McKinstry is expanding. It is developing a new 120,000-square-foot building next to its manufacturing space. In addition to the 500 jobs it will be creating within the next couple years, Dean Allen, McKinstry CEO, said he hopes to create thousands of jobs across both in Seattle and across the country. For more on this story, read my DJC article here.

Gov. Gregoire’s climate and job package runs the gamut. It includes proposed investments totaling $455 million in the next biennium for energy-reducing transportation projects, energy efficiency projects, green buildings and clean-energy technology. Her press release says the investments would support about 2,900 jobs in 2010 and 2011.

It also includes legislation to provide a state tax exemption for plug-in electric vehicles, and Legislation to support the Western Climate Initiative cap and trade system. For more information on this legislation, go here. To see the one-stop green jobs and climate action Web page, go here. To view the full package, go here.

Like I’ve said before, everything green happens at the exact same time. Let’s take tomorrow, for example:

At 10 a.m. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is rolling out the red carpet for McKinstry as he presents an approved development permit to expand its current headquarters site in Georgetown. McKinstry says it expects to create more than 500 jobs.

(In case you missed it, McKinstry recently received a 10-year contract from the U.S. Department of Energy worth up to $5 billion for energy efficient projects in federal buildings. President Barack Obama is also a fan of the company.)

At the same time, Gov. Chris Gregoire will announce her 2009 green jobs and climate action legislation, and present results of the Employment Security Department’s “Washington State Green Economy Jobs Survey.” The announcement will be made at South Puget Sound Community College’s new LEED-certified Natural Sciences Building.

What’s a girl to cover?

Last week, I mentioned Seattle’s new green building task force. Their job is to figure out how to make Seattle’s buildings (both old and new) 20 percent more efficient by 2020. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to tell me (and possibly them) what you want to see.

The team is discussed in an article today in the DJC. The story discusses multiple viewpoints: Ash Awad of McKinstry thinks Seattle is behind New York City and Chicago in some ways in energy efficient programs and incentives, and the task force can help shore up that deficiency. Douglas Howe of Touchstone is concerned about maintaining Seattle’s commercial viability.

But there are 50 people on the task force. Doesn’t that mean there are (honestly) going to be 50 different opinions? Especially when the force is looking at everything from density bonuses and expedited permits to green investment funds and “carbon feebates.”

So how about you, 51st task force member? Does one of these ideas strike you as being better? What would it take to get you to update or upgrade a building or system, and would any of these ideas do it?

For those of who who have already taken the efficiency plunge, don’t look so smug. Mark Frankel, technical director of the New Buildings Institute and task force member, said there isn’t a building in Seattle that couldn’t improve its energy efficiency, even by commisioning alone. Hemmmmm.

In other news, MarketWatch has a story on how the Electrical Contractor Magazine’s 2008 Profile of the Electrical Contractor says almost half of electrical contractors used green or sustainable feature. For more go here.

The New York Time’s Dot Earth covers what Google’s energy czar thinks we should do about energy in America.

EcoMetro Seattle has a post on green fabrics appearing on Project Runway (for any fashion geeks out there).

JetsonGreen has two Puget Sound area stories, including an announcement of a green open house in Mt. Baker tomorrow.

If you had an energy budget for your meeting today, would you think twice about turning on an extra light? Experts in the field say you would and will in the not-too-distant future.

It’s called smart energy - the idea behind it is the energy used in your home or building will interface with the grid the same way your Internet can interface with a well tuned entertainment system. You tell the Internet what you want - it gets it for you without your worrying about the specifics. At an AeA dinner on smart energy last night, experts said your office or home is going to do the same thing.

Are there business opportunities here? Doug Moore, president of McKinstry, says only if you consider 250 billion square feet of buildings in the United States (most of which will need to be retrofitted) an opportunity. The way it works now, buildings represent about 40 percent of all energy and 68 percent of all electricity used in the U.S. and 38 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (for more info on that, check out the CEC report here). And a lot of that energy is wasted.

If business and utilities were incentivized to conserve energy on a grand scheme, they’d get you to save more energy in your building and those numbers would go down.

Don’t believe it? Pay attention to energy savings from the Kilowatt Crackdown contest in Seattle, sponsored by BOMA. The Vance Corp. has two Seattle buildings entered and will save at least a couple thousand dollars per year, thanks to efficiency information. To read my article about the crackdown, go here.

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