Resource Center

Instructions

The Resource Center is a curated collection of information organized around 7 green economy “Sectors” and 7 “Topics.” In time, more Sectors will be added. Topics represent those areas in which educators and workforce development professionals continue to seek direction.

You can search by sector or by topic. Or across all sectors and/or all topics.

You can also perform a keyword search of all resources on the top right of this page.

Overview

Solar

The solar industry is expected to show steady growth over the coming decade largely due to rising energy prices, advances in technology through public/private partnerships and investments, and continued enactment of federal and state policies and financial incentives. more >>

Wind

Wind power is considered a leading source of new electricity generation in the United States, with the potential of providing 20% of the nation’s energy needs by 2030. more >>

Green Building

The green building market has expanded five fold over the last three years to a $48 billion national market—and is projected to triple in the next five years. more >>

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is considered the foundation of a vibrant and sustainable green economy, and one of the most cost effective ways to lower energy consumption, reduce operating costs, and mitigate carbon emissions. more >>

Sustainability Education

Sustainability education refers generally to learning experiences that enable students to develop the knowledge, behaviors and skills to help create healthier ecosystems, social systems, and economies. For the purposes of the SEED Center, this includes resources to help build non-credit continuing education for the incumbent workforce and integrating sustainability curriculum into existing credit programs. more >>

Sustainable Ag., Food & Land

The Sustainable Ag., Food & Land sector covers the areas of organic farming, horticulture, culinary art, and landscaping. This sector includes organizations and resources that integrate environmental, social and economic factors into land use, food preparation, and land specific practices in an attempt to create a more sustainable future. more >>

General Clean Tech

The General Clean Tech sector is a space for resources that encompass multiple ‘green’ sectors. Many are applicable to the broader clean economy and sustainability-related technology and will serve the general clean tech community. Resources also provide valuable information on sectors that are experiencing substantive development in the sustainability realm, like manufacturing and smart grid. more >>

Transportation and Fuels

The Transportation & Fuels sector covers the area of electric and hybrid vehicle development and maintenance, other forms of alternative and sustainable transportation, natural gas, fuel cells, battery storage, and renewable fuels sources including ethanol, biodiesel, algae, and methane. more >>

Certifications and Industry Credentials

Certainly, one of the biggest challenges facing green educators is the rapid and mostly uncoordinated emergence of green certifications and credentials. more >>

Curricular Materials

These resources and materials have been vetted by industry and education experts, and while not in the form of specific educator tools, will assist in creating quality curricula for your classroom. more >>

You will find more specific educator tools (e.g. syllabi, lab manuals, lesson plans, special classroom projects, equipment lists, etc.) submitted by SEED member colleges in our Curricular Materials Sharing Portal.

Employment Industry Projections

While job training providers have been quite active in past years working with local industry to define the emerging green jobs market and potential job growth areas, most still struggle to forecast accurately regional occupational demand. The U.S. Department of Labor has made recent strides toward classifying green occupations and competencies which will help communities define and track green jobs (and colleges to design appropriate education and training programs). Given the uncertain renewable energy and efficiency industry outlook, and rapidly changing technologies, access to the most up-to-date industry studies and employment projections will be critical. more >>

Innovative Practices & Partnerships

The job creation potential of the green economy has led to some unique job training and economic development partnerships and collaborations. more >>

Professional Development Resources

This section includes promising facilitated learning opportunities, including “train the trainer” programs, standing conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice for faculty and staff seeking to further their knowledge of industry trends and requirements. more >>

Policy & Funding Sources

Included you will find links and descriptions of agencies and organizations that typically fund sustainability and green job training initiatives as well as those that provide important information on national legislation and policies relevant to the clean energy sector. CHECK BACK AS MORE ARE ADDED. This section also highlights resources that provide guidance on how to supply input into program and grant design for certain agency solicitations. more >>

Skill sets, Competencies & Career Pathways

This section includes lists and assessments of skill sets and competencies tied to the green economy – across the broad industry as well as within specific sectors. It also includes some critical resources that colleges can use to align programs and facilitate student transitions. Included are green energy competency models and newly-developed career pathways that allow movement across educational and training programs. more >>

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Featured Resources

Careers in Wind Energy: A WPA Webinar

This free webinar is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America 2012 webinar series. It provided an overview of the wind energy careers from an industry perspective. The webinar focused on recent work in defining wind energy careers while highlighting some of the critical, but lesser known, career paths in the wind industry.

Skills Standards for Wind Turbine Technicians

This Wind Turbine Technician Skill Standards project is part of a broader initiative to establish power generation standards for the energy industry.

American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Publications

Review these resources for AWEA Wind Energy Fact Sheets which provide up-to-date information on many aspects of the wind industry. You will also find Wind Energy Reports which include quarterly and annual U.S. wind industry market reports and reports that AWEA has authored or contributed to on a variety of other topics.

More Resources

Careers in Wind Energy: A WPA Webinar

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Careers in Wind Energy

This resource provides an overview of the wind energy sector in the nation and on occupations in the wind power industry.

Online Video Learning Materials: Wind Technician TV

Wind Technician Television (www.windtechtv.org) presents on-line video learning materials designed for students in wind turbine training programs. Part of a three-year project supported by the National Science Foundation, WindTechTV is part of the NSF Advanced Technological Education initiative. WindTechTV presents information about yaw control systems, blade and flange joint assembly and maintenance, hydraulic torque tools, and fiber optic maintenance and repair practices, as well as other topics of interest. Industry experts demonstrate the latest procedures, such as laser alignment and non-destructive inspection.
For More Information: Phil Pilcher, Highland Communigy College, phil.pilcher@highland.edu

American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Online Job Board

American Wind Energy Association online job board for both job jobseekers and job recruiters.

Clean Energy Trends 2010

Report discussed how clean energy has become a driving force for economic recovery, both nationally and internationally.

Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) Sample Skills Assessment for Wind Program

This survey is an update of an industry needs assessment originally conducted in 2006 to determine skills sets for wind turbine technicians, including the demand for this occupation.

Connecting High-Poverty Areas with Green Jobs: Creative Partnerships with Access Points

Designed for workforce systems with existing SHARE Network Access Points but open to all, this Webinar (formerly "Access Point and The New Economy") shares promising practices from areas that are using faith-based and neighborhood partners to help fulfill the needs of the Recovery Act and the new “green jobs” economy. The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has announced its initial plans for awarding “green job training” funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Training and Employment Notice 44-08 summarizes these plans. Must sign up with Workforce3One.org to access website.

Green Collar Workers and Other Mythical Creatures, book authored by Marc Anderberg.

Labor market analysts have to cut through the fog of overlapping, conflicting and even nonsensical uses of the terms “green jobs” and “green collar workers” before they can give valid and reliable counts of workers employed in them, provide employment demand growth estimates and identify the requisite KSAs for green employment (as opposed to employment in their non-green predecessors). This book explores the myths and mysteries of green collar jobs and offers an action agenda to aid workforce professionals in understanding and implementing job training requirements imposed by Title X of the Green Jobs Act of 2007.

Green Pathways Out of Poverty: Workforce Development Initiatives

This document is a product of that two-day meeting and links to resources recommended by Community of Practice members. It is meant to guide and support anyone seeking to create pathways out of poverty through green job training. Must sign up with Workforce3One.org to access website.

IREC 2009 Conference Presentations: New Ideas in Educating a Workforce in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Conference website includes more than 70 conference presentations addressing job forecasts and labor profiles, state and federal workforce initiatives, career pathways, training partnerships, model curriculum, standards, and new approaches to training in the rapidly growing green economy.

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