Make Way For Green Collar Jobs
As the Going Green Train picks up more and more steam, new domaining opportunities are presenting themselves. And today, I have another list for you!
Fast Company magazine has published the best green jobs for the next decade. I’ll post a little comment about each, but you may also want to check the article out for what they have to say about their choices.
- Farmer - They claim that America has just 2 million farmers, and sustainable agriculture will require tens of millions. The new farmers will be small-scale local farmers. Sound familiar? That’s because back in November I claimed that local farming was going to get big. The article offered these related careers: urban gardener; farmers market and CSA coordinator; artisanal cheesemaker (artisinalcheesemaker/s.com are available).
- Forester - The modern forester will be moving away from the mass deforestation of doing things and more towards silviculture; the more efficient and environmentally conscious way of harvesting timber.
- Solar Power Installer - A bit of an obvious choice. This is more along the lines of personal solar power and not commercial. Again, personal solar power is something I blogged about last June. Couldn’t agree more with this choice.
- Energy Efficiency Builder - The article claim that buildings account for 48% of the U.S.’s energy use and greenhouse gas. So this should be one of the primary targets of a carbon cap/trade system. They point out that Passivhaus, which- and sorry for sounding like a broken record- I blogged about just days ago, would be a good standard for the U.S. to adapt.
- Wind Turbine Fabricator - The article claims that wind is the leading and fastest-growing source of alternative energy. They’re not citing any sources for this stuff. But they do make an interesting point: turbines are 90% metal by weight, creating an opportunity for auto workers to adapt.
- Conservation Biologist - Pretty much is what it says it is: biologists whose primary focus is to preserve the integrity of ecosystems.
- Green MBA and Entrepreneur - This time they cite a source and claim that legal, research and consulting account for the majority of green jobs. I think they’re dead on here. 10 or so years ago, companies began hiring their own IT people. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find a successful company that doesn’t have it’s own IT. And now, they’ll begin hiring their own green people.
- Recycler - Again, perhaps one of the more obvious choices. But stop thinking paper and plastic and start thinking steel, clothing, glass and other various construction materials.
- Sustainability Systems Developer - Green code writers!
- Urban Planners - I suppose I see it. I mean, due to the limited number of urban areas that would require persons such as this, this probably won’t be as popular as, say, solar power installers.
I think there is plenty of opportunity here, not just in domain names but also for those looking to develop them. The government threw a good deal of stimulus money at this area.
I’ll throw in a few of my own as well:
- Auto Mechanics - Though the article says that auto workers can adapt their skills to the wind industry, why not get a couple new skills so they can work on the new cars? You know, whatever ends up succeeding the petrol-based cars we have now: electric vehicles, hybrids, whatever. When I worked in the auto field, I personally saw old timey mechanics fade away as the mechanical-based vehicles disappeared off the road. These guys found it hard, and some simply refused, to work on the new cars that had computers and electrical systems. The current set of auto workers can learn from those earlier mistakes. Oh, and being that people have not been buying new cars as of late, that means they are driving more and more used cars. Those will eventually need service. So the auto workers in the service field may start seeing better days sooner rather than later.
- Smart Home and Auto Software Programmers and Interface Designers - I’ve been convinced that our appliances and other home items will be connected on a home network. Your fridge will know when you used your last stick of butter and put it on your grocery list for you. Your home security system will be on the network, allowing you to monitor it from work. I know, those aren’t green. They’re just the most obvious examples of a wired house. For green examples: your house will be able to tell you how much energy you are using in a more friendly way. Your car will give immediate feedback on your gas mileage (not new, but most cars still don’t do it) and your hypermiling techniques (new). These things will need programs to operate, and perhaps more importantly they will need smart, easy and friendly interfaces for the non-tech savvy to be comfortable enough to use them.
- Green Lawyers - Environmental lawyers will be en vogue. Not just those fighting FOR the green, but also against it. Yea, something tells me the oil companies can, and will, afford better lawyers.
Know of any green jobs not listed here? Share your ideas!
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The Most, And Least, Affordable Cities To Live In
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index recently released some interesting info. The page has links to several excel documents that list the most, and least, affordable cities to live in. I’ll just discuss the metro areas over 500k people.
The most affordable cities
- Indianapolis, IN
- Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI
- Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
- Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI
- Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
- Syracuse, NY
- Dayton, OH
- Akron, OH
- Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
- Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA
I can speak for many of the Michigan cities since I lived there for 27 years. Warren is a hole and is generally lumped in as Detroit. Troy and Farmington Hills are a different story (and quite frankly I don’t know why they are listed together with Warren). Troy and the surrounding cities were positively booming in the 80s and 90s, and though their economy is struggling like the rest of Michigan, they are doing relatively well. In fact, CNN Money has Troy listed as the 22nd best place to live. I grew up in Shelby Township, which is a couple miles east of Troy, and it’s 62nd on CNN’s list. Sterling Heights, also near Troy and adjacent to Shelby Twp, is 61st on the list. West Bloomfield Twp is, again, just west of Troy and 36th on the list.
