From Forbes (For Job Market, Green Means Growth):
The greening of industry is creating a constellation of new careers, and they're not your everyday forestry professions. Many of them are environmental twists on old professions, like law, or in Makower's case, journalism. Others are engineering careers tied to research in renewable technologies like wind energy and ethanol production. For instance:
-- Emissions brokers: In a market economy, credits to emit greenhouse gases can be traded on an exchange, and brokers facilitate the deal. If the U.S. ever moves to a mandatory trading system, expect this field to boom.
-- Bio-mimicry engineers: This new branch of science uses Mother Nature as a model for solving engineering problems. For example, Atlanta's Sto Corp. created a self-cleaning paint that repels dirt whenever it gets wet, just like the lotus leaf does.
-- Sustainability coordinators: Corporations from AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) to Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) are now employing managers to oversee the economic and environmental components of company efforts.
-- Green architects: With an increasing focus on energy-efficient buildings, a growing number of architects and developers are getting certified to become specialists in green design.
In a standard benefit-cost analysis of an environmental policy that leads to the creation of jobs such as emissions brokers, bio-mimicry engineers, sustainability coordinators and green architects, the cost of these jobs (i.e., wages, salaries and benefits) would go in the cost column. Government policy raises the cost of doing business. Some of these costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
These costs, (1) reductions in profit (i.e., producer surplus) and (2) higher prices (i.e., lost consumer surplus) would be compared against the environmental quality benefits (e.g., the value of improved health, better recreational opportunities) that the policy generates in order to determine if the policy is economically efficient (i.e., net benefits are positive).
