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Green Jobs Becoming More Common in County Once Known for Mortgage Companies
Green Technology Featured Articles
March 06, 2013

Green Jobs Becoming More Common in County Once Known for Mortgage Companies

By Christopher Mohr
TMCnet Contributing Writer

In the mid-2000s, Orange County, CA (News - Alert) was known as a major center of the mortgage industry. Companies like Argent, Ameriquest New Century and many others set up headquarters in the area.


Years after the demise of those companies, a new industry is emerging in the area: green technology. Many new green jobs have been created as the result of a movement to conduct business in a way that's friendly to the earth.

A look at several companies in the area shows the different forms that green technology comes in.

FirstCarbon Solutions in Irvine consults companies on compliance, green initiatives and improving efficiency. Their solutions include data processing and utility bill analysis to keep customers on the lowest rate schedule possible. 

Garden Grove-based Progressive Power Group builds customized solar panel configurations for commercial and residential sites. Some customers not only eliminate their electric bills, but get reimbursements from the local utility as a net supplier of energy.

Clean Energy (News - Alert) Fuels, located in Seal Beach, builds natural gas fueling stations. Their customers include trucking, waste collection and transportation companies that have converted their fleets to run on natural gas.

Critics of green energy will point to companies like Solyndra, which went bankrupt in spite of a significant infusion of money from the government. That Orange (News - Alert) County has its share of struggling green companies only fuels the critics' arguments further.

Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive, makers of the plug-in hybrid Karma, stopped production because its battery supplier, A123, had filed for bankruptcy. According to Reuters (News - Alert), cofounder Barney Koehler said that resuming production of the Karma was a "couple of months" away.

Fisker is also looking for a buyer.

Amonix, a Seal Beach-based solar manufacturer, has gone through several layoffs and closed its Las Vegas site in 2012.

While green technology led to the creation of a new industry in Orange County, not all green jobs are at companies directly involved in that sector of the economy.

A company does not have to create green products or provide green services to have green jobs. More and more, companies and organizations are appointing officers who focus on compliance with regulations and establishing green initiatives.

California has enacted several laws that made it necessary for companies to have dedicated green officers. The state has what amounts to a cap and trade law, similar to one that failed to pass at the federal level in the first term of the Obama Administration.

Other recent laws in the state give incentives to drive electric vehicles and install solar panels.

Because of changes in laws and corporate culture, Orange County has become a hotbed for green jobs in Southern California. A drop in solar panel costs and more green legislation on the way from Sacramento suggests this trend will likely continue.

Green jobs probably won’t be enough to offset the state’s unemployment level, which at 9.8 percent is the third worst in the U.S., but they will continue to play a major role in how business is conducted in the Golden State.




Edited by Braden Becker


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