These cities boomed in the 80s and 90s from people leaving Detroit looking for better neighborhoods and schools; and they found em. Detroit’s population has plummeted, but they’re all still there… just not in the city limits.
I suppose my point is that you need to thoroughly investigate your possible geodomain investments. Most people would be immediately turned off by hearing the word Detroit or finding out that a geodomain they are about to purchase is near Detroit. Look a little deeper and you may find opportunity.
The least affordable cities
- New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA
- Nassau-Suffolk, NY
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
- Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL
- Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA
- El Paso, TX
- Newark-Union, NJ-PA
- Honolulu, HI
- Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
It wasn’t surprising to see this list cluttered with New York and Cali.
Ultimately, looking at the complete list I find myself questioning the accuracy. They have Ann Arbor, Michigan listed as the 22nd most affordable. Now, Ann Arbor is a major college town; home to the University of Michigan. My brother has lived there for about 10 years now and I can say that the community absolutely rapes the students of their money. While going to school, my brother rented an apartment which was really just a sectioned off room in a house. It was probably about 500 square feet, tops. Rent was $900 a month. Sound affordable to you? It’s disgusting.
So, the list has quite a few college towns in it and I’m guessing many larger college towns are similar to Ann Arbor. This is a direct conflict of facts. What am I missing?
As usual, this info is valuable to geodomainers. Arming yourself with this kind of knowledge will always pay off in the long run.
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20 Small Business Trends For 2009
Small Business Trends recently published loads of trends for 2009. This is not my most favorite of sites, and I don’t particularly agree with many trends that they predict. But they do get some right, and it’s always smart to check it out and decide for yourself.
Interestingly enough, they have .mobi listed as a global trend to watch for in 2009. However I don’t think they did their homework about our industry; this is what they said:
DotMobi is a top-level domain approved by ICANN (www.icann.org) and managed by the mTLD global registry and dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices via the Mobile Web. According to Infoplease.com, there are more than 2 billion cell phones in use worldwide and that number continues to grow because many folks cannot afford a laptop. For a lot of people in emerging markets, the mobile phone will be the primary way to access the Internet. Learn more at, “Mobile Web Remains a Mystery to Most”
Now, I agree 100% in that the mobile web has a bright and exciting future. The one thing I disagree on is that it’s with the .mobi extension (and I know I’m not alone on this). I’m thinking that perhaps they are just assuming that .mobi must be used on mobile devices, and therefore must have a great 2009 ahead of it. I’ll chalk this one up to a reporter not researching properly.
Do check out their articles though, as they offer some comments on each trend I have listed here:
Top 10 global trends for small businesses for 2009:
- Disruptive innovation will be both the coolest and hottest new growth strategy in 2009 because it will transcend all boundaries and transform businesses.
- dotMobi will take global root in 2009.
- Diverse global business partnerships will shine and outperform those businesses that don’t make these critical alliances.
- Exporting (from the USA) will prevail in the first quarter of ‘09 and might start to strengthen later in the year.
- Twitter will replace the “call me” statement with “Twitter me” due to technology, convenience and time constraints.
- Entrepreneurs and small businesses will learn, if they haven’t already, everything there is to know about how to take a business global.
- Optimism will fuel global small businesses that have the guts to press on, even in the face of insurmountable obstacles.
- Women entrepreneurs will rule the global marketplace.
- Trusted crowds will become profitable clouds.
- Green and global are a marriage made in heaven because everyone wants to save the world.
Top 10 small business marketing trends for 2009:
- Authenticity
- Do-it-yourself marketing
- Tech-driven word-of-mouth marketing
- Eco and social responsibility
- Bootstrapping and simplicity
- Marketing to the “buy button”
- Paid memberships
- Mobility
- Wisdom of crowds
- Personal Branding
I’m becoming a big fan of the personal branding thing. If done correctly, it can do wonders for what you are trying to accomplish. A good example is Chef Patrick. I think he’s done a great job finding a catchy and easy-to-remember personal brand. What’s cooking in the domain world? Ask Chef Patrick! Combine that with a nicely designed site and good content and he has a winner. Good job, sir.
Neil Voron mentioned this trend back in my mega-post where domainers predicted trends for 2009. This is a great trend and it should strongly be considered if you are building a blog or niche site.
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Materials Of The Future: Magnetic Ink, Stone Paper And More
I have another list for ya. I’m a fan of lists, even biased lists (not that unbiased lists exist, right?). But my main problem with lists are putting them across a ton of pages. Forbes does this. I can’t stand it!
This list is brought to you by Popular Mechanics, who also puts one per page. I know they are getting impressions for their advertisers, and they have a right to. But we also have a right to bitch about it. Not to mention their crappy Sharp expanding-ad that won’t close. CLOSE DAMNIT!
