What exactly is a "green" job anyway?

What is a "green" job? That's a reasonable question, particularly considering that the term has seemingly become the universally accepted way to refer to environmentally friendly employment.

It's easy to throw around the term "green jobs" without truly defining what that actually means.This afternoon I'm covering the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association's 2009 Michigan Wind Energy Conference. At a panel taking place right now, two executives from Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG) are discussing green jobs opportunities throughout the Michigan alternative energy industry.

Marcia Black-Watson, deputy director of the employers bureau of DELEG's workforce transformation department, said the state has defined "green jobs" as any one of the following sectors:

• Wind manufacturing and power generation
• Battery technology
• Solar
• Diesel-hybrid
• Waste management and recycling
• Environmental resource management
• Food processing
• Farming

You can e-mail Nathan Bomey or follow him on Twitter.

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