, said on the call that such a two-year extension would likely allow his
company to create 6,000 jobs and install 36,000 additional photovoltaic arrays
for homeowners.

“The lower cost of
capital we’re able to obtain allows us to charge customers three cents a
kilowatt-hour less,” he noted. “This savings is enough to more than double our
customer base.”

The looming
expiration of the Treasury program has driven California and federal regulators
to approve seven massive solar energy power plants over the past three months
so their developers could cash in on the cash grant program and obtain
financing. Those projects are considered crucial to meeting renewable energy
mandates and fighting climate change.

For instance, NRG
Energy has agreed to invest $300 million in BrightSource Energy’s 370-megawatt
Ivanpah project now under construction in the Southern California desert. 

But when
NRG chief executive David Crane made the Ivanpah announcement, he noted that
the end of the cash grant program would make such investments rarer. “I
think we’re going to see a burst of projects over the next two months and then
you’re going to hear the sounds of silence for quite a while.”

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Meredith College/Raleigh, NC

This one-year fellowship, supported by American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds, is open to a recent college graduate to support Meredith College’s emerging energy management program. The fellow will work 40 hours per week; professional development opportunities available.
The Fellow will complete tasks across the Meredith College campus for different departments and areas, with work coordinated through the campus Sustainability Coordinator. Work will be performed in office, academic, and campus residential settings.

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Ceres, Inc./Boston, MA

Organization

Ceres is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. Ceres also launched and directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a group of 90 leading institutional investors with collective assets of over $9 trillion.

Ceres plays a unique role in the national environmental and sustainability movement by bringing the perspective and power of investors to environmental and sustainability issues and specifically to the performance, practices and policies of corporations. Today Ceres is a growing organization with expanding influence in the investment, environmental, corporate and policy arenas. Our program activities seek to foster greater public disclosure of environmental and social impacts by corporations, encourage engagement between companies and their stakeholders, and create opportunities for collaborative dialogue leading to positive change on key sustainability issues. To this end, we are harnessing the influence of the nation’s largest investors to move high-impact companies, the financial and insurance industries, and policymakers toward bold action on climate and sustainability. For more information about Ceres, please visit our web site (www.ceres.org).

Description & Responsibilities

Ceres is looking to hire a Manager, Corporate Accountability Program. This is a full-time position that will report to a Director on the Corporate Programs.

Specific duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Manage relationships and projects involving the 70+ Ceres companies and 100 + coalition organizations, as well as some prospective Ceres companies. The Ceres company network includes companies from a variety of sectors. Specific expertise in autos, airlines, oil and gas, sectors is a positive attribute.
• Coordinate and facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues including companies, investors, environmental groups and other public interest groups to discuss corporate sustainability performance and disclosure.
• Demonstrated analytical abilities and understanding of key attributes for assessing the performance of corporate sustainability results and disclosures.
• Sustain and enhance Ceres’ expertise in transparency and disclosure, including the Global Reporting Initiative as an accountability and engagement tool for companies and other organizations in North America.
• Develop and implement new tools for engaging Ceres companies on their sustainability performance including initiatives and projects, which support the implementation of the 21st Century Corporation Roadmap for Sustainability.
• Design and implement workshops, conference calls, newsletters and other multi-media communications to reach companies and stakeholder groups with timely information on Ceres’ programs and sustainability issues. This will be web-based as well as through print media.
• Research, write briefings, develop presentations for the senior director and other Ceres executives.
• Assist with planning for the Ceres annual conference program and other events.
• Support other program teams (such as Industry Programs, Communications, Development) as needed to accomplish organizational objectives.
• Speak at conferences and events.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business, environment, law or public policy or related field preferred.
• Three years or more of direct experience working on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues in the corporate, investor and/or non-profit sectors, or a bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years relevant experience.
• In-depth knowledge of environmental and sustainability issues and an understanding of corporations (including corporate reporting and business strategy tools), the socially responsible investment community, and the environmental and sustainability movements.
• Experience in North American context is strongly preferred, with some exposure to international sustainability issues as relevant to multinational corporations.
• Substantial expertise on environmental and/or social issues.
• Strong project management skills and attention to detail is required.
• Effective presentation style as well as strong speaking and written communication skills.
• Sound judgment, sensitivity to diverse constituencies, excellent interpersonal skills, strong initiative and motivation
• Successful record of organizing multiple projects, coordinating and facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work as part of a team and to deliver independent projects.
• Willingness to travel as needed to accomplish duties noted above.
• Proficient with word-processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and e-mail computer applications.

Other Information
• This is a full-time, exempt position based in Boston, MA.
• Compensation is commensurate with experience and is competitive for an NGO position.
• Ceres provides a generous benefits package which includes medical and dental insurance, matching 403(b) contributions, and annual leave.

