Education Creates Green Collar Jobs

The premise of Green Jobs is a job that involves working with the environment and/or renewable energy to make a difference in our future. It is a job with social responsibility.

Everyone is talking about Green Jobs and billions of dollars are coming down the pipe line to create Green Jobs, but almost no one is talking about how to create these Green Jobs in a sustainable way that will provide a mechanism of implementation on a community level or how to fund them.

NEWS ALERT: John Podesta, of Obama's Transition Team has a think tank called Center for American Progress with a website at:
http://www.americanprogress.org/

It has great reports on Green Collar Jobs and the directions being considered by the new President-Elect's Team including a report that has close to this concept in it!

This concept is one way to accomplish the goal of a Green Jobs based economic revolution in America that Obama wants to create using Renewable Energy!

Forty percent of the energy usage in America and a majority of the CO2 released into atmosphere comes from our energy usage for housing and commercial buildings.

We all know that conservation measures give us the best return on our investment dollar... "More Bang for the Buck!"

We know that we can cut our dependence on foreign oil, cut green house gas and save ourselves money by using renewable energy equipment like solar PV electric, solar thermal hot water heaters, wind turbines and ground source heat pumps on our homes and commercial buildings.

Installing these devices creates Green Jobs for the people who build that equipment, the people who sell that equipment and the people who install that equipment.

So, how do we jump start America into coming Green Age? How do we create the demand for the green products, train people to install them and finance the conversion costs as soon as possible?

We do not want to reinvent the wheel. We should look at what is already available to us and use proven mechanisms to accomplish our goals.

This concept utilizes existing institutions and programs to move forward with the least amount of resistance to create the Green Collar Jobs we need now.

The answer is to use the local Community College network across America as the lead mechanism in this "Rebuild America Now" program. The concept is these CC organizations would deliver an educational program that would train students, veterans, youth at risk, and Obama's Energy Conservation Corp in several key areas.

The second part of the equation centers around how we put these students to work in our communities creating change now. The answer is already in place with the US Government programs under HUD (Housing and Urban Development) programs. HUD already has a community outreach system that is designed to help our communities with development projects through their Community Block Grant Program and almost every community has a CDC... A Community Development Corporation which is a non-profit group run by local folks that administer these programs.

So the real infrastructure needed is already in place. We have thousands of community colleges available to teach programs and we have HUD in place from the Federal level to the community level to fund the projects.

Here is what we do.... The community colleges start a Renewable Energy/Conservation program. Students are first trained in Conservation. They learn how to become "Energy Auditors" able to go into a home and identify all the normal conservation measures that go along with the current HUD Weatherization programs now being funded.... But with a twist! These new EA techs are also trained in renewable energy equipment design and siting so along with conservation measures like insulation and caulking, they can recommend a solar thermal hot water collector, solar PV electric equipment or a ground source heat pump for the home owner or commercial building.

Students have classes in standard home energy conservation measures and how to run the equipment necessary to weatherise a home, but again they are also trained to install the renewable energy equipment recommended by the auditor. Everything from light bulbs to appliances.

This training is not simple and requires several thousand hours of class time and on the job training provided by licensed contractors, plumbers and electricians.

Others are trained in Energy Business Management to do the necessary paperwork for the grants, tax incentives, loans and rebates from the State, Federal Local and Utility partnerships that form to get this job done for CDC's and for profit contractors.

For HUD's part, on behalf of the Federal Government, HUD makes monies available to the Community Colleges to set up these Green Collar Jobs training programs and HUD sets up funding through its existing Community Development Block Grant Program to pay for the renewable energy equipment that MUST be manufactured in America....( Perhaps streamlined, quicker and energy efficient application process ???) Maybe now called the Community RENEWABLE ENERGY Block Grant Program??

