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:

Report - Biobased Products: Minnesota's Opportunity and Challenge

As the interest and use of biobased products grows, so do the opportunities and challenges. According to a recent report sponsored by AURI and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, Minnesota's fundamental strengths in agriculture, biofuels and innovation may hold the key to the state's potential for leadership in this emerging economy although, as the study suggests, it is pertinent to connect the dots in order to capitalize on market potential. While the data is about Minnesota, the conceptual frame and strategies can be useful to other states.

Report - Green Jobs in a Sustainable Food System

This report examines the five sectors within the food system: Production, Processing, Distribution, Retail, and Waste. Within each, it examines the environmental and economic equity problems, highlights the efforts of local communities across the country to address those problems, and identifies opportunities to transform jobs in the green economy and enhance environmental and economic equity outcomes in the future.

Report - U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report

This report from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy focuses primarily on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy impacts — the first challenges to be addressed through this industry wide effort for dairy sustainability.

Santa Cruz Agroecology Institute

The mission of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems is to research, develop, and advance sustainable food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sound, economically viable, socially responsible, non-exploitative, and that serve as a foundation for future generations. The Center produces a variety of publications for researchers, farmers, students, educators, and home gardeners. Much of this material, including a Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum, is available for free download. It includes materials on how to connect college food systems with local farmers.

The 25% Shift: The Benefits of Food Localization for Northeast Ohio and How to Realize Them

This report suggests that if the region could source one quarter of its total food production locally, that action would generate 27,664 new jobs, increase the annual regional output by $4.2 billion, and expand state and local tax collection by $126 million, while increasing food security for hundreds of thousands of people and reducing obesity and Type-II diabetes.

The Northeast’s Food and Farm Network

NESAWG is the Northeast's food and farm network. Activities are based on a systems approach, recognizing the interdependence of government, market, and civic arenas for social change. They maintain an overview of the region’s movement toward a more sustainable food system and guide the network to maximize collective impact. Working at local, state, regional, and national levels, their efforts help organizations redirect public policy, foster market-based innovation, and generate an informed and active citizenry.

Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI)

The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI) is a program of University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships to address issues of poor nutrition and physical fitness in West Philadelphia. UNI’s activities are fully integrated into the university-assisted community school model. UNI organizes school day, after school and summer learning opportunities for more than 10,000 students and their families at 20 public schools in Philadelphia. UNI’s ecological approach to nutrition education includes hands-on experiences for students to grow, cook, consume and sell healthy foods. UNI has in-school “Eat Right Now” programs and “UNI Youth Development” programs.

Wallace Center at Winrock International

The Wallace Center focuses on developing market-based solutions that link a larger number of people and communities to "good food"- food that is healthy, green, fair, and affordable. They aim to connect people, resources, and information around the world to drive change that benefits farmers, urban and rural communities, our natural resources and the health of our citizens. Areas of focus include Empowerment and Civic Engagement, Enterprise and Agriculture, and Environment: Forestry, Energy and Ecosystem Services.

WhyHunger: Food Security Learning Center

WhyHunger's Food Security Learning Center brings you into the food security movement, a movement that shows how our food system is connected, how our food grows, how it's processed, who grows it, what we eat, where it comes from, who goes hungry and why. WhyHunger is helping to build the movement to end hunger and poverty by connecting people to nutritious, affordable food and by supporting grassroots solutions that inspire self-reliance and community empowerment.

World Agroforestry Center

The World Agroforestry Centre is part of the alliance of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers dedicated to generating and applying the best available knowledge to stimulate agricultural growth, raise farmers’ incomes, and protect the environment. The Centre’s vision is a rural transformation in the developing world as smallholder households strategically increase their use of trees in agricultural landscapes to improve their food security, nutrition, income, health, shelter, energy resources and environmental sustainability. The Centre is committed to using agroforestry to alleviate poverty.

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