How to Apply

We encourage all applicants to review our website to familiarize themselves with Ceres before applying: www.ceres.org. Applicants should submit a resume, a list of three references, and a letter describing their qualifications, interests, and potential contribution to our organization. Please use the words “Manager, Corporate Accountability Program†in the subject line of your e-mail message.

Address all correspondence to:

Careers at Ceres
ATTN: Manager, Corporate Accountability Program
Email (preferred): careers@ceres.org
99 Chauncy Street, 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02111

Ceres is an equal opportunity employer and seeks qualified applicants without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.

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by Sarah Goodyear.

I am passionately attached to my hometown of New York City.
Some people might even say I am pathologically attached. I am a crazy-ass,
diehard New Yorker.

While I have lived in other places—six years in
California, eight years in Maine, three of those in a very rural
community—in the end, I keep coming back to New York. This is where I feel
comfortable and accepted. This is where good things happen to me. This is where—and I know there are a lot of people who find this absolutely nuts—this is
where I can breathe.

What I’m saying is that I know what it means to be in love
with a place, more than might seem reasonable to people who live elsewhere.

So I was very intrigued to see the results from Gallup’s recent “Soul
of the Community” survey. The survey asks residents of 26 communities across
the country how attached they feel to their places and why.

Year after year, what comes to the top of the list is not economic opportunity or other “practical” factors—but instead the things that are much more intangible and yet still deeply felt. Things like friendliness and beauty:

Social
offerings are the top driver of attachment in 2010, not only across all 26
communities, but also in every community individually. This includes the availability
of arts and cultural opportunities, availability of social community events,
the community’s nightlife, whether the community is a good place to meet
people, and whether people in the community care about each other.

A
community’s openness is the second most important factor to residents. This is
regarding whether residents view their communities as good places for different
groups, including older people, families with children, young adults without
children, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and
young, talented college graduates looking for work.

A
community’s aesthetics—in terms of its overall physical beauty and the
availability of parks, playgrounds, and trails—is the third most powerful
driver of community attachment. A community’s education offerings are the
fourth most important driver, which include ratings of local colleges and
universities and public K-12 education.

The
study got me thinking about the things that attach me to New York. I’ve
included pictures illustrating a few of them.

And I’d like to throw the question out to all of you in this season of giving thanks: What makes you care deeply about the
place you live, or the place where you grow up? Is it a question of history and familiarity? Of happy memories? A sense of excitement and possibility?

I’d love to hear from you about
it and then publish some of your responses. Send pictures and thoughts to me at
sgoodyear [at] grist [dot] org, or tag photos on our Flickr group with “homesweethome.”

Related Links:

Copenhagen plans bike superhighways

Cities, states start to adopt climate change survival strategies

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by Agence France-Presse.

COPENHAGEN—Copenhagen, one of the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities, has begun
turning its extensive network of cycle paths into bike highways in an effort to
push more commuters to leave their cars at home.

Considered
one of Europe’s two “bicycle capitals” along with Amsterdam,
Copenhagen has more bicycles than people, and cycling is so popular that the
city’s numerous bike paths can become congested. Two-wheeler traffic jams are
especially regular on the main Noerrebrogade thoroughfare used by around 36,000
cyclists a day.

“You
have to elbow your way in to go forward and some cyclists aren’t always
thoughtful,” complains 22-year-old university student Lea Bresell.

The
creation of bike highways “comes right on time,” says Danish Cyclist
Federation spokesperson Frits Bredal. “Copenhagen’s roads are overloaded
with people who want to ride their bicycles in all kinds of weather,” he
says.

If
in the 1960s Danes viewed the car as the symbol of freedom, the bicycle has
assumed that role today, Bredal says. “It’s a mode of transportation used
by all social classes; even politicians ride
bikes,” he says.

It
is on crowded Noerrebrogade—the busiest bicycle street in Europe, according
to the cyclist association—that city planners have decided to build the
first of Copenhagen’s environmentally friendly boulevards.

The
jammed bike paths will be widened up to four yards on either side of the road,
which will itself will be reserved for buses only.

The
idea is to make Noerrebrogade “Europe’s great cycling street”, says
Andreas Roehl, the Copenhagen municipality’s bicycle program manager, also
known as “Mister Bike.”

But
Roehl is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen’s inner-city
cyclists: he wants to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto two wheels as
well. His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and
from the city from the 37 percent it is today to over 50 percent by 2015.

Within
the city, 55 percent of all commuters already travel by bike, according to the
municipality.

Copenhagen’s
bike highways of tomorrow will be dotted with pit stops where it will be
possible to pump up a tire, fix a chain, and have a drink of water, Roehl says.

And
synchronized traffic lights prioritizing bicycles over cars will bring riders
from the suburbs into Copenhagen “quickly and safely,” he says.

