(Note: This is a repost from an interview with Minneapolis mayor Rybak this spring. LiveGreenTwinCities has reposted the story because it was originally published during our beta launch and because their is a renwed interest in the mayor's plans for creating green jobs)

It’s nearly impossible these days not to hear chatter about “green jobs,” those new careers whose task it is to heal the planet and lift the heavy rocks of economic doom weighing down on nearly everyone. As global demands for oil increase, so do geo-political concerns and threats. Nationally and locally we’re looking for alternatives that will have a three-fold benefit of weaning us from petroleum, stemming harmful pollution, and creating jobs.

Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak plugs in.

Minneapolis has long been considered a leader in the sustainability movement. Mayor R.T. Rybak and the city council worked to create Sustainability Indicators, a 10-year “greenprint” that measures long-term issues such as climate change, community health, and housing. Last year, SustainLane ranked Minneapolis the 7th most sustainable city in the nation. Bike paths, clean lakes, local farmers markets, and more were just a few urban benefits painting the city green. And just last week it was announced that Minneapolis ranks 8th in the nation for cities with the most EnergyStar-qualified buildings.

It’s a good start. But where do we go from here? And can these green jobs we hear so much about really bring us out of the economic blues? LiveGreenTwinCities sat down with mayor R.T. Rybak to learn more about the bright green future of Minneapolis and what that means for you, local businesses, and the community.

Green-collar is the new blue

It’s a mantra we keep hearing: “Green jobs” are the cure for what ails us. So what are these green jobs? And when are they coming? “Long-term it’s going to be about really exciting new industries like making more plug-in hybrid cars like the one I drive or solar and power and wind and new technologies we haven’t invented yet,” Rybak says. “Short-term it’s going to be about putting people to work and do basic things that save us energy, especially weatherization.”

Rybak says the potential jobs will come from a variety of sources, including the nearly 900 abandoned homes in the city. Currently, the city is looking at creating apprenticeship programs for “home doctors,” people who can learn skills that would make the old homes throughout the city highly energy efficient, either through weatherization or sustainable remodels.

The mayor's team has met with the non-profit organization the Center for Energy and Environment, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and Summit Academy OIC to create something called the Green Jobs Institute of Minneapolis. One of the things it will focus on is teaching weatherization skills to the numerous dislocated workers in the city. The Twin Cities unemployment rate is currently 7.8 percent, which is the lowest in the state but also a steep increase over last year when it barely hovered around 5 percent. What’s more, not included in the Department of Labor statistics are the number of underemployed and the number of people whose unemployment benefits have run out. In other words, many people are looking for work, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly how many.

Of course, another big question remains: How can dislocated workers afford these new classes? Rybak says he is hoping that programs like Minnesota WorkForce and federal stimulus dollars will likely fund these programs for dislocated workers looking for a career change. The end goal is to create programs that are either free or highly affordable to help grow a green job bank and put people to work.

How green will it be?

Proposals for rehabs and rebuilds of the foreclosed properties eligible for federal funds from the National Stabilization Project are still being reviewed, but some critics say there isn’t reliable criteria for ensuring that all of the retrofits or rehabs of the foreclosed homes are entirely green. Tim Eian, a local architect designing a home in Eco Village, a community venture in the Hawthorne neighborhood, says the city needs to define a standard for sustainability that can be easily measured.

“I think they are all doing the right thing,” he says. “ But the problem is there is no standard set. How can it be truly sustainable if they don’t subscribe to anything they can all agree on? It has to be drastic. And they have to agree on what that means.”

Rybak says that organizations submitting requests for proposals to rehab or build new homes in these areas will have to follow the city’s rehab standards and pass an energy audit. However, the plan currently doesn’t detail the requirements for the audit. It does, however, state than any new furnace must be rated 90 percent efficient and that all windows must be “weather tight.”

As the plan progresses, Eian says, he hopes the city will do more and set a requirement for sustainable and recycled building materials and energy efficiency in all the homes. “Otherwise,” he says, “you can say it’s green but what does that really mean? It needs to mean something everyone can agree on.”

Beyond green homes

Rybak says the plan to grow green jobs and make Minneapolis a more sustainable city goes well beyond the home. For one thing, the city is working with existing green businesses to help them succeed, he says. The city has partnered with Eureka Recycling and restaurants like Common Roots, Red Stag, Birchwood and others to create a composting program that will drastically cut down on polluting food scraps in the landfill and hopefully inspire others to reduce food waste.

But the city also sees much of its future in green energy, things like solar, wind, and more. “We absolutely are focused on renewable energy,” Rybak says. "We are putting solar insulation on top of the Convention Center. We’re working on passive solar on police and fire stations. We’re looking at developing a public works facility that will be LEED certified gold.”

Still, despite the city focus, there still exists a protracted battle among citizens and Xcel Energy, which wants to ad a high-voltage power line in South Minneapolis. What’s more, at least 70 percent of Minnesota’s electricity still comes from coal. Can that change given Minnesota’s origin as coal country?

“None of the issues are simple,” Rybak says. “We looked at the issue of a biomass facility that we ultimately stepped back from. We are going to continue to explore new technologies. And we are converting the Riverside Coal Plant to natural gas, and we know directly what that old technology does to the air that we breathe. We want to create some local energy alternatives so that we are not creating another Big Stone, which I strongly oppose.”

The Big Stone II Coal Plant would sit on the border of Minnesota and South Dakota, if approved. The plan has numerous critics who charge a coal plant will increase mercury and carbon dioxide emissions. What’s more, it’s a technology that’s antiquated and known to cause serious environmental and health-care issues.

But Rybak says he sees the future of Minneapolis and renewable energy already beginning to emerge along places like the Midtown Greenway, which is less about intention and more about serendipity. “The Greenway has helped inspire businesses to work together and think about energy differently,” he says. Already the Greenway is home to renewal energy development companies like Horizon Wind Energy, National Wind Energy, and freEner-g Solar, just to name a few.

Rybak's hope is that the new energy initiatives, green jobs, and greener incentives from the city will spark renewable energy and green businesses, helping to grow greener mindsets will help entire communities, from the city to the suburbs to the farm. “It’s about making things again, locally, that will benefit all of us.”