This program, administered by the existing local Community Development Corp (CDC) would then use the students (who are required to have hands on experience) to weatherize and energy retrofit veteran, low income, disabled and senior housing under trained and licensed contractors. The students are paid a wage for their work to help afford their school. The Energy Block Grant pays for the conservation and renewable energy measures used in the retrofits at little or no cost to the homeowners. Studies show there are over twenty eight million homes in America that qualify for this type of "energy retrofit" today. Obama has stated a goal of One Million houses a year to be done to start.

After completion of the training programs, the students are Green Collar Workers, ready to move on into the work place with standard contractors who are doing retrofits on other community homes and businesses for owners that are using low interest loans and tax credit type incentives for their equipment because they are not senior or disabled and can afford to pay part of the costs.

This is our WIN-WIN-WIN situation. We are training green collar workers to install the equipment made by green collar workers in the United States of America and sold by green collar workers. We are retrofitting the homes of veterans, seniors and disabled folks who can least afford high energy bills or to pay for the equipment. We are putting real value into our communities with lowering dependence on fossil fuels, lowering green house gas emissions, and lowering the need for utility priced power.

We are building decentralized power generation faciities not dependant on new "clean coal" or nuclear power plants with their environmental costs and risks. How many homes and businesses can be retrofited with RE equipment and weatherised for the cost of building one Nuclear power plant and running it over its life cycle? What is the value of not building a " Clean Coal" power plant to the environment?

Bottom line is we are putting people to work in America, for America's future.

Herbert Hoover's Administration used the phrase, " A Chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage!" in the last great depression.

Maybe Obama's new phrase ought to be: "Solar Panels on every roof, and (an American built)
Eco-car in every garage!" to get us out of this mess.

We have to work our way out of this depression we are going into, and Green Collar Jobs created by the retrofitting of our homes and businesses is one of the best ways of doing it!

Please send this information to anyone and everyone you think needs to see this concept.

Thanks,

John R. Cogar
Sustainable Lake County Oregon

Tags: energy, collar, college, education, green, jobs, obama, plan, renewable, retrofit

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kathy on November 1, 2008 at 2:06pm: Get enough people in the community to demand a change in codes both locally and at the state level. At the moment, local laws prevent home wind generation in many places, There is no mechanism to encourage people to retrofit homes and business - and the savings in energy costs while great, does not change the fact that folks do not have the cash up front to pay for something with a 5 or so year payout, so folks do nothing. In addition to helping folks get training at community colleges, there needs to be a fund that would pay for the retrofits and green projects that would allow consumers to pay for these improvements over time. The benefit to the community being reduced fossil fuel usage - people are going to need to be vocal though, because ideas that reduce usage of power from "the grid" make big power companies nervous.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R Cogar, Oregon 2nd. Congressional District Leader on November 1, 2008 at 5:32pm: I agree with what you say about wind power, but there are many different programs at the state level that encourage renewable energy through tax incentives and low cost loans. I am in hopes the next administration will provide even more incentives for conservation and renewable energy utilization..For the cost of one Nuke plant hundreds of thousands of howm ownere would own their own power system with none of the problems of waste control for thousands of years...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Paul W. Melnick, Sr. on November 13, 2008 at 11:15am: Connecticut Leads the Way With The Nation's First Rate Payer Supported Residential Leasing Program for Solar Energy.

http://www.ctsolarlease.com

$0 Down Payment, Low Fixed Monthly Payments

Your CT Solar Lease™ requires no downpayment and has been designed to provide qualifying homeowners with the lowest possible fixed monthly payment - less than $120 per month for a typical system!

Now this is the type of program that needs to be enacted all over the US where electric rates are high. Here in Connecticut we pay about $0.25 per kwh on-peak (noon until 8 PM). No down payment and the $120 per month gets you a 5kw PV system installed. The lease is for 15 years. See the website for more details.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Earl Allen Boek on November 1, 2008 at 2:59pm: My local community college, Shasta Junior has a pretty good renewable energy program in effect, on going, right now from what I can tell...Now they need me to show them how to start marketing...selling and installing the goods....
I'm about $25,000 dollar away from doing it.

