Lately, I have been inundated with resumes from graduating seniors, grad students and people in career transition. It saddens me that there are not many green jobs available for these able and anxious people. But the bitter reality is that there is no green economy. It is a concept that will take time to implement. When I tell young people, that energy projects typically take four, seven or ten years to implement. There is usually a collective groan. Managing expectations on green is not well thought out by many.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to the 30 years of underinvestment in the US infrastructure. That means underinvestment in energy, water and telco. The numbers I see keep escalating. It's probably over $3 trillion. The money is not there in government. One startling revelation for many is that the carbon auction which was supposed to generation $646 billion from 2012 to 2017 ain't going to happen. Recent reports from Congressional mark ups on the Waxman/Markey bill show that the "auction" will be less than 20% rather than the 100% talked about by Obama.
Politics in DC is about horse trading. To get legislation, the Democrats in Congress and in the Administration have to give. The good news is that we will most probably have carbon legislation this year and then the magical price for carbon will materialize. That will give real legs to the market. That's a market in 2012 folks. But it should also unleash a swarth of private investment with much of that capital from private equity funds. There are 4,000 PE funds in New York and 2,000 in the San Francisco bay area.
Rebuilding of America, will take time. What we get this year are the rules for carbon, renewables and energy efficiency. It's a good start!
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