We at Sustainability Ninja are pleased to hear that the Obama administration has added a Green Jobs Advisor position to their roster of government officials. Van Jones, founder of Green For All, an organization that promotes green-collar jobs for the disadvantaged, was offered the gig by President Obama yesterday.

Jones, who has authored the 2008 New York Times best-seller, The Green Collar Economy, is also the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change.

Green For All writes that Jones’ duties will include, “helping to shape and implement job-generating climate policy; working to ensure equal protection and equal opportunity in the administration’s climate and energy proposals; and publicly advocating the administration’s environmental and energy agenda.”

Congrats, Mr. Jones! We look forward to watching your upcoming panel at the meeting of the Middle Class Task Force in Philadephia.

A Clean Edge report released today says that the wind and solar energy industries will be responsible for generating 2.65 million jobs globally in less than a decade. This expected number is about four and half times more than the current number of wind power and solar energy jobs which is approximately 600,000.

This positive predication is tempered by a less sunny short-term outlook, which predicts that renewable energy investments will plateau or even dip this year.

Chaos in the American economy is expected to seriously hamper what would’ve likely been massive, record-setting growth in the wind and solar power industries this year, but hopefully the rosey long-term outlook will keep the renewable energy jobs ball rolling at least somewhat.

Obama is allocating $500 million from the stimulus to Green jobs training programs.

At a summit in Philadelphia on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden said people who make $20 per hour before a green jobs training program can make $50 per hour after. Biden also said that clean-energy jobs pay 10 to 20 percent more than similar work outside the field.

And the green-job movement seems to be starting. Last week, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine unveiled a $2 million Green Jobs training program for high school students at the Center for Energy and Environmental Training. The program has been is dedicated to offering green-collar jobs for high school graduates.

The Center will train several hundred people this year, and help jump-start similar training programs throughout the state. The hopes are that these programs will create thousands of jobs in the state during the next few years, as part of Corzine’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

President Barack Obama addressed Congress and the nation tonight, warning that although it will take a long time for the flailing economy to mend, with courage and hard work, better economic times are on the horizon. Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress which was nationally televised. He gave a message of hope, but the President was clear he did not want to raise false expectations.

“If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has,” Obama began.

“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” Obama said to a rousing standing ovation.

“The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.”

Obama spoke about how we lived in an era where short-term gains became a priority. He warned that now is the time to act boldly and to invest in energy, education and health care. He hopes to create 3.5 million jobs in the private sector which includes constructing wind turbines and solar panels.

In the next few days, Obama said he will submit a budget to congress, which he sees as a vision for America. The budget will focus on three areas: renewable energy, health care and education. He added that to truly transform our planet, we need to make the energy that is profitable. To support that, Obama stressed that he would invest $15 billion a year on renewable energy technologies including biofuels, solar energy and wind energy. He also promised to double the nation’s supply of renewable energy within two years.

“That is why I will be asking Congress for a market based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of clean, renewable energy in Amercia,” Obama said.

Obama told Americans that if they have questions about the stimulus plan, they can go to Recovery.gov where they’ll be able to see how every penny is being spent. If you weren’t watching, Obama’s speech was met with multiple standing ovations.

A new job site dedicated to the growing renewable energy sector – RenewableEnergyJobs.com – could turn your economic frown upside down.

Site creator Sam Newell states that he developed the site after recognizing an “obvious appetite for a quality recruitment and job seeker resource that supported the renewable energy industry globally. We are all working towards the same goal: the adoption of renewable energy as a viable solution to many of the world’s current energy and ecological challenges. Today one of the key constraints in making renewable energy a reality is access to qualified and experienced resource.”

RenewableEnergyJobs.com offers job searching capabilities specializing in renewable energy jobs in sectors like solar power and wind energy and connects employers with job applicants on a global scale.

“We launched this week without much fanfare to gauge users’ response to the site and so far it’s been extremely positive. Within the first 24 hours we had jobs posted in more than 15 countries.”

As of now, posting jobs and accessing its database of resumes is free for agencies, recruiters and applicants.

It’s an interesting site to visit already as it gives a good indication of which countries are making the biggest push into renewable energy. As of the writing of this, the UK is the front runner with 129 renewable energy job postings. The U.S. is second with 49.

Likewise, at a glance you can tell which sectors are looking for the most workers. Wind energy currently tops that list with 96 positions while solar power comes in a distant second with 32.