Finance

So Where Are All the Green Jobs From That $500 Million Investment?

Pop Quiz:

Q. How do you know when a huge, federally-funded program fails?

A. When the program’s results are so abysmal that the government actually suggests shutting it down and reclaiming the money.

As the White House deals with another report of layoffs in the green energy business, we also are learning that the outlook is even darker for tens of thousands of workers who were trained in a $500 million dollar green jobs program.

USA Today reports:

The program’s goal was to train 124,893 people and put 79,854 in jobs. But 17 months later, 52,762 were trained and 8,035, or roughly 1 in 10, had jobs. Those numbers come from an audit by the Department of Labor’s inspector general, which recommended that the administration end the program and return unspent money.

The administration budgeted nearly $500 million taxpayer dollars to try and create a new workforce. After almost a year and a half, the money has accomplished about 10% of its targeted goals.

The is not a surprise. Back in August of 2011, The Blaze reported on “Seattle’s $20 Million Dollar Green Jobs Scam.” That story was an omen. The Emerald City of the Northwest claimed that they were going to create 2,000 jobs with their twenty million dollar allocation. These jobs were supposed to “weatherize” homes all over the city. Over a year into the program, KOMO4 claimed that only 14 jobs were created and 3 homes had been “weatherized.”

Here is the original KOMO report from last August:

The USA Today story quotes Assistant Secretary of Labor Jane Oates who makes the argument that we’re too early in the process to label the program a failure:

“It’s like coming to me three days after I join Weight Watchers and yelling at me because I didn’t lose 62 pounds yet. More recent numbers are still being compiled.”

Are we too early to make a reasonable comparison? Let us review some data from just a few failed green jobs initiatives:

Solyndra – The multi-pronged scandal that is typically the first name mentioned when most people talk about green jobs failures.

Beacon Power – Taxpayers on the hook for $43 million.

Amonix -Two thirds of the work force laid off, without warning.

Willard & Kelsey Solar Group - Over $15 million in loans and grants, followed by layoffs and missed job creation targets.

Ener1 - $118 million in govt. loans, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just weeks ago.

First Solar – A public company that received $3.1 billion in loans, their CEO resigns and the stock tanks.

SunPower – The company that received $1.2 billion in loan guarantees and and was later removed from govt press releases about solar energy.

Many of these companies are also among the list of 100 potential bankruptcies posted on The Blaze last fall.

Congress might ask, how much more data is required before the “green jobs” initiative is deemed dead on arrival?

Comments (86)

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  • flower and frijole
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 12:41pm

    My “cousin-in-law” just graduated from wind turbine training course and had a job before he finished school. I attended their graduation and it was announced that every single graduate in the wind turbine program had already been hired. These are good jobs with starting wage in mid-40K range.

    Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 1:04pm

      What the government didn’t tell us, was what the actual definition of “green jobs” was……but from what I can see, it involves spending large amounts of taxpayer green money, to produce epic failures.

      Report Post » TXPilot  
    • beekeeper
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 1:53pm

      Ralph Cramden had a green job – this Gov’t counts city bus drivers as green jobs, no matter what fuel the busses burn.

      Report Post » beekeeper  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 3:26pm

      And subsidised by tax dollars your cousin in law didn’t get a job he became part of our national debt.

      Report Post »  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 3:29pm

      This is the greatest theft ever in U.S. history. And true example of the insanity both of liberal elitist and the democratic voters.

      Report Post »  
    • Jaycen
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 3:35pm

      LOL – They desperately need techs to work on turbines, because they fail so often. Talk about expensive to fix. How much do you think it costs to have a tech on-site for 8 hours?

      Report Post » Jaycen  
    • 2theADDLED
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 4:39pm

      Turbine jobs come in more flavors than wind turbines they are also used in natural gas and coal fired powerplants which has a more stable history ?

