Workforce Development

• What are Clean Energy Jobs?
• How Does a Local Government Develop a Clean Energy Workforce?
• What Certifications are used?
• What are Local Governments Doing?
• Resources

What are Clean Energy Jobs?

Many organizations have put forth different definitions of green jobs. The following definition is provided by the White House Middle Class Task Force:

“Green jobs are jobs that provide products and services which use renewable energy resources, reduce pollution, conserve energy and natural resources, and reconstitute waste.”

In 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their definition of green jobs, stating that green jobs are either: jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources, or jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.

Clean energy jobs are a subset of green jobs—those related to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean combined heat and power (CHP). Examples of clean energy jobs can include:

• Energy auditors
• Insulation and weatherization technicians
• HVAC technicians and installers
• Wind energy technicians
• Solar photovoltaics or solar water heating installers
• Manufacturers, distributors, and salespeople of energy efficient products
• Low carbon (or clean energy) transportation planners, manufacturers, refiners, or technicians
• State energy and/or environment office staff

Top of page

How Does a Local Government Develop a Clean Energy Workforce?

The aim of developing a clean energy workforce is for local demand for qualified workers to match the supply of open jobs. Basic guidelines for developing an effective clean energy workforce include the following:

1. Promote clean energy policies, which are needed to develop and expand the market for services and businesses, and therefore jobs.
   • Energy efficiency targets and programs, such as energy savings goals for educational institutions, lead by example measures for government buildings, and weatherization programs can spur the market for clean energy businesses.
   • Renewable energy targets and programs, such as renewable energy targets, green power purchasing goals, and on-site generation incentives (e.g., solar photovoltaics) can spur the market for clean energy businesses.
2. Identify current and future projections of business and labor market status to determine gaps.
   • Leverage U.S. Department of Labor statistics related to industry and labor market data, and competency models to understand the skills needed to work in various sectors.
   • Contact your local department of labor to determine if projections exist for your area.
   • Convene local industry meetings to identify specific skill gaps in your region and for your employment base.
3. Facilitate partnerships across workforce development entities.
   • Leverage potential partners that already exist, such as local one stop career centers, community colleges, vocational high schools, workforce investment boards, chambers of commerce, mayors’ offices, local unions, and related NGOs. State and local agencies (departments of labor, energy offices, commerce/economic development offices) might be helpful, as well.
   • Create sector-based collaboratives to identify what efforts are needed in a specific target sector to train and employ workers.

Top of page

What Certifications are Used?

Although no national certification standard exists, the following certifications are currently used by many states to identify and train qualified workers:

• Building Performance Institute (BPI) certifies weatherization auditors, energy efficiency installation personnel, and other professionals in the residential and multifamily building performance contracting industry.
• Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET®) certifies home energy raters that evaluate buildings based on a relative energy use index called the HERS® Index.
• North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) offers national certification programs for solar electric and solar thermal installers.

In the renewable energy training field, accreditation for training providers is also available through the Institute for Sustainable Power Quality (ISPQ) . Providers that receive ISPQ accreditation have undergone a rigorous application and audit process, and their course content follows an industry task analysis.

Top of page

What are Local Governments Doing?

Common strategies for developing clean energy workforce development programs include:

• Working with established universities, community colleges, and vocational/technical high schools to integrate clean energy workforce training into existing curricula and programs.
• Engaging employers, job seekers, and job trainers in the development of workforce programs that will prepare workers for emerging green jobs related to sustainability, natural resource conservation, and environmental technology.
• Tailoring programs for low-income workers (e.g., Pathways out of Poverty).

Unique approaches to clean energy workforce development include:

• Authorizing community colleges to issue bonds on behalf of businesses that create green jobs—with the money used to support training for new jobs and related program administrative expenses (e.g., Iowa New Jobs Training Program)
• Developing regional workforce response teams that can cater to unique conditions and energy opportunities within regions of a state (e.g., Oregon Workforce Response Teams)
• Connecting low-income inner-city residents to union apprenticeship and community college training programs that prepare them for living wage jobs in building trades and energy-utility industries (e.g., Los Angeles Green Careers Training Initiative , Richmond BUILD ).

Top of page

Top of page