That
“could lead car-addicted suburbanites to take their bikes to go to Copenhagen,”
says cyclist Bresell. She believes bike highways will “make life even more
difficult for motorists and easier for cyclists.”

Already
Copenhagen stands out among other European capitals for its cycling
infrastructure, counting more than 242 miles of bike paths. Between 2006 and
2010, it spent $44 million on bike infrastructure, and $13 million more is
allotted for 2011.

The
first two city-to-suburb bicycle highways are due to open at the end of 2011
and reach a distance of nine miles from central Copenhagen, while a third,
going as far as 12 miles from the capital’s center, will be put into service in
2012.

While
celebrating the Danish capital’s efforts, Bredal of the cyclist association
says he hopes the rest of the Scandinavian country, which altogether has 5.5 million
inhabitants and around four million bikes, will soon “follow Copenhagen’s
example.”

Denmark’s
other main cities—Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg—are already contemplating
similar bike highways, according to the head of the Copenhagen project, Maria
Helledi Streuli, who is eager to sing the plan’s praise.

“It’s
an initiative that is good for the environment, for health,” Streuli
enthuses, adding it also “makes it possible to unclog car traffic and to
breathe easier in the city.”

Related Links:

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Southern California Edison/Rosemead, CA

Basic Qualifications:
Must have a Bachelor's Degree in Business, Economics, Finance, Engineering, or a related technical field. Must have experience in
the utility industry.

Core Competencies:
- Typically possesses eight or more years of experience in electric or natural gas system operations.
- Demonstrated experience with the software development lifecycle.
- Demonstrated experience in the operation of the electric industry.
- Demonstrated experience implementing plans and strategies in the open market.
- Demonstrated knowledge of how power is bought and sold, an understanding of contracts, and an understanding of electric transmission and generation, electric or natural gas system operations, scheduling processes/requirements, including tolling agreements.
- Demonstrated experience with ISO operations and control of the generation and transmission system or natural gas pipelines, capacities, and ownership.
- Demonstrated knowledge of economic dispatch principles and policies, with the ability to translate policy into effective plans and procedures.
- Demonstrate strong problem solving skills, a high level of attention to detail and accuracy as well as the ability to perform under rigid daily deadlines.
- Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills, to facilitate the interface with the ISO, other market participants and other groups within the organization.
- Demonstrated ability to accurately analyze information and make sound decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to take initiative and accountability for the accuracy of information and for achieving results.
- Demonstrated experience with Microsoft Word and Excel.
- Must demonstrate the ability to integrate work across relevant areas, develop the business and services to enhance customer satisfaction and productivity, manage risks and safety appropriately, develop and execute business plans, manage information, and provide exceptional service to internal and external customers.
- Must demonstrate effective resource and project planning, decision making, results delivery, team building, and the ability to stay current with relevant technology and innovation.
- Must demonstrate strong ethics, influence and negotiation, leadership, interpersonal skills, communication, and the ability to effectively manage stress and engage in continuous learning.

COMMENTS: Additional testing may be required as part of the selection process for this position. Candidates for this position must be legally authorized to work directly as employees for any employer in the United States without visa sponsorship.

This position has been identified as a NERC/CIP impacted position – Prior to being hired, the successful candidate must pass a Personnel Risk Assessment (PRA) or Background Investigation. Once hired, the candidate must complete specified training prior to gaining
un-escorted access to assigned work location and performing necessary job duties.

Preferences:
- Demonstrated experience scheduling/trading/bidding power.
- Demonstrated experience with CAISO processes and procedures.
- Demonstrated experience with the CAISO MRTU program.
- Demonstrated understanding of the operation of Edison's Generation, Transmission and Distribution systems.
- Demonstrated experience programming or testing software.

Typical Responsibilities:
This position will be an Energy Operations Specialist in the Day Ahead Operations Division within Southern California Edison
(SCE)'s Power Procurement Business Unit (PPBU). The successful candidate will participate on a policy implementation team and simulate bid/schedule power from Edison's generating plants and other supply resources into the daily California ISO (CAISO) energy and capacity markets, schedule power for other utilities, analyze market conditions and relate important developments and observations to department strategists and analysts. This position deals extensively with the numeric interface between Edison and the California ISO.

Typical responsibilities include: Interfacing with CAISO, and various Energy Supply & Marketing (ES&M) groups, such as Short Term Planning, Load Forecasting, Day Ahead Traders and Real Time; assisting with resolving issues related to generating plants/resources and scheduling; developing market strategies, as well as analyzing and adapting existing electric contracts to meet conditions of the electric power market rules; communicating issues and recommendations to Edison management, as well as building business relationships with the CAISO and other market participants; maintaining current knowledge of the CAISO MRTU program; and performing other duties as assigned.

