U.S. Community Colleges Are Ready to Train Green
Work Force
Apr 01, 2009 -- STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks
Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, is home to the Northwest Energy
Education Institute, which offers courses and degrees in renewable energy
technology, water conservation and energy management.
While training students for future work in alternative-energy industries,
Lane Community College also operates its campus in a way that strives to do
no harm to the environment and to preserve scarce resources. Lane has begun
to help other community colleges develop similar programs and practices,
making it a leader in promoting environmental stewardship.
While "green jobs" has become a rallying cry for activists and politicians,
it is a governing principle at Lane.
It looks like a smart business strategy too. The U.S. government's recently
enacted economic stimulus bill includes more than $100 billion for renewable
energy, home weatherization, energy efficiency and power-grid upgrades.
Projects financed through the bill's grants and loan guarantees are expected
to create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Analysts believe there will not be enough people with the right skills to
accomplish the goals of this new investment. A U.N. report says that a
shortage of trained "green collar" workers across the world may be the
biggest obstacle to renewable-energy and energy-efficiency growth. A
February survey conducted by the U.S. Association of Energy Engineers
indicates there will be a shortage of qualified professionals in the
energy-efficiency and renewable-energy fields in the next five years.
Respondents called for national and state training programs to address the
potential shortfall.
A recent report by the Academy for Education Development (AED) makes the
case for community colleges to train the work force for a greening economy.
"We have an economy in crisis. Thousands of workers are being laid off who
need to upgrade their skills or be retrained," said AED's Mindy Feldbaum,
who authored the report with the National Council for Workforce Education.
Feldbaum said community colleges are prepared to provide the type of
training required by the government's new green investment. These public
educational institutions offer one-year certificate programs, two-year
associate degrees and shorter-term certificate and noncertificate programs.
"They're kind of a unique institution in the sense that they have very
strong labor-market connections and they're very flexible in the sense that
they can respond to emerging industries and employers' changing skill
needs," Feldbaum said. Community colleges also are accessible and affordable
for workers who have different levels of education.
Feldbaum said community colleges have been providing their students with
skills for energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects for some time
already.
WHERE ARE GREEN JOBS?
The phrase "green jobs" brings to mind wind power installers and maintenance
workers, solar engineers and designers, architects, ethanol plant
technicians, biodiesel lab technicians, and air-quality auditors. But green
workers could also include those who propose or implement conservation ideas
to save energy or water, reduce pollution or restore biodiversity and
ecosystems.
As part of the global transition to a more sustainable economy, some jobs
will be created and some lost, but many will simply be transformed. "Green
is going to be incorporated in every industry," Feldbaum said.
She agrees with those who say it is difficult to define what a green
industry is. For example, making wind turbines is a job not much different
from other kinds of manufacturing. "But I do think green skills will be
integrated into everything we do, and sustainability principles will
eventually be in every occupation," she said.
Feldbaum said community colleges like Lane that have been involved in
sustainability efforts and green work force training for a long time are
great places for international students to consider. "It would also be good
to have sharing of practices," she said. U.S. community colleges would be
open to partnering with and helping institutions of higher education in
other countries to come up with their own green training programs.
The report on the role of community colleges in training a green work force
(PDF, 3 MB) is available on the AED Web site.
The U.N. report "Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable,
low-carbon world" (PDF, 4.5 MB) is available on the Web site of the United
Nations' International Labour Organization.
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