Yesterday, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center released a solicitation for qualifications for workforce capacity building and youth pipeline grants.  The MassCEC has up to $850,000 available for these grants.

• Press Release
• Request for Qualifications
• Applications are due February 17, 2012
• Bidders’ webinar: Monday, December 19, 2011

View 12/12/11 Presentation slides

1)  Promoting Entry to Career Pathways in the Drinking Water and Wastewater Sector

This SkillWorks-funded project is taking a preliminary scan of this industry sector’s employment opportunities that will hopefully lead to a full-scale labor market study.  A final report will be release in the coming weeks and SkillWorks will put link on blog and website.

• Madeline Snow, Lowell Center for Sustainable
• Deborah Mutschler, Massachusetts Workforce Alliance

2) Recycling and Jobs in Massachusetts: A Study of Current and Future Workforce Needs

This study is supported by funds through SkillWorks, the MA EPA, E.L. Harvey & Sons, Costello Dismantling Company and will release a final report soon which SkillWorks will also add to blog and website.

• Amy Perlmutter, Perlmutter Associates and Environmental Business Council of New England

3) Massachusetts Clean Energy 2011 Employment Survey: Workforce Findings

Workforce findings were shared that complemented the 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report produced for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center by BW Research Partnership and the New England Clean Energy Council.

• Kevin Doyle, Green Economy and New England Clean Energy Council

This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.

Governer Patrick, Secretary Sullivan, and Geoff Chapin at Next Step Living

This afternoon I was at Next Step Living where Governor Patrick and Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary Sullivan announced the release of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC) 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report.

The report identified:

• 4,909 clean energy companies in MA
• 6.7% increase in jobs between July 2010 and July 2011
• expected employment growth rate of 15.2% from July 2011 to July 2012

Click here for the MassCEC Release

Click here for the full 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report

The CLA on Sustainable Economic Development helps local and regional officials work effectively with key private and nonprofit partners and state government counterparts to establish and implement sustainable economic development strategies while simultaneously reducing climate pollution and improving environmental quality.

Other highlights:

• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins from Green for All gave the 9/13 keynote, “Making the Case for an Inclusive Green Economy”. Phaedra approaches the green economy with the firm belief that everyone deserves a good job and good health. The Gandhi quote, “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win“, helps Phaedra deal with climate change opposition because according to Gandhi we are closer to winning!

• James Nixon from Global Urban Development gave a plenary talk about knowing your strengths and building your strategy with the goal of “getting richer by getting greener” which is the tagline of the Sustainable Economic Development (SED) Network.  James urged us to focus on the four greens: Green Savings (demand side), Green Opportunities (supply side), Green Places (Geographic side), Green Talent (human resources).

• Christine Ageton from Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) presented a stellar argument for why buying local matters and gave great local examples that included the positive economic multiplier effects of buying local.  “Ownership matters; Community matters; Collaboration and collective action matters – Real prosperity starts here”. 

• Andre Pettigrew also led a discussion on “Learning to Speak Sustainability and Economic Development”.  Communication matters and messages like: “saving the planet now makes dollars and cents/sense” need to be part of our strategies.   Subscribe to Clean Economy Wire – news about clean energy economic development.

A good overall takeaway from the CLA is that sustainable economic development is possible and is profitable for businesses, workers, and the environment.  The key is a good marketing strategy highlighting local stories and presenting the case in relatable language or plain speak – not an easy feat!

This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.

James Hunt is the Chief of Environment and Energy in the City of Boston.

REPOSTED from NECEC Energy Leaders Forum/MA

Boston is nationally renowned as a leading “green” city, recently ranked the 5^th most sustainable city in the US by the Economist Intelligence Unit.  Under Mayor Menino’s leadership, Boston has solidified its position as a hub of innovation in energy policy and program development, from our comprehensive climate action strategy to the 1st in the nation green building zoning, as well as new cutting edge clean energy programs emanating from City Hall.  From the beginning of the Mayor’s push to green Boston, he has focused his administration on connecting our environmental and energy policy strategies with job creation and economic growth.

Despite the economic challenges facing the US, the clean tech cluster continues to flourish in the Boston region.  Clean tech start-ups continue to locate in the Innovation District of the South Boston Waterfront and according to a recent report released by the Brookings Institution, metro Boston is now the 8^th largest green economy in the U.S.  Yet we need to move beyond simply pioneering new technologies and services to deploying them at scale in homes and businesses across the region.

