In a refreshing breath of good news, the Obama administration announced that the government’s fiscal stimulus program has helped create or save almost 650,000 jobs.  ”We’re moving in the right direction. We’re starting to make real progress on the road to recovery,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “Quite simply, the Recovery Act is performing as advertised.” While the final tally on where all the new and saved jobs are coming from won’t be available until tomorrow on Recovery.gov, it seems a safe bet to guess that a good number of new jobs are “green” jobs, aimed at helping to build a cleaner planet.

The Obama Administration also announced earlier this week that it is investing $3.4 billion to help fund the largest single energy grid modernization in U.S. history.  This money will help to create tens of thousands of jobs across the country.  These jobs include high wage, high skilled opportunities for smart meter manufacturing workers, engineers, electricians, IT system designers, cyber security specialists, data entry clerks, database administrators, analysts and more.

All this adds up to great news for the US economy and environment.  Putting people back to work in a meaningful way was exactly what the stimulus set out to do, and making sure we get this program right will help drive the next wave of innovation to propel us into a cleaner, brighter future.  We at Carbonetworks are proud to be a living, breathing example of a company that is growing fast – and every job we create is a green job.

Today, President Obama gave a rousing energy-themed speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He made a powerful case for why energy leadership is so critical for America’s future, and voiced his support at a time when landmark legislation is being considered in the Senate:

“ From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to producing and use energy. The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation. It’s that simple.”

At Carbonetworks, we commend the President for his vision.  We’ve always believed the idea that innovation is the key to sustaining our leadership and finding new jobs for the next century. Along with climate change legislation comes the opportunity for the United States to develop new technologies and create thousands of jobs that conserve energy and use alternate energy sources. A Pew research study found that even prior to the federal economic stimulus package, green-collar job hiring increased at more than double the rate of conventional jobs.

More of President Obama’s speech can be viewed here.

More progress on climate change legislation this week, as the senior Republican on the U.S. Senate energy panel, Senator Lisa Murkowski, said she would consider voting for a cap and trade climate change bill if it also contains a vigorous expansion of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling.  The full interview, broadcast Sunday on C-SPAN, included Murkowski saying, “count me as one of those who will keep my mind open as we move forward.” Full interview can be seen here.

Murkowski’s support is timely, as it comes on the heels of Murkowski’s fellow Senators Lindsey Graham (a Republican) and John Kerry (a Democrat) vowing to work together to advance legislation tackling global warming.  Carbonetworks is a staunch supporter of this critical legislation, which in addition to a cap and trade provision, will reduce carbon emissions by 2050 and provide increased investment in alternative energies.

We applaud Senator Murkowski coming forward to share her views on this critical issue, and are enthusiastic about the growing support around climate change legislation. The bottom line is this bill is good for business and good for environment.