Jobless go for 'green' training

[irishbobcat]

Jobless go for 'green' training
 

  Apr 22, 2009
Detroit News
   
Jobless go for 'green' training

Colleges add programs to meet growing demand in alternative energy field

Terence Chea / Associated Press

San Jose, Calif. -- As the economy sheds jobs, community colleges across the country, including at least one in Michigan, are reporting a surge of unemployed workers enrolling in courses that offer training for "green-collar" jobs.

Students are learning how to install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce biofuels and do other work related to renewable energy.

To meet growing demand, two-year colleges are launching or expanding green job training with money from the federal stimulus package.

Students and schools are betting that President Barack Obama's campaign to promote alternative energy and curb global warming will create millions of well-paying green jobs that do not require a four-year degree.

In Michigan, which has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 12 percent, Lansing Community College has seen enrollment in its alternative energy degree program grow from 42 students in 2005 to 252 students in 2008. This fall, the college will begin offering certificates for solar, geothermal, wind turbine and energy efficiency technicians.

Most new students are middle-aged men who recently lost jobs in the auto industry, which makes them eligible for a state program that provides $10,000 to unemployed workers for training.

"They see the field of alternative energy as the industry that's going to pick up where the automotive industry left off," said David Wilson, who coordinates the alternative energy program.

"I think the opportunities in this field are going to be huge," said Rudy Gastelo, a part-time handyman who left the construction industry two years ago. "I'm not getting that 9-to-5 paycheck, so I'm looking forward to maybe getting a job within a solar company."

Gastelo, 32, is learning how to install solar power systems at San Jose City College, which has long waiting lists for such classes.

But the steep economic downturn has not spared the green energy industry, which had been expanding rapidly before the financial crisis. Many renewable-power firms are now canceling projects, laying off workers or selling themselves to competitors because business has dried up.

"It's going to be a very tough year. A lot of companies are not going to make it," said Ron Pernick, co-founder of the market research firm Clean Edge Inc.

Many newly trained workers are having trouble finding jobs, and some people worry that schools could end up producing too many workers for too few jobs.

"Even in these areas with great potential, the number of actual positions is way down from where they could be," said Barry Sedlick, who chairs the California Green Collar Jobs Council.

But many college officials believe there will be strong demand for green-collar workers once the economy rebounds and governments move to limit greenhouse gas emissions and require more alternative energy.

The federal stimulus package sets aside tens of billions of dollars to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.
   
   

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We need Green Jobs to help the jobless, the poor, and the working class of America and Ohio get back on their feet. When will our legistlators get the hint that Green Jobs are the answer to this Great Depression?



Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Valley Green Party

Ohio Green Party



www.ohiogreeens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/