Promoting Green Jobs for the Future

As we are working hard here to put the July/August annual training-focused issue "to bed" (that's magazine speak for getting it ready to send to the printer), I got to thinking: training really is the guiding force behind the future of the efficiency industry. I mean, what do we have if we don't have proper training and techniques?

That's why it makes me happy when I come across things such as the recent announcement by New York State's Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to provide $125,000 to the Northeast Parent & Child Society in support of a workforce development program specifically for students that are interested in New York's green jobs.

Northeast Parent & Child Society was selected by NYSERDA as part of a $5.4 million Workforce Development Program (PON 1816) for energy efficiency job training statewide. The funding will provide these students with basic skills training courses, hands-on internship programs with energy efficiency companies, train-the-trainer sessions, as well as further technical training in energy efficiency.

Twenty-five students will be selected to participate in a 120-hour basic skills training program for work in residential and commercial energy efficiency. Following this training, 20 students will then participate in a six-week, full-time paid internship program with Capital Region businesses specializing in energy efficiency. Potential employers include energy service companies in the commercial and industrial energy efficiency sector and companies who perform residential energy audits and retrofits for homeowners through NYSERDA’s Home Performance with Energy Star program. 

“Programs like this are an investment in the economy of our region, and every resident will reap the benefits of a strong, green economy,” said John Henley, President and CEO of Northeast Parent & Child Society.

Since 2006, NYSERDA has provided $23 million in funding to train more than 13,000 New Yorkers for jobs across the clean energy spectrum. Their funding has also helped to create a network of more than 40 clean energy-training facilities across New York State.

For more information, visit http://www.getenergysmart.org/GreenJobs/Default.aspx.