      Report Post »  
    • MIBUGNU2
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:47pm

      Democrats are making the same argument about Obama..
      that it’s too early in the process to label Him a failure….
      Don‘t think I’ll vote for Him again, I’ve already seen enough,
      Thank You !!!!!

      Report Post » MIBUGNU2  
    • berlich
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 12:09am

      That may be true, but the government is incapable of successfully making this type of investment. Go back and read the part where the inspector general suggested ending the program and returning any unspent funds. I am glad that your couzin in law got a job. I hope he does well and I hope the government gets back to its constitutional role.

      Report Post »  
    • usnpops
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 12:28am

      Glad to hear it, but bear in mind that his training etc was funded by part of the Stimulus.

      And for every Wind Farm, there has to be a Fossile fueled Generating plant producing power when the wind is not there. About 47% of the time.

      Wind is another flash in the pan idea, that once the government subsidies run out, will go the way of Solar.

      So long as this country requires a 24/7 energy supply, only fossile fuel is praticle. it costs about 8 cernts a KWH from a coal fired or Natural gas plant. Solar and Wind costs about 22 Cents per KWH. Who do you think is going to cover that big difference?

      For every wind turbine, they have to pay the landowner a leasing fee. Most in the range of $10,000 per year for the land. Some higher. Who do you think is going to pay for that?

      It is estimated that to provide only 20% of the energy the USA uses in a day would take a solar Array the size of the state of Kansas. Then much of Missouri covered with coal or gas fired plants for when there was no Solar.

      2 good reads on the subject:
      http://www.theblaze.com/stories/so-where-are-all-the-green-jobs-from-that-500-million-investment/

      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/7/green-jobs-are-a-national-scandal/?page=all#pagebreak

      Report Post »  
    • paulharvey
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 11:03am

      I did a on line search, I did not find plenty of jobs our local college has Wind Turbine classes thye are not getting hired before they finish, do a search for wind turbine
      http://www.windturbinetechnicianjobs.com/greenjobs/todaysjobs.cfm?keywords=Wind%20Turbine%20Technician&title=WindTurbineTechnicianJobs.com
      not what I call too inviting, plus a lot of these are travel only so you must like that, and does employer pay for travel expenses?

      Report Post »  
    • leo346
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 11:06am

      Understand that they said he has a job. But is he actualy drawing a pay check yet and how many people were in his training class? The most wind turbines are beeing used here in Texas and I don’t know of am hiring shortage .

      Report Post »  
    • boncarbo7
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 1:10pm

      flower and frijole, your relative will not be so happy when the wind business he is working for files for bankruptcy. Solar/wind power is not as efficient as most would have us believe. Unfortunately China can make make and sell solar panels much cheaper than we can, and it is not the solar panels that are the problem, it is the back-up storage batteries, they are the weak link in the systems, they are expensive, approximately $250.00 each, we have 24 batteries, you can do the math, and do not last long enough to recoup the investment. In total we have spent $25,000.00 on our system, we will need to live in this house for at least 30 years to recoup the cost, we don’t have 30 years of life left. I wish your relative all the luck in his quest for a better life.

      Report Post »  
    • dragonsrightwing
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 2:33pm

      My “cousin-in-law” just graduated from wind turbine training course and had a job before he finished school. I attended their graduation and it was announced that every single graduate in the wind turbine program had already been hired. These are good jobs with starting wage in mid-40K range.

      How nice of us taxpayers to hire your cousin-in-law. I’ve worked in the Wind industry – and to the best of my knowledge, there has *never* been a truly profitable wind energy venture. Wind energy companies start up, maintain themselves in business by riding on government “green” grants until they no longer qualify for the grants, then fold – and are bought by another new company which qualifies for the grants. Wind is a great source on the small scale, but in the large scale, it just does not become profitable due to high maintenance costs and short lifespans of large turbines.

      Report Post »  
  • garyM
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:51am

    The jobs are in Mitt‘s Romney’s blind trust! Hey Mitt’s blind trust guy has done well under Obama, 21 million a year!