When it comes to deployment, cities are uniquely organized to play a key role in aggregating demand for clean energy solutions.  Municipal government is closest to the people, providing support to countless local organizations and delivering many of the basic services people need in their daily lives.   These networks can and should be leveraged to bring clean energy solutions to the people.  This is where the intersection of our environmental, energy, social, and economic goals converge, and where the full potential of the clean tech cluster can be realized.

Here’s a few examples of how Boston is aggregating demand for clean energy solutions:

• Renew Boston energy efficiency program – the city is working with local utilities and community based organizations to connect local residents, in particular those harder to reach moderate income families, with energy efficiency services.  Over the last year more than 3,300 residents received a home energy assessment and 467 homes were fully weatherized.  The city’s residential contractor, Next Step Living, opened its headquarters in the Innovation District and grew from a handful of employees to over 150 today.
• Innovation District Solar Challenge – Boston is driving private-sector adoption of solar PV technologies in Boston as an inaugural city under the US DOE Solar America Cities program, helping property owners capture federal and state incentives for solar.  As part of this effort the city is pre-qualifying solar installers for projects to be identified in the growing South Boston waterfront.  The goal of the challenge is for businesses and institutions within the South Boston Innovation District to install more than 1MW of solar PV over the next two years.
• Boston Buying Power – after putting our municipal electricity purchase out to competitive bid in 2007, the city worked to bring similar savings to over 1,600 small to medium sized businesses.  The city worked with Taylor Consulting to pool these businesses electricity purchase needs. The buying pool is now over 520,000,000 kwh and 35,000,000 therms and has saved over $2 million for these businesses since the launch of the program.  As part of the procurement, the city was also able to green the procurement, leveraging 20% in renewable energy for 2011.

Boston is now serving as a living laboratory for cleantech – the place to innovate policy ideas, incubate and grow clean energy companies, create new technologies and services, all while creating local jobs. This is just the beginning for Boston.  We will continue to drive demand for other green sector services such as capturing food waste for bio gas conversion, expanding bike sharing, or promoting green infrastructure for storm water management.  What other clean tech services are ripe for aggregation? What public-private partnerships are taking shape in other communities?  What other networks can be leveraged to catalyze deployment clean tech services?

Let’s continue to leverage city and other networks to drive deployment to realize the full range of benefits of the clean tech cluster for the region.

President Obama today announced the next phase in the Administration’s program to increase fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. These new standards will cover cars and light trucks for Model Years 2017-2025, requiring performance equivalent to 54.5 mpg in 2025 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams per mile.

Taken together, the standards established under this Administration span Model Years 2011 to 2025. They will save consumers money, reduce our dependence on oil, and protect the environment:

Savings at the pump

Thanks to the standards, consumers will save an estimated $1.7 trillion dollars in real fuel costs over the life of their vehicles.
By 2025, the standards are projected to save families an estimated $8,200 in fuel savings over the lifetime of a new vehicle, relative to the Model Year 2010 standard.

Cutting oil dependence

As our cars and trucks become more fuel efficient, we will need to use less oil. Over the life of the program, the standards will save an estimated 12 billion barrels of oil – nearly four years’ worth of consumption by light-duty vehicles at current levels.
By 2025, the standards for MY 2011-2025 will reduce oil consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day – more than we import from any country other than Canada. As the vehicle fleet turns over and older vehicles are replaced with more efficient ones, the oil savings from these standards will grow, ultimately reaching over 4 million barrels a day – nearly as much as we import from all OPEC countries combined.
The MY 2011-2025 standards are critical to meeting President Obama’s goal of cutting oil imports by one-third by 2025, contributing over half the savings needed to meet the President’s goal.

Protecting human health and the environment

The standards will reduce carbon dioxide pollution by over 6 billion metric tons – equivalent to the emissions from the United States last year, or what the Amazon rainforest absorbs in three years.
The standards will protect public health by cutting air pollutants such as air toxics, smog, and soot.

Developed in partnership with auto manufacturers, the State of California, the United Auto Workers (UAW), national environmental organizations and other stakeholders, these achievable and cost effective standards will bring the nation over halfway to the President’s goal of reducing oil imports by a third by 2025. These standards thus represent a key component of the comprehensive energy policy that this Administration has pursued since day one, which aims to increase safe and responsible energy production at home while reducing our overall dependence on oil with cleaner alternative fuels and greater efficiency.

