NEW ENERGY HAS SCHOOLS, OPPORTUNITIES, CAREERS

Jobs, Blowing in the Wind; Want a career in the green economy? Go to school.
Christina Gillham, April 15, 2009 (Newsweek)
and
Workers should look to the solar installation field
Teresa Odle, April 14, 2009 (Philly.com)

SUMMARY
In a year of increasing national unemployment, New Energy has good news for the unemployed.

There is work. Plenty of work.

The Obama stimulus plan alloted nearly $50 billion to New Energy and the President regularly repeats his intention to double New Energy capacity in the next 3 years.

The wind industry could parlay such growth into 185,000 jobs and the solar industry expects to create 110,000 jobs – by the end of 2010.

Wind will keep growing jobs for 2 decades at least. (click to enlarge)

The Iowa Lakes Community College Wind Energy & Turbine Technology program was one of the first and now there are more than a dozen such U.S. wind-technology programs. Started in 2004 with 15 students, the Iowa Lakes wind program will have 102 students next fall.

The best U.S. solar energy industry training/certification programs: Solar Energy International (Carbondale, Colo) or the more demanding North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) certification.

Wind turbines are gargantuan, sophisticated machines and require high levels of technical training from installers, repair and maintenance workers. A 2- year associate's degree costs $10,000 and virtually guarantees work in the technician-hungry industry at a starting salary of $20-to-$25/hour.

The solar energy industry has little regulation that applies to installers so the required training is whatever the hiring company says it is. Most states have little or no certification. Industry insiders expect this to change.

The wind industry expects to replace blue-collar manufacturing and construction sector jobs all around the U.S. hit hard by the recession.

Solar installer jobs are in the sunny states (like Southern Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona, California, etc.) but other states have or are building aggressive programs (New Jersey, Texas, Florida).

click to enlarge

The most crucial quality in a state’s development of New Energy jobs is not its sun or wind but its policies. States with a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring its utilities to obtain a specific portion of their power from New Energy sources by a date certain have the most New Energy jobs.

Benefits of working as a solar installer: (1) Strongly advocated by the Obama administration, New Energy is a sector on the rise and expected to keep rising for the foreseeable future. (2) Pay and benefits are excellent compared to other work for people with no degree beyond high school. (3) As national standards are introduced, on-the-job and/or certificate-level training will be available. (4) It is outdoor work. (5) Installing contributes to a good cause and could lead to work on solar power plants.

HELP WANTED. MUST TOLERATE HEIGHTS. (click to enlarge)

COMMENTARY
Work the New Energy industries runs the full gamut of possibilities, from accountants to sales people to engineers. But there is special interest in the hands-on work of solar installer and wind turbine technician.

Both jobs require a tolerance for heights. In the wind industry, it helps to have a REAL tolerance for heights.

HELP WANTED. MUST TOLERATE HEIGHTS. (click to enlarge)

Solar installers need the skills of a construction framer (measuring and cutting). NABCEP certification gets deeply into electrical code and, because solar panels gather high voltage power, those who work around them need to understand what this means.

GE Energy exemplifies the kind of opportunity there is today in the wind industry. GE built 1 of every 2 U.S. turbines in 2008, a record year for installations. It operates 10,000 turbines around the world and expects to train 1,600 new wind technicians a year for the foreseeable future.

There's work on the ground, too. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Neil Lurie, Director of Communications, American Solar Energy Society: "Many of the jobs will require on-the-job training or apprenticeship-level training…Not everyone will have to go to four-year or advanced degree programs for specific technical skills…"
- Colin Lantz, vice president of sales and marketing, Lighthouse Solar: "The economic stimulus bill had 16 provisions that directly benefit the solar industry…[Solar installer is] a good, shovel-ready career…If you have a construction background, you can easily get into the solar installation world…We look for people with solar installation experience first, but barring that, we look for either electrical contracting experience or general construction experience…"
Lurie: "California doubled the number of solar installations in 2008 [compared to 2007]…about half of the country’s solar installs…About half of the states in the U.S. have [an RES]…"

It's called opportunity and it's knocking. (click to enlarge)

- Loma Roggenkamp, wind industry trainee, Iowa Lakes Community College: "This is one sector that's really growing…That was a big draw—that there's jobs, and it's projected there will still be jobs…I'm quite happy [coming] into this program and this industry…Every day I think, yeah, I finally made a good decision."
- George Boggs, President/CEO, American Association of Community Colleges: "…from what I'm hearing in the field, these [New Energy technology] programs are developing rapidly."
- Denise Bode, CEO, American Wind Energy Association: "We're building a brand-new industry from the bottom up…It's like building an auto industry. There are new long-term jobs being created, and they're being created pretty fast."