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)

Report - Energy Efficiency Resource Acquisition Program Models in North America

This report provides an explanation of different types of institutional delivery models currently in place across the United States and Canada to acquire energy efficiency as a predictable and reliable resource for meeting existing and future energy demands. This examination and comparison of eight different models yields a new understanding of the benefits and weaknesses states and provinces accepted when making choices during the development of these programs. Although the report focuses on programs targeting the industrial sector, the lessons learned are not specific to one sector or geographic region.

Emerald Cities Collaborative: Building Trades Curriculum

The Multi-Craft Core Curriculum is an innovative training curriculum that provides a gateway from high school or community college to joint industry registered apprenticeships in the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), AFL-CIO.

Keeping It in the Community: Sustainable Funding for Local Energy Efficiency Initiatives

This report describes several local funding options and provides examples where each has been adopted. Options discussed include utility partnerships; licensing, service, or waste fees; energy or carbon taxes; systems benefit funds; bonds; and options to capture the value created by avoided energy costs to create self-sustaining funds through revolving loan funds or other mechanisms. (May 2012)

Report on The Long-Term Energy Efficiency Potential - What the Evidence Suggests

This report explains how we can reduce overall energy consumption by 40 to 60 percent. The savings would benefit all parts of the economy including the residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. A pattern of productive efficiency investments would drive a net gain of almost two million jobs even as consumers save an average of $400 billion per year (the equivalent of about $2,600 per household). (January 2012)

Equipment Needs for Weatherization Training Centers

List of equipment needed, and other materials, for a weatherization training center from the Pennsylvania College of Technology (PCT) Weatherization Training Center (WTC).
- Download the PDF (Updated - April, 2011)

Free Energy Efficiency Online Training Materials

This Energy Star website includes annimated and self-guided presentation as well as pre-recorded training on how-to improve energy performance.

Advanced Manufacturing Office Training Sessions and Downloadable Webinars (EERE)

The Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) office of Advanced Manufacturing offers system-wide and component-specific training programs to help run plants and businesses more efficiently. The training is offered throughout the year and around the country.

Advanced Manufacturing Office of the EERE

The Advanced Manufacturing Office of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) works with diverse partners to develop and deploy technologies and practices that will help U.S. manufacturers succeed in global markets.
- View the Technology Deployment page for information on Tools, Training, and other important information.

Sector Resources for Energy Efficiency

This page provides sector resources on energy efficiency including information on news, conferences, funding opportunities and documents.

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More Resources

EBSCO Database Services: Environment Complete™, Environment Index™, and GreenFILE

The following three databases can be purchased by your library as a resource for you and your students.

ENERGY STAR college course

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) college-level course on commercial building efficiency for students and professionals in the field of energy and facility management. Available at no cost as an off-the-shelf package. It gives students an understanding of the practice and policy of energy efficiency in the built environment. The course offers an in-depth examination of the benefits of and barriers to energy efficiency through the resources of the ENERGY STAR program. It also provides practical methods and best practices for energy management. This course is classroom-ready, including suggested readings, a syllabus, course outline, class materials, lecture presentations, and ideas for a student project. The course can be tailored to fit your lesson plans and term length, or can be offered to building professionals as a continuing education course.

Energy Star Training

ENERGY STAR offers free online training to help you improve the energy performance of your organization. See how EPA can help you lower operating costs, improve your energy management program, and expand your professional development.

Environmental and Energy Resources Library (EERL)

Free online collection of environmental and energy sustainablity resources for community college educatiors, sudents, practitioners and the public. EERL is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Environmental Energy Technologies Division - LBNL

This website from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is filled with useful information on energy efficiency and renewable energies that could be included in curricula. Be sure to check out many of the links on their Publications Page.

Equipment Needs for Weatherization Training Centers

Free Energy Efficiency Online Training Materials

This Energy Star website includes annimated and self-guided presentation as well as pre-recorded training on how-to improve energy performance.

Institute for Sustainable Power Quality (ISPQ) Accreditation of Training Programs

To ensure continuity, consistency, and quality in the delivery of training, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) is implementing the Institute for Sustainable Power Quality (ISPQ) framework of standards and metrics to provide a means to compare content, quality, and resources across a broad range of training programs covering renewable energy, energy efficiency and distributed generation technologies. This international framework ensures legitimacy of what’s being taught and by whom.

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.

Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) BuildsGreen Energy Tool Kit

See how Los Angeles Community College District has implemented energy efficiency, green building and renewable energies on campus as a model for students, staff and the community. Includes descriptions of how LACCD is cost effectively moving to 100% renewable energies and conservation.

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