Edison International and Southern California Edison reserve the right to close or cancel a posting at any time.

If you are interested in this position, please submit your resume in confidence by visiting www.edisonjobs.com.

Edison International is an Equal Opportunity Employer.


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by Sarah Goodyear.

I was out for a run the other day when I came upon a team of
people stenciling a design on the Jersey barriers that protect a new bike lane
not far from where I live.

I stopped to ask what they were up to, and it turned out the
artist responsible for the piece was standing right in front of me. Her name is
Debra Hampton.

I didn’t have my camera on me at the time, but went back
later to take pictures of the completed work, which adds some beautiful color
and visual interest to a kind of bleak section of the protected bike path connecting
two parts of the waterfront Brooklyn
Bridge Park.

Later I followed up with Hampton on the phone, and she
explained that this was her first foray into public art. It was a mere three
weeks from the time her proposal was accepted for the project to the time it
was completed.

“I was really impressed that during the economic downturn, a
public art program like this exists,” said Hampton, who lives and works in
Queens and was unfamiliar with the site until she scouted it. She said the city
gave her $500 for materials and also covered the cost of the paint; she
received a “small stipend.” The actual painting of the 600-foot section of
barriers was done by a team of volunteers from New York Cares.

The project was one of three Jersey barrier beautification
sites funded by the New York City Department of Transportation’s Urban Art
Project. Founded in 2008, it is a relatively cheap, quick way to improve some
of the city’s public spaces, as well as giving local artists a venue. The
projects have a truly authentic DIY feeling that’s in the city’s great
tradition of street art.

Hampton said she got great feedback from neighborhood
residents as the painting was being done. And she said she was happy to be able
to improve one of the city’s bike lanes. “I am one of those people who wants to
ride my bike, but I don’t always feel safe,” she said. “It was great to be able
to be part of giving bike lanes more visibility and community.”

It’s a small thing, true. And it doesn’t eliminate the fumes and noise from traffic speeding by on the other side of the barrier. But given the importance
of beauty in people’s feelings about their city, the DOT’s money is well spent
here. Now, every time I run or ride past what used to be simply battered white pieces
of concrete, I’m going to feel a little bit happier. It’s one of the things I
am thankful for this season.

Related Links:

350.org’s global art show shines spotlight on climate change

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by Ed Bruske.

When times get tough, the first thing to go, apparently, is better school food.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, attempting to close a $188 million gap in the city’s budget, has proposed eliminating funds that had been designated for better school meals as part of a “Healthy Schools” initiative approved earlier this year, which I reported on here.

The budget measure would halt payment of some $4.6 million that was to pay an extra 10 cents for every breakfast served in D.C. public schools, an extra 10 cents for every lunch, and 5 cents for every lunch meal that contained a locally grown component.

The legislation, which was months in the making and funded only after a dramatic controversy over a proposed “soda tax,” had placed the District of Columbia in the forefront of local jurisdictions attempting to improve the quality of meals children eat at school. The extra funding, in addition to some $7 million in deficit spending the schools currently contribute to the food program, would have made D.C. one of the most generous school districts in the country where its meals are concerned.

Healthier food advocates today were scrambling to determine exactly what effect Fenty’s proposed budget measure would have. It was thought that the funds in question had been garnered exclusively by placing a sales tax on soft drink and were dedicated to funding better school meals.

The “Healthy Schools” legislation took effect at the beginning of the current school year in August and had an immediate impact on the meal service. Because I monitor breakfast and lunch service at my daughter’s elementary schools, I could see that fruits and vegetables grown here in the Mid-Atlantic region were appearing on kids’ cafeteria trays on a daily basis.

At the same time, a new food services director for D.C. public schools, Jeffrey Mills, had removed flavored milk as well as a number of sugary, processed foods such as Pop-Tarts and Apple Jacks from the schools and had completely revamped the menu served by Chartwells, the system’s hired food service provider.

D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who authored the bill and had spent months working out its details with various local nonprofit groups, health authorities, and food access advocates, told The Washington Post, “I’m trying to be open-minded about this. If everyone is going to feel the pain, everything is going to be on the table,”

Andrea Northup, coordinator of the D.C. Farm to School Network, who was one of the leaders in crafting the school food aspects of the legislation, vowed to fight the proposed budget action.

“For the Fenty administration to champion the Healthy Schools Act as a model for the nation, and then to cut funding for the act, they have done a grave disservice to the children of the District of Columbia,” Northup said. “We’re talking about high-risk youth: three in four are at risk of hunger, one in three are overweight or obese, and most eat their daily meals at school. As an advocacy community, we won’t let this stand.”

Nationally, legislation that would add a mere 6 cents to the $2.72 the federal government pays for a subsidized lunch is stalled in Congress because it would be funded by more than $2 billion taken from the food stamp program.

Related Links:

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