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You know white-collar jobs refer to office and professional workers, and blue-collar jobs refer to auto workers, steelworkers and countless other skilled hourly employees who wear special work clothes. So, what the heck is green-collar job?

Generally speaking, the green-collar economy refers to the millions of jobs anticipated to be created by the development of clean, renewable energy technologies (though some people broaden the term to include many other green jobs such as farming organic products and erecting green buildings). If all goes as proponents hope, clean energy will transform the economy. In the 1980s, there was the personal computer revolution. In the '90s, the Internet and software development brought a new wave of jobs.

It's hoped that clean energy will bring this decade's new wave of jobs. Congressman Jay Inslee, a Democrat from Washington state, predicts three million new jobs, mainly in research, technology and manufacturing. Elok Musk, head of a company that aims to bring solar energy to every home (SolarCity), told a Senate committee that green-collar jobs such as installers are "high-quality jobs that enable individuals with limited experience and limited advanced education and training to learn a skilled trade and develop valuable skills and experience"while earning $15 to $22 hourly.

Advocates of the urban poor hope the emerging economy will lift people out of poverty. So, they've launched a Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. (Read more at http://ellabakercenter.org/page.php?pageid=5).

ANOTHER MEANING: The trade publication Pulp & Paper considers the "green collar" employee something altogether different. In today's barebones, cost-conscious workplace, the green-collar worker refers to a hybrid employee – someone with the manual skills of a blue-collar worker and the office skills thought reserved for white-collar workers. There's no environmental connection at all. "Green" simply is the color you get by crossing blue with white.

For more info:

• The Apollo Alliance calls on the nation to put as much effort into developing clean energy as it did to put a man on the moon. Get info at ApolloAlliance.org.

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