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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:24 |
 Strategies for Meeting Workforce Demand
SOLARPRO | December/January 2009
By Lisa Cohn and Elisa Wood, with Charles Thurston
Community and junior colleges have stepped up to train workers for the emerging green-collar economy. Solar companies partner with colleges to help them develop curriculum materials and design programs, particularly for solar installers—then they recruit their graduates. “The community college system is an excellent way for employers to find well-qualified applicants. Part of the reason is that we’re so connected to the industry,” says John Carrese, director of the San Francisco Bay Center of Excellence, hosted at City College of San Francisco.
Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, for instance, offers an Energy Management Technician degree with an optional emphasis on renewable energy. The rigorous 100-credit program is housed in the Science Division and is ISPQ accredited by the Institute of Sustainable Power. Program Coordinator Roger Ebbage says the program began in September 2003 and has seen this year’s enrollment nearly triple the first year’s.
Download the entire article here  solarpro_pg70_cohn.pdf
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“ Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
-Arthur C. Clarke
Lane Community College 
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