    Report Post »  
  • Liberalismsamentaldisorder
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:47am

    Only in government can abject failure be reason for more of the same.

    Report Post »  
    • 2theADDLED
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 4:48pm

      Weather proofing homes was ignorant logic
      Who weatherised or remodeled or improved properties when faced with almost definate forclosure and loss of market value ? Democrat logic it makes no sense.
      Kill the program.

      Report Post »  
    • mtncrusr
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 4:49pm

      The only reason government programs fail is that they didn’t get enough money. We hear thqat every time.

      Report Post »  
    • marion
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 6:38pm

      Weatherizing homes is the second level and repeat of the Carter years of turning the thermostat down a couple degrees, putting on a sweater, gas lines, 16percent unemployment where I lived, BHO just picked up where Carter left off.

      Still wondering how much kickback from these upwards of billions of dollars made their way back to his party’s coffers.

      Report Post »  
    • hud
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 6:44pm

      Failure? Obama is the greatest thief in the history of mankind. How many people have stolen 1 trillion dollars +. Where do you people think this money is going.

      Report Post »  
    • MIBUGNU2
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:13pm

      Windmills are ugly eyesores !! destroying Americas Landscape..
      Noisy, The EPA and the Animal Rights Activates are turning a
      blind eye to these MONSTROSITIES, killing THOUSANDS of
      Birds and Bats.. So much for the Beautification of America
      initiated by the Johnson Administration.. Carter Jr. has to GO !!!

      Report Post » MIBUGNU2  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:43am

    We better put the brakes on this sh– NOW…. seriously, why the hell is the federal government involved in anything besides border protection and military …. We had better de fund these thugs, but i guess we cant cuz they control the printing press… Its sickening !!!

    Report Post »  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 11:01am

      DETROIT PAPERBOY,
      Your avatar name contains the perfect example of over reaching governmental regulations and socialist entitlement programs.
      Detroit is the posterchild for reduction of government power and ending socialist programs.

      Report Post »  
  • supressorgrid
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:34am

    Seriously, If you read The Road to Serfdom you would see this is an old progressive ploy to make things worse while saying they are improving things. Driving us from what we want to what they want for us.

    Report Post »  
  • littlefish
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:29am

    Utopia requires utopian style impossible technology . . . .so those wishing and willing to force us into
    the required totalitarian government also required for utopia will believe in all sorts of junk to accomplish their dream. . . .
    Without these dupes there would be no “income at home” scams or perpetual motion enthusiasts . . .
    SNAKE OIL sales men and carpet baggers like Gore are attracted to idiot theology like **** roaches
    and will devise their evil plans around the ignorance and gullibility of their targets.
    Con men are not stupid . . . .Pay me money to be green and I’ll say everything I do is based on green . . .Energy out of dripping faucets ?? Give me a 1oo million and lets get at it . . .I’ll create jobs . . .
    mostly mine . . .and some relatives . . . .but we’ll be GREEN . . . so NO TAXES . . .first thing I’ll set up is an over seas account . . .and lots of phony overhead . . .

    Report Post » littlefish  
  • JP16
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:28am

    Just another piece of evidence that government has no role in trying to mess around with an economy.

    Report Post »  
    • Sirfoldallot
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:32am

      Yup , the Goverment gets our money & they can invest in anything ,, gotta a poblim with that ?

      Report Post » Sirfoldallot  
    • kledwards
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 3:03am

      @sirfoldallot…ummm…ok, I get the point, but you forget that the government is not spending money they get from “us”…the money they get from us now was already spent years ago, and the money they are wasting now will be gotten from our descendants a few generations down the line…

      Report Post »  
  • supressorgrid
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:27am

    Obama’s problem is that he gave the money to those who already had money and they just squirreled it away in thier secret accounts or kicked it back into election campaigns. He should have given it to folks that don’t know how to keep money, people like me. If I were to receive such a wind fall it is gaurenteed I would leave a mark. I would get my old towncar painted after I install a hood scoop and rear spoiler(a big one) twin CB antennas and new gumbo mudder tires. I would get a new chicken coop for my wife so she dont have to stoop down to get into it no more,hire a bull dozer,hell buy a bull dozer and hire someone to drive it to rework my shooting range and rework my fish pond. All these actions would employ more people than Hizzhonor’s grandest schemes ever could.

