Canadian Green Jobs

"""VAST JOB OPPORTUNITIES"" IN GREEN ENERGY ACT, MINISTER SAYSTORONTO – Homeowners in Ontario will be forced to conduct energy audits
before selling their property as part of new legislation introduced Monday
at Queen's Park.The change is one of many provisions in the province's new Green Energy
Act, a law the government claims will generate 50,000 new jobs in the next
three years while raising the average electricity bill by only one per cent.Energy minister George Smitherman said there will be "vast job
opportunities in more efficient building design and retrofits for
architects, engineers, contractors and installers.""Work for builders, financiers, electricians and inspectors ... in
contruction, manufacturing and assembly, servicing and installation,
engineering and trucking," he said.Smitherman said the jobs numbers were derived from economic modeling.
Officials could not provide any projections, however, on how much the
government will spend to support the provisions.The legislation will also streamline project approvals, amend building
codes for new construction, mandate more efficient appliances, and provide
zero or low-interest loans to homeowners who wish to build their own small
scale solar, micro-wind, ground source heat pumps or solar thermal projects.The government will also offer a guaranteed price – and will require a
certain amount of local content - for all renewable power, including wind,
solar, hydro, biomass, biogas and landfill gas. That price has not been set.Smitherman said that provision, known as a feed-in-Tariff, would put
Ontario on a level of "global green power leaders like Denmark, Germany and
Spain."The legislation sets out broad-stroke intentions. Details could take years
to develop regulations that bring those intentions into effect.To view this article in full at the Ottawa Citizen please click hereTo view the latest renewable energy jobs please click here"