So anyways, this list is 16 Wild Materials You May Find In Future Products. The people over at Inventables picked the 16 materials. I found this one fascinating and loaded with keywords.
- Magnetic Ink. This ink contains particles of iron, making it magnetic and conductive. How could this be useful? instead of circuit boards, we could have circuit paper made using your printer and using circuit fonts.
- Ceramic Cloth. Can be used to insulate against extreme temperatures.
- Flavor Changing Additives. Nanospeheres encapsulated in microspheres. You taste the microspheres first, and then later the nanospeheres. Willy Wonka wants his everlasting gobstopper recipe back.
- Electronic Paper. Flexible display technology.
- Conductive Velcro. They call it “Hook & Loop” since Velcro is technically a trademark. Anyways, this is interesting because once you connect the Velcro, it completes a circuit. Backpack alarms!
- Translucent Concrete. Concrete that allows light to pass through. Perhaps a way to collect solar energy?
- Temperature Sensitive Glass Tiles. Not sure how useful these can be as they seem to be just novelty. But novelty has its uses…
- Anti-graffiti Film. Quite interesting and obviously quite useful.
- Stone Paper. Paper made from calcium carbonate as opposed to wood. In other words, it’s environmentally friendly.
- Water Expanding Plastic. Plastic that expands in water. I sat and thought about this and am really unsure how this can be useful. The article says it can be used to produce a cast for enlarging sculptures or fossils. But why?
- Anti-fog Film. Water slides off the surface instead of fogging it up.
- Water Soluble Glass. Again, quite interesting. But not sure how it can be used.
- Magnetic-attracting Paint. The paint contains iron powder, making it magentic and conductive.
- Compostable Stretch Fabric. Contains wool and ramie. Ramie is strong and expensive. It is used as industrial sewing thread and fishing nets.
- Edible Glitter. Um… Looks like fish food.
- Paper Honeycomb. Lightweight and strong packing material.
Now, before you go registering anything based off of these keywords, be sure to check the trademarks. It’s possible the companies are trying to trademark these, if they haven’t already.
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The Top Internet Cities And The $6 Billion Broadband Stimulus
According to Forbes, Seattle is the new Internet King, replacing two-time winner Atlanta. Recently, Forbes published America’s Most Wired Cities, ranking the top 30 U.S. cities in several internet access categories. Seattle also took the top spot in availability of wi-fi access.
San Francisco had the largest percentage of internet users. Forbes claims the residents to be the most tech-savvy in the U.S.
The top city as far as high-speed options goes is Minneapolis. Some neighborhoods have as many as 20 high-speed providers! That’s sick!
The stimulus package that’s being floated around in the House and Senate has $6 BILLION in broadband and wireless infrastructure grants. Cha ching! Though industry experts were disappointed in the small number (They were expecting around $44 billion), an Obama advisor said this wasn’t the whole enchilada. There will be more to come. The exact wording of the broadband part of the stimulus:
Wireless and Broadband Grants: $6 billion for broadband and wireless services in under-served areas to strengthen the economy and provide business and job opportunities in every section of America with benefits to e-commerce, education, and healthcare. For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.
So what does this mean for us domainers? More people on the net means more customers for us. Yea, sure, you won’t see a big boom in the next couple months, but it certainly appears to be a brighter near to distant future.
The Wall Street Journal says this stimulus is primarily aimed at rural and mountainous areas in the west. If that’s the case, I suppose you can expect residents of states like Idaho, Utah and Nevada to begin connecting at a fast pace, once the infrastructure is built of course. If you own some geosites in the areas largely targeted, you have plenty of time to prepare for your highly targeted surge of customers.
On to the lists. The following lists should be read if you are a geodomainer. They will be helpful in choosing the right cities if you are looking to purchase a geodomain related to the broadband/wireless industries. Who knows? you may just run into a HonoluluWireless.com at an auction or drop. While people may blow it off thinking it’s just Honolulu, you will know that it’s the 3rd best wireless city in America.
Overall
- Seattle
- Atlanta
- Washington, DC
- Orlando
- Boston
- Miami
- Minneapolis
- Denver
- New York
- Baltimore
Wi-fi (Public wireless internet hotspots per capita)
- Seattle
- Washington, DC
- Honolulu
- New Orleans
- Pittsburgh
- Portland
- Boston
- Los Angeles
- Minneapolis
- Atlanta
Broadband Adoption (Percentage of home internet users with high-speed)
- San Francisco
- San Diego
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Miami
- New York
- Phoenix
- Orlando
- Washington, DC
- Seattle
Access Options (Number of companies providing high-speed access)
- Minneapolis
- Seattle
- Atlanta
- New York
- Denver
- Baltimore
- Charlotte
- Nashville
- Raleigh
- Orlando
Noticeably absent was Houston, San Antonio and Dallas; they weren’t in the top 30. Austin was 30th overall.
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