Page 9 - Green Builder Nov-Dec 2021 Issue

East Coast Rising

General contractors’ best opportunities

for work and income can be found near
the Atlantic, not the Pacific.

If you are a general contractor looking for a job, your chances are
best if you head to Columbia, South Carolina. If you want to make the
most money, make your way to New York and New Jersey. Those are
the surprise findings in a new report that gauges the U.S. construc-
tion markets for open positions, salary, new home builds and more.
The study by New York City-based Regional Gutter Repair iden-
tifies Columbia as the metropolitan area with the best work oppor-
tunities for general contractors, followed by the North Port/Sara-
sota/Bradenton, Florida market, and Greenville/Andersen, South
Carolina. Meanwhile, the New York/Newark, New Jersey market
pays contractors an average of $153,490 per year, followed by the
San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, California market at $150,380,
and Philadelphia/Camden/Wilmington, Delaware at $146,010.
Regional Gutter Repair’s study combines data from LinkedIn,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Association of Realtors, and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology to determine the top 25
markets for jobs and top 20 for income. The findings did not
relate to subcontractors, who work under the general contractor’s
direction, according to RGR specialist Henry Gerbin. The report
may be found on Regional Gutter Repair’s website

Hot markets. General contractors have a lot of choices when it comes
to the best metropolitan areas in which to operate a business, according
to a new market report. SOURCE: REGIONAL GUTTER REPAIR

A Powerful Problem

As they age, rechargeable car batteries pose a
disposal challenge for their makers.

An estimated 12 tons of lithium-ion batteries, the heart of electric vehicles
(EVs), will be a major environmental problem as they reach end of life by 2030,
according to a report in The Guardian. Manufacturers are trying to figure out
what to do.
Rechargeable batteries have few recyclable parts and can contaminate water
and soil if discarded in landfills. World Economic Forum (WEF) manager James
Pennington says the first solution should be to “keep things in use longer.”
Lund University environmental policy researcher Jessika Richter says
old batteries have a lot of capacity left at the end of their first use in EVs.
“They could have second lives storing excess power generated by solar or wind
Taking charge. Lithium-ion battery makers are studying ways farms,” she notes.
to recycle old product, including how to disassemble them, Meanwhile, nations are allocating hundreds of millions of dollars toward fig-
burn the batteries for disposal, or extract metals through uring out how to disassemble dead batteries and extract valuable metals to help
repurpose the cells and create a “closed loop” supply chain, according to WEF.
leaching. CREDIT: ISTOCK/SOUTH_AGENCY

www.greenbuildermedia.com November/December 2021 GREEN BUILDER 7