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Green Light Distrikt
Green Light Distrikt is about entrepreneurship focused on the cleantech sector. Edited by Chris Williams with frequent guest posts from friends, experts and industry insiders from clusters across the globe. Our goal is to provide a place where cleantech entrepreneurs in various clusters across the globe can learn from one another. Green Light Distrikt is creating the "Hitchikers Guide to Clentech" to provide a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs. Read more
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CleanTech Guide
August 10th, 2010
UPDATE: Top 10 US Cleantech Cities, Is Your City Falling Behind?
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Guide, Resources
I created the ‘TOP 10 US Cities for Cleantech Report” about a month ago. The goal is simple: crowdsource the research on cleantech resources across the US, then rank the information from 1 to 10, then provide it free to the community for people to use.
Story and Purpose of the Report
At first, the goal was selfish and for my own purposes. I know what’s happening in Boston very well because I’ve lived here for 2 years. But I wanted to be able to go to NYC, Boulder, San Fran, or (insert any US city here) and get plugged into the cleantech scene in a week, instead of the 3 months it would normally take. + Continue Reading
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February 19th, 2010
SURVEY: What do you Want to Know about Cleantech in Boston?
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Guide
What do you want to know about the clean tech industry in Boston? I have about 53 1/6 posts in my queue and plenty of ideas all the time, but I really want to know what would be helpful for you. I’ve thought about covering local events, writing about the resources available to college students, entrepreneurs or career changers, covering local news stories. But I want to make sure it’s something you care about. If you have something you’re really interested in learning about, please put it in the comment section. Thank you 
This has been a great first couple months of The Green Light Distrikt, I only started the blog a couple months ago and I’ve received some great feedback.
Some highlights include:
The Green Tech Vs. Clean Tech. Vs Ener Tech post received some great retweeting and comments
We launched our first competition, the Top 26 Boston Competition and also announced the Top 10 winners here! We’ll be profiling each company in 2010 so stay tuned.
I did our first and second video posts at a local green drinks event and I plan to do more
We launched our local Boston clean tech events section. We aggregate the calenders from more then 15 local calenders to let you know whats happening in the area.
Our industry insiders have grown to three, a couple more coming soon!
Currently, we’re planning a Clean Tech Roundtable for April 3rd at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. The event will be a forum to highlight innovated clean tech organizations in the Boston area and have their leaders share their successes, challenges, future insights with influential bloggers, industry professionals and the community.
Again, if you have something you’re really interested in learning about, please put it in the comment section. Thank you
January 21st, 2010
6 Steps to How I Landed My Dream Job in Renewable Energy
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Guide
Do you see the guy on the right? This is what I’ll be doing in a couple weeks! 3 months ago I wrote about the 7 things I learned from losing my dream job in renewable energy, and the 7 values that were driving my job search. I guess I like the number 7.
Losing the job wasn’t really that bad, it was a great experience and showed me how to manage a transition so it will be easier in the future. I started the blog to explore what was happening in the industry in Boston and as of last week I will be working with Boston area renewable energy company. I’m really stoked, I think they have one of the best business models in the clean energy industry hands down. I wanted to walk through the 6 steps that I took to get the job:
December 23rd, 2009
The Secret Weapon to Finding a Job Installing Solar Systems
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Guide, Renewable Energy
I’ve been writing about losing my dream job in renewable energy, what’s driving my job search and I wanted to share with you a breakthrough I found in the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. (Quick lesson: There are two types of solar energy. Solar PV makes electricity, and solar thermal typically makes hot water)
If you’re interested in getting on the roofs and installing solar systems you need to get in with solar staffing agencies.
My goal right now is to leverage my experience doing carpentry work and installing solar domestic hot water systems to get hands on experience installer many types of renewables and efficiency before moving on to sales, financing, project development. I ended up talking with my man Miles who does operations at Alteris Inc and my friend/former boss at Heatspring. They both put me in contact with solar staffing agencies.
As I’m sure you know, the solar industry is growing very quickly, but it’s also very volatile. Here is why solar system agencies are the silver bullet.
December 15th, 2009
Clean Tech Guide 101 – Renewable Energy Part 3: Top Places to Meet Renewable Energy Professionals
TOPICS: CleanTech Guide
So, you want to work in clean tech but don’t know where to start? I found myself in the same place 3 years ago. I created the Clean Tech Guide to help people learn about the industry. I decided to create the guide after being asked a number of similar questions from friends, recent graduates, and fellow entrepreneurs about clean technology. I love to help people and noticed that my answers were typically similar, so I thought it would be useful to create a guide to refer people to.
The 1st part of the guide, Clean Tech Guide 101 Renewable Energy Part 1 Top 20 Resources to Learn about the Technology provides resource to help beginngers learn about the the fundamentals behind each technology. Part 2 of the Clean Tech Guide is a list of the Top Renewable Energy Industry Reading materials, to give you a full list of places to soak in valuable information.
Part 3 is a list of places where you can meet industry professionals.
Who is the guide for?
Recent graduates, career changers, or entrepreneurs who have little to no knowledge about clean technology but are looking for a some direction to learn about the industry.
What the purpose?
The goal will be to provide you with basic resources that you can use to begin learn about and get involved in the clean technology industry. I can only provide you with the resources that will help you, if you really want to get involved you’ll have to do most of the work, but I think this will be really helpful to start.
Best Places to meet Renewable Energy Professionals
They key to any industry is getting to know current professionals, renewable energy is no different. There are tons of conferences and events. Here are some of the best, that I’ve heard of or been to. If you’re serious about these industry, check these out.
The best part about the renewable energy and the other clean technology industries is that people are open to helping each other. This is partly due to rapid growth, there is plenty of room for everyone. It’s also due to the culture of the industry, people are willing to help and share with each other, much more so then in other industries. We are saving the world after all.
