In the past we’ve focused a lot on the need to convert blue collar jobs to green collar jobs as a way of increasing the value of (and income to) our regional workforce. This week Todd Woody at Green Wombat reports another important trend–the need for software to drive green devices:

“Solar energy is largely a hardware business - the stuff of solar cells, photovoltaic panels, inverters, and power-plant sized arrays. But the solar boom is also spawning a solar software market as rooftop systems become an industrial-scale supplier of electricity to corporations ranging from Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) to Estee Lauder and Wal-Mart (WMT). Call it greenware - software that lets companies that install, own or operate huge rooftop solar arrays to go online and monitor their perfomance. Green Wombat recently chatted with Chris Beekhuis, founder of Silicon Valley startup Fat Spaniel Technologies, about the growing demand for greenware and how it can boost the efficiency of solar systems and, in the Web 2.0 era, serve as interactive tool for homeowners and consumers. The San Jose company’s software monitors solar energy systems at more than 500 locations around the world. That allows the operators of solar arrays installed everywhere from the Loma Linda, California, City Hall to a Seventh Day Adventist church to a home in Ranch Mirage to go to Fat Spaniel’s site and see real-time data on how much solar power is being generated and consumed.”

Many lament the Northeast Ohio missed out on the dot.com boom. (Of course, that means we missed the dot.com bust as well). With the renewed effort over the last few years to build up outr information and communications technology strengths, “greenware” might represent a huge opportunity for a place with a heavy emphasis on the development of green and reneewable energy technologies as well…

Click here for the rest of the Green Wombat article.