But your 100% right. Local from the ground up....large decentralized power systems requiring new grids and large capital outlays are not where to start. Slow to get approvals and timely to begin. Local on site generation in the answer for
putting a work force back to work, NOW. The products are standing by, first come, first serve. The people are waiting
for investment and finance information.

I think the new emission standards for the state of CA will go a long way to solving the code problems that Kathy mentions below too.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R Cogar, Oregon 2nd. Congressional District Leader on November 1, 2008 at 5:35pm: Thank you for your reply. Large centralized power systems, (even Boone's) still create a utility vs user relationship that still makes the consumer a prisoner of market pricing....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Wales on November 3, 2008 at 6:44am: An excellent idea, well thought-out, and totally doable! Here in Arkansas, we're starting a "roadshow" called Repower Arkansas: Alliance for Economy and Climate Solutions. This, too, promotes green jobs that pay a living wage, conservation, and education for the general public. Our first mutimedia "roadshow", which will also feature Al Gore's movie, will be in my home town of Monticello, at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, UAM. I'm doing the logistics for the upcoming program, which will be held on Nov. 18. From there, our group will do presentations all over Arkansas. This program is an outcome of the two co-chairs of Gov. Beebe's Global Warming Commission, which worked for the past two years on developing recommendations for our state on Global Warming. It would be great for EVERY state to do this, and involve and educate the public about this crucial issue. Here in Arkansas, we now have two manufacturing plants making the big blades for wind energy; three new algea energy plants being built right here in southeast Arkansas; and various solar and geothermal franchises as well. In our impoverished state, these are welcome green industries, and hopefully such businesses will continue to increase and provide decent, well-paying and much-needed jobs. We are excited and looking forward to being a part of a much-larger movement nationwide to promote such innovation. I will certainly share your wonderful program, and I'd like to hear from others what's happening in their states.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R Cogar, Oregon 2nd. Congressional District Leader on November 3, 2008 at 8:35am: Thank you for your reply. Are you doing this also in concert with Pickens Plan? Please send me more information on your program and I will forward it to people here in Oregon that could use this information. Thank you for your kind words and please contact me if I may be of service in any way...... JC@sustainable-lake-county-oregon.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael, Houston on November 6, 2008 at 8:43am: Thanks John for this discussion; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R Cogar, Oregon 2nd. Congressional District Leader on November 6, 2008 at 9:08am: Thank you for the group!

Green jobs are where the theory meets practice in renewable energy! Energy independence is a concept. Green collar workers make it reality!

Keep up the good work!

JC; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gregory L. Smith on November 11, 2008 at 1:55pm: Two years ago I got with the Construction Director of the Francis Tuttle Vo-tech group in Oklahoma City, and actually gave him a full Criterion Objective outline for Solar Energy degree programs and also had other items as course ideas included.
It has taken society this long (2 years) to realize just how important education is to the economy of our country. It is no wonder why Obama's groups have won such acclaim, since they were the ones that voiced "Change", but in reality have not even approached what you and I know is the desperate truth, that our system can't change without the educational process vanguarding the efforts! Every University in the nation should have curricula that includes Renewable Energy as a needed element in getting an engineering degree, but very few have gone there, namely, because they do not see demand and they do not see the results, because it is all very new to Superintendents and Boards of Regents! Those we depend on have failed us, despite the great salaries they bring home and often really do deserve for their real work. But now, the world has dramatically changed underneath us, and if we do not engage the dangers of global energy needs, the danger will only grow bigger each year we delay its influence on world economies. More than anything, finding people who actually think has been a real issue, because most educators are simply interested in getting students to learn basics, and do not develop cognitive abilities until secondary education is behind them. In Europe, cognitive abilities are foremost and introduced even in preschools. Here, if a student can read we say he has succeeded! We need green education NOW, but those available to teach it are not around yet, because the criteria are not set, and the goals have not been formulated. If anything, Education is the real dilemma, not energy! So, I agree we should get it going. How will we start and where?
Gregor Smith gregors@att.net; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R Cogar, Oregon 2nd. Congressional District Leader on November 11, 2008 at 6:14pm: Than you Greg. You make very valid points. I believe much of the social upheaval we are experiencing in our cities with the inexcusable drop out rates, drugs and crime can be laid back to the Regan Administration's gutting the education system to support the military-industrial complex. We are reaping the rewards of this short sighted policy today. A child without an education is an adult without hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, the alternative is survival by any means necessary and that means gangs and crime become their only hope for success and the only way to achieve their version of the American Dream.