    Report Post »  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 6:53am

      Don’t forget a new peogressive reloading press so you can turn out more ammo faster and bullet molds. Also need to stock up on powder and primers, built a concrete hog sty and a new smoke house.

      OMG

      Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:25am

    .
    So Where Are All the Green Jobs From That $500 Million Investment?

    Sitting at home collecting 99 weeks of unemployment, eating Cheetoes, looking at Porn, trying to figure out why it turned Orange instead of Green……

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • ronaldreaganthegreat
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:15am

    There is no such thing as green jobs. Its the same as climate hoax; marxist ideology stealing $ and giving to the left an unions.

    Tea:-)

    Report Post » ronaldreaganthegreat  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 11:05am

      Exactly Spain is a perfect example of why you remove government let the technology and free market
      dictate where greener renewable energy goes next. Government artifically inflates the market (think housing) until it can no longer support it then it saddle the tax payers with the responsibility for repaying the debt.

      Report Post »  
  • cemerius
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:14am

    This current crop of politicians is showing major signs of gangrene and smells like rotting eggs more and more every day!!! I think we are in the amputation stages and the operation shall be conducted November 2012!!!

    Throw the bum out, No Obama in 2012!!!

    Report Post » cemerius  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:11am

    If The Government had given me that money,I would have created more jobs.After hiring people to fix my house,I would have hired people to dig a huge pit in my back yard to bury recyclables and polar bears.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • cemerius
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:15am

      Thanks for the laugh!!! Save the polar bear skins they make warm rugs and blankets too!!

      Report Post » cemerius  
  • SamIamTwo
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:11am

    In the MMJ states there are many green jobs. LOL And those growers are indeed wealthy.

    Report Post » SamIamTwo  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:11am

    Where is all the stimulus money? I have seen some highway projects, but there was a hell of a lot more money than that out there.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • AJAYW
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:53am

      @Anonymous T. Irrelevant

      Could it be that obama and the liberals have found a way to laundry the money. And it is going into off shore accounts for them. There is way to much missing money’s from these companys going under> Something just don’t smell right. Is there a way they can use it later to fund something to collapse our goverment.

      Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:08am

    Follow the Money…

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • Sumrknght
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:08am

    “It’s like coming to me three days after I join Weight Watchers and yelling at me because I didn’t lose 62 pounds yet. More recent numbers are still being compiled.” – Jane Oates, Assistant Secretary of Labor

    No Jane… it’s like you joining Weight Watchers and then having a 500 MILLION DOLLAR TAX FUNDED PIZZA PARTY. Don’t give us your compiling numbers line. It’s the classic case of putting the cart in front of the horse! “Green jobs” will manifest when the technology and the market will SUPPORT them. You cannot legislate them! Meanwhile return the unspent money – STOP spending like money is going out of style. Get a BUDGET and start aiming for fiscal responsibility! This is NOT your money you are spending – it is OURS.

    Report Post »  
  • Abraham Young
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:05am

    Don’t tell me you expect dictatorial socialist economic buffoonery to produce results? I mean, good results?

    http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

    You must have been educated in one of “their schools”.

    Report Post »  
  • kat747
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:03am

    Try looking in some off-shore bank accounts – the same place that the $400 MILLION from the AFL-CIO and the $30 MILLION DOLLARS from the electrical workers union went. When are you union people going to start checking your pension money ?