Read the full report

The recently released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, “Careers in Solar Power” gives us a perfect excuse to talk about something other than weatherization.  The first few lines of the report point to the huge missed opportunity if we do not start talking solar:

Sunlight is the most abundant source of potential energy on the planet.  If harnessed properly, sunlight could easily exceed current and future electricity demand.  According to the U.S.  Department of Energy, every hour, enough energy from the sun reaches Earth to meet the world’s energy usage for an entire year.

Not to oversimplify, but WOW!!  Solar power is clean energy and abundant enough to potentially take care of the world’s energy usage?  We definitely need to talk solar and work on making it affordable for everyone.

Once you get past the first part of the BLS report that discusses the technical side of solar power generation, the report devotes many pages to the solar power workforce needs.  The workforce implications of increased use of solar are many and run the skills gamut.   BLS gives a run down of solar power occupations, job duties, credentials, and wages:

• Scientific Research: physicists; chemists; material scientists
• Solar Power Engineering: materials, chemical, electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineers; computer software developers; engineering technicians
• Manufacturing for Solar Power: semiconductor processors; computer-controlled machine tool operators; welding, soldering, and brazing workers; glaziers; coating and painting machine setters, operators, and tenders; electrical and electronics installers and repairers; electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; industrial production managers
• Solar Power Plan Development: real estate brokers; atmospheric scientists; environmental scientists
• Solar Power Plant Construction: construction managers; civil engineers; construction laborers; construction equipment operators; welders; structural iron and steel workers
• Solar Power Plant Operations: power plant operators; pump operators; electricians; plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters; electrical and electronics installers and repairers; electrical engineers
• Solar Panel Installation and Maintenance: solar photovoltaic installers; site assessors; electricians; plumbers; roofers

This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.

One British company that just opened an office in Philadelphia estimated that over 80% of England’s older homes had been at least partially retrofitted by 2010.  Other European countries have also embraced the sector and experienced economic growth in large part due to a robust policy mix of direct government investment, tax breaks, loans, regulations and laws that cap or tax emissions.

But with Congress deeply divided over whether climate change is real or if the country should use less fossil fuel, efforts in the United States have paled in comparison.  That slow start is ceding job growth and profits to companies overseas that now profitably export their goods and expertise to the United States.

Although certain states have implemented strong energy policies, the indecision at the federal level creates uncertainty in the market.  Other countries are now profiting from this stalemate.  Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

The Boston Business Journal profiled Kutner in their Outside the Box column in the June 3, 2011 edition.

Kutner expanded his answer: “Usually, smart sustainability and environmental initiatives for a company are also really good business initiatives long term.”

Kutner’s response and perspective as both businessman and environmentalist are refreshing and hopefully indicative of a growing trend in the corporate world.  As consumers become more informed and begin demanding more of corporations and as media outlets such as the BBJ highlight examples such as Kutner and BigBelly Solar, this blogger has to believe we are headed in a better direction.

Recently, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), Ameresco, and the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District (MBBTC) signed a ground-breaking Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the $63 million energy efficiency project at BHA facilities.

HUD Secretary Donovan: “Boston’s PLA will create hundreds of jobs for local union workers, public housing residents and small and minority owned businesses, which is exactly why the Obama Administration is actively supporting these agreements across the country as a key step to winning the future.”

The PLA also establishes a pre-apprenticeship program (funded by $60,000 from Ameresco and $35,000 from the Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services) for BHA & Section 8 residents, YouthBuild eligible participants, and very low-income Boston residents.  Program graduates will be given entry into union apprenticeship opportunities.

Other details of the PLA include requiring that Ameresco comply with Section 3 regulations – federal requirement that contract and job training opportunities and 30% of new jobs created are offered to qualified BHA residents, and low/very-low income residents living in the neighborhoods surrounding BHA developments.  In addition, it is expected that BHA residents will be hired as Resident Coordinators to assist with resident outreach and communications regarding the work occurring at their respective sites.

The “greening” of 4,300 units which includes integrated water and energy conservation measures is expected to save the taxpayers more than $56 million over a 20-year period.

Impacted BHA Developments:

• Bromley Park and Heath Street in Jamaica Plain
• Commonwealth and Washington Street in Brighton
• Franklin Field and Pasciucco in Dorchester
• Holgate and Whittier Street in Roxbury
• Lenox Street in the South End/Lower Roxbury
• Old Colony in South Boston
• Roslyn Apartments in Roslindale
• Torre Unidad in the South End
• Charlestown development in Charlestown