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 >>

Sector:

Topic:

Featured Resources

ACORE's Renewable Energy in the 50 States

American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) Renewable Energy in the 50 States report provides an executive summary on the status of renewable energy implementation at the state-level. The report is a "living" document that will continue to evolve with updates and periodic revision. (November 2012)

K-12 Sustainability Resources Relevant to Community Colleges

The U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development has developed a rich set of resources, including sites with downloadable learning activities, a beginner’s toolkit for sustainability, standards for K-12, and more.

Biomimicry: 6 Hour Course for Educators

Learning from nature to create non-toxic technologies is a fascinating subject described in this 6-hour course for educators who want to teach their students about biomimicry and give them a good grounding in the subject. Whether someone is completely new to biomimicry or relatively familiar with the subject, this course will provide a solid foundation about what biomimicry is, why it is important, and broad pedagogical considerations about how to teach this subject to students.

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Resources

AASHE offers numerous resources on sustainability in higher education, from strategic planning for sustainability to curricula, student life, operations and purchasing, community partnerships and more. See the free bulletin and the searchable resource center and digest and review the assessment system called STARS.

Resources for Teaching Sustainability Within All Courses

Discover information on how to teach sustainability in a wide variety of academic discipines, including Biology, Business,Chemistry,Design, Engineering, Environmental Science, Humanities, Mathematics, Psychology, Religion, Sociology and others. Also access interdisciplinary approaches, sustainability learning outcomes that can be related to all academic areas, and some of the journals related to sustainability.

Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

EPA is encouraging renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land and mine sites when it is aligned with the community’s vision for the site. This initiative identifies the renewable energy potential of these sites and provides other useful resources for communities, developers, industry, state and local governments or anyone interested in reusing these sites for renewable energy development.

Smart Grid Information Clearing House: Education and Training

A list of the DOE-sponsored workforce training programs for manpower development necessary for the successful deployment of the smart grid at all levels. Programs listed can be browsed by training location and training type. The SGIC team also brings together smart grid related education short courses, webinars, and tutorials offered by various providers.

Smart Growth Network's Building Sustainable Communities Speaker Series

The Smart Growth Speaker Series is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Building Museum and the Smart Growth Network. Smart growth is development that serves the economy, community, and environment. The series hosts speakers on monthly basis to discuss this approach to development, explore specific growth-related issues, foster dialog, and identify opportunities for positive change in growth and development patterns.

Sustainable Schools Project: Guide to Education for Sustainability

The Guide to Education for Sustainability offers introductory tools, background, and examples to help educators of all grade levels and subject areas use the "lens of sustainability" to strengthen classroom curricula and community projects.

The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy

In this ground-breaking book, leading sustainability educators are joined by literary critics, permaculturalists, ecologists, artists, journalists, engineers, mathematicians and philosophers in a deep reflection on the skills people need to survive and thrive in the challenging conditions of the 21st century.

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Transportation Research Board: Climate Change

This material can be used to create your transportation and climate change section of your curricula. An Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, calls upon the National Academy of Science (NAS) to provide independent advice to the government on matters related to science and technology. According to the Transportation Research Board (TRB), “Reducing transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide--the primary greenhouse gas--that contribute to climate change and adapting to the consequences of climate change will be among the biggest public policy challenges facing the transportation profession over the coming decades. This website serves as a gateway to TRB activities and products addressing transportation and climate change.”

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Web site of US Energy Information Administration (EIA) which provides statistics and analysis on energy trends.

U.S. Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative

This U.S. Department of Commerce's Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative supports the creation of manufactured products that use processes that minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve energy and natural resources, are safe for employees, communities, and consumers and are economically sound. The initiative has metrics for sustainable manufacturing and many useful publications.

US Environmental Protection Agency: Case Studies & Best Practices

View this page for examples of the types of environmental benefits that result from lean implementation. Read full case studies of each organization's lean activities and the environmental implications of those activities.

Webinar - Integrating STARS into Course Curricula

The presentation and video from the June 21, 2011 webinar, "Integrating STARS into Course Curricula," provides insights from STARS - Sustainability Tracking and Rating System. The webinar featured Jillian Buckholz (AASHE), Michele Hebert (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), and Jesse Pyles (Unity College). - "Check out this and other ASHEE webinars"

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Green Campus Campaign

USGBC is working in partnership with students, faculty and administrators to strengthen campus sustainability efforts. Through the campaign, USGBC aims to increase accessibility to LEED for educational facilities and campus development, support student leadership and advocacy efforts and promote sustainability in curriculum.

United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Materials

Materials on coherent, effective and efficient support to countries seeking to attain internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Consumption and Production for Production Presentation

Explore how to create green jobs and construct a resource efficient, low carbon economy while contributing to poverty eleviation via this workshop. Includes: Agenda (link to http://www.unep.fr/scp/marrakech/dialogue/pdf/AGENDA%20SCP_ENvironet%20FINAL.pdf); Background Paper: Sustainable Consumption and Production for Development (link to http://www.unep.fr/scp/marrakech/dialogue/pdf/SCPforDevelopment_BGpap180610_final.pdf); Presentations (link to http://www.unep.fr/scp/marrakech/dialogue/SCP%20for%20Development%20Workshop.htm); and, Meeting Report. (link to http://www.unep.fr/scp/marrakech/dialogue/pdf/SCPfor%20Development_Summary_010710.pdf)

United States Global Change Research Program - Climate Literacy Curricular Framework and Grants

This site, endorsed by 13 federal agencies, provides a framework and essential principles for formal and informal education “integrating federal research and solutions for climate and global change.” Information on federal grants is available for climate change education.

US DOE: Building Energy Codes Program (BECP)

The Building Energy Codes Program offers software, available for download and web-based, to assess residential and commercial compliance. This software allows you to generate your own code-compliant insulation and window packages, or choose from pre-defined, prescriptive packages.
- CLICK HERE for Software & Tools
- CLICK HERE for the Top Ten Reasons for Building Energy Codes

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