    Report Post »  
  • JP4JOY
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:03am

    Years are days for these bureaucrats. If you are commissioned to create something and years later you have any excuse to cover for your incompetence you should be fired, especially when it’s not your money you are using.

    Report Post » JP4JOY  
  • 4truth2all
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:01am

    I hope and pray that our candidate for president has ALL the information about ALL the complete failings, the lies, and forked tongued statements of this president and shoves them down his throat come champaign time.

    Report Post »  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:34am

      I hope they have saved all the video and commercials from the last election up to this one. All the videos of Obama going on vacation while the oil disaster was going on in the Gulf, vacation in India, vacation here and there. There is just SO much thay can use against Obama, but it needs to be done right.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • Norsk
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:00am

    Where are all of the “Green Energy” jobs that RINO Romney was supposed to create with his Green Energy Fund when he was MA Governor?

    Politico
    Romney’s Energy-Project Past
    Ben Smith

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1011/Romneys_energyproject_past.html?showall

    Oh, yeah, his Green Energy Fund was a flop. Obama has his “Solyndra’s” and so does Romney.
    But undoubtedly it’s not his fault. Just like the Bain-owned bankruptcies weren’t his fault, either, since he was gone from Bain by then. But the successes, even though they are current ones – he takes credit for them (even though they too are after he left Bain). Oh, yeah –He takes credit for post-Bain successes, but not post-Bain failures (bankruptcies).

    The Bain company bankruptcies are someone elses fault. Just like Obama. The economy is Bush’s fault.

    Romney and Obama are so alike…

    Report Post »  
  • GayDem4Beck
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:58am

    I am sick and tired of my/our tax dollars being wasted on pet projects from either/both parties. If they are capable of standing on there own two feet (the projects/initiatives) then they would get investments backing from the private sector. This is yet another example of the government trying to force, direct, dictate and mandate an industry winner and looser.

    To our elected officials… PLEASE let the technology, industries and R&D take there own paths and prove themselves out. When the time is right and the cost savings out weight current natural resources, then the markets will change on there own. But NOT until they are cost effective.

    Report Post » GayDem4Beck  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 11:11am

      The technology is alread there. The hydrogen fuel cell works well yet Obama pushes for batteries, windmills and solar panels. Ever wonder why?

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • RightThinking1
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 12:17pm

      @Gonzo
      I think we are on the same page regarding Obama, but why do you think fuel cells are the answer? Hydrogen can only be conveniently produced by using electricity…, so where is the electricity to come from? Moreover, by the laws of physics, it requires MORE electricity to produce hydrogen then can be recovered from the hydrogen, regardless of the process. Just saying……

      Report Post »  
    • dragonsrightwing
      Posted on February 1, 2012 at 2:25pm

      Gonzo – Hydrogen has its own problems: it works well if we eliminate half of the cycle, but hydrogen *does not* create energy, it only stores it. In order to use hydrogen, the hydrogen *must* be “stripped” from the stable molecules that it is normally found in – and that takes energy. The laws of physics demand that the amount of energy gained by using hydrogen will never even equal (much less exceed) the amount of energy expended in isolating it. In addition, the only efficient storage for hydrogen is in a highly compressed state – and it takes energy to compress a gas. Not to mention the interesting potential for disaster when millions of people are driving around strapped to large containers of a compressed explosive …

      Report Post »  
  • Gary_K
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:52am

    Where are all the green jobs?

    They are kept in the same place as NoBama’s honesty.

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:49am

    “Q. How do you know when a huge, federally-funded program fails?”
    It only failed if you believe it was really funded to create jobs. In reality it was just payback to his campaign contibutors. Therefore, it was a grand success.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:49am

    Obama could not sucessfully run a Donut shop…… PERIOD !

    Report Post »  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:52am

      Yea but, he could organize a donut shop for the union. So he has that going for him..which is nice.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • 4truth2all
      Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:04am

      I don’t know … everything he does has holes in it.

      Report Post »  
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