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

Affordable Comfort, Inc. (ACI) Advancing the Performance of Residential Buildings through Education and Building Science

Resources including national and regional conferences, and other training programs, that brings together the thinkers and doers who are committed to finding out how buildings really work. ACI resources aim at solving technical problems, learning new techniques, tools and materials, and building businesses.

More Resources

California Employment Development Department Labor Market Info (LMI) - California’s Green Economy

The green technology sector has shown the potential to create more manufacturing jobs, and more opportunities at every income and education level, than any other industry in California. The Assembly Select Committee on California’s Green Economy was formed to assist state and local governments in shaping policies that will remove barriers and encourage investment and job creation to grow this emerging sector. This includes numerous interrelated fields such as renewable energy sources supplanting fossil fuel use, clean technologies, water conservation and efficiency, alternative transportation, vehicle electrification, renewable fuels, waste management, green buildings, and critical workforce development.

Home Performance Resource Center

This Resource Center provides curricular information on how to help energy businesses become successful in the energy efficiency arena as well as resources on career pathways, including a home performance careers self-assessment. (http://assess.seiinc.org/index.php?option=com_ariquizlite&task=quiz&quizId=3&Itemid=2), and information on hiring and green jobs.

American Solar Energy Society (ASES) Report: Tackling Climate Change Nets 4.5 Million Jobs

This work studies the size and scope of the energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE&RE) industry in the United States. The data for 2007 show more than one trillion dollars in EE&RE sales, more than 9 million jobs, more than $100 billion in corporate profit, and more than $150 billion in federal, state, and local government tax revenue.

Clean Energy Trends 2010

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

Climate Change Economics Webinar: Generating Jobs in the New Energy Economy: State Government Success Stories

Webinars on various aspects of climate change economics and possible state policies to generate jobs. The webinars are offered in cooperation with different organizations that provide conceptual and planning expertise and rely on practitioners at the state and local levels to tell their peers about their efforts and successes.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) California Green Jobs Guidebook

EDF's Green Jobs Guidebook provides green job descriptions and listings of training and apprenticship programs.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Green Jobs Guidebook

This Guidebook aims to provide people with a tool for joining or learning more about this burgeoning industry. It is designed to be a resource for job seekers, students, guidance counselors, career advisors, policy makers and anyone else interested in learning about the tremendous potential of the existing and growing green jobs marketplace. This Guidebook features an expansive listing of green jobs throughout the Texas economy that includes job descriptions, salary information, minimum education requirements, potential certifications, employer types, job market growth potential, and much more. The Guidebook is specific to Texas but useful as an example to other states.

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.

Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments

This report from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, examines 12 states and the people employed in occupations affected by six green economic strategies: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power and cellulosic biofuels. The report was commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and was released in cooperation with the Green Jobs for America Campaign, a partnership of the Sierra Club, Blue Green Alliance, United Steelworkers, NRDC and with the Center for American Progress and Green for All. Must sign up with Workforce3One.org to access website.

Manufacturing Summit on Green Collar Jobs and Apprenticeship (November 2010)

The fourth annual Manufacturing Summit on Green Collar Jobs and Apprenticeship, hosted by Switzerland Trade & Investment Promotion and the National Institute for Metalworking Skills, took place in November, 2010. Senior level leaders addressed the skills deficit in U.S. manufacturing, and best practices, including the critical role of apprenticeship programs and the intersection of training and green collar jobs.

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