This concept of education combined with the existing HUD Block Grant Program was sent to many HUD employees last week right after the election and I have sent it to the Obama Transition team and several adviser's in the hopes of somehow getting it to his attention.

I contacted a local community college over a month ago. I sent this information to Linda C. Simmons Director of Community/Continuing Education & Customized Workforce Training for Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon.

I followed up with other information three times. To date Ms. Simmons has not responded in any manner. I find it ludicrous that someone in this position cannot see the value of renewable energy training or at least have the common courtesy of acknowledging a communication. You would think responding to a proposal for a green collar job training program would be part of her job description, but that might involve earning that paycheck or even an increased work load...heaven forbid!!

I posted this on PickensPlan in hopes of having it seen be by members that might have connections into the proverbial "Halls of Power" with the hope they would pass it on to those folks and in the hopes that others would be able to add their input and ideas to this concept to make it work even better. I welcome your input and the input of anyone interested in cutting our dependence on foreign oil like T. Boone Pickens is trying to do..!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Teri Kennedy on November 19, 2008 at 10:26pm: Where do I sign up, John?

I'm the disabled widow of a disabled veteran. My home was built in 1964, when energy conservation was not an issue.

The exterior walls of my home are slump block, which is great in the summer because the house stays relatively cool without using my window A/C, except for the hottest part of the season. However, staying cooler indoors than outdoors is not so great in winter, and there must be a way to insulate existing block walls against the cold.

Being 44 years old, the house has quite naturally settled a bit. There are visible gaps around some of the exterior doors, and I imagine, if I moved aside the curtains for inspection, some of the windows also. The windows are single pane, and we all know what an energy drain that is. There is a crawl space under the house and an attic above, and neither are well insulated, if at all. The water heaters are literally as old as the house, and I'm not sure how they still manage to function. And while the frig and dishwasher are newer, the stove is a 60's vintage electric Westinghouse. The stove looks really cool (smile), but I'm sure the power it draws is not as efficient as newer models.

I live in the Arizona mountains, so thankfully, the weather isn't nearly as hot here as in the Phoenix valley area. Then again, they also have warmer winters, so it's a trade off. The good news is that I get as much sunshine as the valley, and as much wind. So my home is a prime candidate for solar and wind generated energy.

I'm in exactly the situation you described. I'm low income and can't afford the high energy costs, let alone a retrofit of my home. Never mind the tax incentives for installing those devices, since I don't have enough income to pay income taxes.

Except property taxes, that is. Last year I applied for property tax reduction or elimination based on my status as both a low income widow and as disabled. It seems that the Gila County Tax Assessors Office, in its great wisdom, decided that my property's assessed value (and everyone else in the county) increased even though all our properties actually decreased in real value (along with everyone else in the country)! And because my property value "increased" according to them, it was deemed just above the limit for property tax exemption. If the rumors are correct, they plan to increase the assessed value again next year... I'm not sure how they expect to collect.

But I digress.

I'm more than willing to help in the retrofit, as long as I can do the task at hand from a chair. I used to weld sitting at a bench in the garage, for example. I could even teach the youngsters how to weld, lol. And FYI, there's even a community college here in Payson, AZ.

Teri K.; ▶ Reply to This