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:

Featured Resources

Affordable Comfort, Inc. (ACI) Advancing the Performance of Residential Buildings through Education and Building Science

Resources including national and regional conferences, and other training programs, that brings together the thinkers and doers who are committed to finding out how buildings really work. ACI resources aim at solving technical problems, learning new techniques, tools and materials, and building businesses.

Book - Beyond Green Jobs: Building Lasting Opportunities in Energy Efficiency

California Construction Academy’s new book, Beyond Green Jobs describes how comprehensive, deep green energy efficiency can bring the best benefits to the environment and create good, long-term careers. It demystifies the construction industry, captures snapshots of innovative programs throughout the country, and provides a foundation to bring energy efficiency to scale.
- Available for Free Download

Report - Buildings as a platform for innovation and transformation

How does technology convergence change the nature of cities and suburbs, and how we live, work, travel, play, and shop? A new report says innovation is coming to a neighborhood near you.

Green For All Retrofit America's Cities: Programs Designed to Perform Energy-Efficiency Retrofits at a City-Wide Scale

Through the Communities of Practice, Green For All connects people who are working throughout the country on programs and policies to weatherize and retrofit homes at the city scale while creating healthier ecosystems and pathways out of poverty through green-collar jobs. On-the-ground practitioners, educators and program designers get to connect to each other, innovate together, and share their learning with the entire field via this "Retrofit America's Cities Community of Practice." A variety of materials is also available for viewing.

Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

EPA is encouraging renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land and mine sites when it is aligned with the community’s vision for the site. This initiative identifies the renewable energy potential of these sites and provides other useful resources for communities, developers, industry, state and local governments or anyone interested in reusing these sites for renewable energy development.

Webinar: Help Your Students and Their Employers Understand How to Grow Green Jobs

This webinar shares concepts, learning outcomes and learning activities you can easily incorporate in your courses to create more success for your students and for the businesses where they will work. Educating our students for green jobs and careers often requires going beyond the teaching of technological skills and knowledge. A successful green business employee also needs an understanding of how to effectively communicate about the green product and how to help the employer understand and utilize the successful green business models. Yet these items are often missing in our curricula. Standard marketing, sales and business courses do not address this problem.

World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) Sustainability Affinity Group

The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) is an international network of colleges and associations of colleges. WFCP provides leadership in delivering workforce education for our global economy. The Sustainability Affinity Group focuses on Education to Action as the key to sustainability and colleges.
- View there Curriculum Resources as well as information on Community Approach and Partnerships for Sustainability.

More Resources

Book - Beyond Green Jobs: Building Lasting Opportunities in Energy Efficiency

American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Green Economy Webinar

Webinar focuses on 1) different types of green jobs; 2) professional development, certification, and curricular material for teachers at both the high school and community college levels in the green jobs area; and, 3) partnership models between businesses, government, and educators to crate more effective entry, re-entry and professional development for workers in the emerging green economy.

Article - Top 10 Reasons Why Green Jobs Are Vital to Our Economy

This September, 2011 article written by the Center for American Progress states how green jobs are integral to any effort to jumpstart the US economy and reduce as rapidly as possible the 9.1 percent unemployment rate. It states that the rapid growth of green jobs will boost demand in the economy by reducing unemployment, making America more competitive in the global economy, and protect our public health—all of which will result in greater economic productivity and long-term economic prosperity.

Article: Three Community College Case Studies

The first 2 case studies highlight how community colleges can educate the public and catalyze green business growth in addition to educating students. Strategies such as sustainability centers that are open to the public and business incubators are described. The following three community college sustainability efforts are detailed in this article (page 40): 1) The Green Center of Central Pennsylvania, 2) Green Efforts at Cleveland State Community College, and 3) North Shore's Zero Net Energy Building.

Building the Green Economy and Successful Enrollment - Strategies for Comm. Colleges

Learn how to create successful marketing and outreach to potential students to build enrollment and the green economy. Click here

Report - Buildings as a platform for innovation and transformation

How does technology convergence change the nature of cities and suburbs, and how we live, work, travel, play, and shop? A new report says innovation is coming to a neighborhood near you.

Climate Communities

Climate Communities is a national coalition of cities and counties that is educating federal policymakers about the essential role of local governments in developing new approaches to create livable communities, reduce energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Communities is working with local governments to ensure that federal policies provide strong incentives and resources for local clean energy and sustainability actions. These are potential partners for community based learning and innovative partnership.

Green For All: Building an inclusive green economy

This national organization works to build an inclusive green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Green For All works in collaboration with business, government, labor, and grasroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in the green industry.

Austin Texas Inventory of Clean Energy Initiatives 2009

Examples of regional clean energy initiatives and policies from central Texas.

Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI) Re-Powering Our Region Conference: Building Profit by Being Green

An example of how business associations, utilities, economic development agencies and educational institutions can come together to build a more economically sound and greener local economy. Conference Agenda with links to available presentations and websites. This conference is an example of how a college can co-sponsor events to catalyze regional development in the green economy.

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