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LEED certification and standards have taken the building design and building fields by storm. While not a perfect system by a long shot, LEED is the leading system that is used by government construction, large corporate construction and even a growing number of residential developers. 

As electricians become "energy contractors" who balance upfits of electrical systems with new renewable energy loads, additional training and duties apply.

Here are some of the LEED standards that point to the role of electricians and energy contractors in the green building sector.  ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standards are growing in importance for electricians and energy contractors.

Title	Credit	Requirements
Alternative Transportation -- Low-emitting and Fuel-efficient	Sustainable Sites (SS) Credit 4.3	Install alternative-fuel fueling stations (e.g. stations for charging electric cars) for 3% of the total vehicle parking capacity of the site.
Light Pollution Reduction	Sustainable Sites (SS) Credit 8	Internal lighting - Reduce input power (by automatic device) of interior lights by at least 50% between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Electrician will select and install fixtures and controls to meet requirements. External lighting - Light areas only as required for safety and comfort. Lighting power densities must not exceed ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 and must meet lighting control requirements from ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007. Electrician will perform photometric analysis to validate compliance of credit requirements.
Optimize Energy Performance	Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Credit 1	Demonstrate a percentage improvement in the proposed building performance rating compared with baseline building performance rating. The higher the building energy efficiency level, the more LEED points are awarded. Electrician will work with utility company to assess energy performance and identify most cost-effective energy efficiency measures.
On-site Renewable Energy	Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Credit 2	Install and use on-site renewable energy systems (solar, wind, etc) to offset building energy costs.
Green Power	Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Credit 6	Engage in at least a 2-year renewable energy contract to provide at least 35% of the building's electricity from renewable sources (wind, solar, wave, geothermal, or biomass). Calculation of two-year expected energy use is required, along with kWH cost of the green power from the serving electric utility. Electrician should provide projected monthly cost required to obtain this point.
Controllability of Systems--lighting	Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Credit 6.1	Provide individual lighting controls for 90% (minimum) of the building occupants to enable adjustments to suit individual task needs and preferences. Provide lighting system controls for all shared multi-occupant spaces to enable adjustments that meet group needs and preferences.

Electricians Must Prepare for Tightening Standards
With so many green building and renewable energy opportunities on the horizon, electrical and energy contractors need to make sure they're ready to win jobs. To get started, they must gain the skills and knowledge to take on green projects. Both the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) offer education programs for green electrical work. And standards organizations such as ANSI, ASHRAE, IESNA  also offer informtion and training opportunities.

The electrical grid is where green building and green construction are really at.

Houston Neal explores how electricity offers job opportunities at The Software Advice Construction Blog.  Neal says "electrical contractors" will transition to "energy contractors" to support the green construction market, and that the profession will grow tremendously.  A study by the American Solar Energy Society projects renewable energy jobs for electricians to grow approximately 900% by 2030, just in the state of Colorado.

In the next ten to twenty years, "electrical contractor" will no longer be a suitable job title for electricians. They will transition into "energy contractors" to support the fast-growing green construction market.

Global Sustainability

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

• The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  
• This was followed by reducing waste in production and packaging (30%) and promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).
  
• Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%),
  
• Supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%)

Spur Innovation, Yes.  Regulate Abuses ... no.

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs. Though nearly half (49%) believe regulation a bad response, more than one-third (37%) support government incentives to spur innovation, 14 percent support limits on emissions, and 9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

28% of Companies are Doing NOTHING

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators.

Cost Efficiencies Main Driver

More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

Additional Findings:

Other topics examined in this quarter's survey included International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), CFOs' perceptions of Barack Obama's presidency nearly one year after his inauguration, and the impact of the SEC's enhanced disclosures on risk, compensation and corporate governance in annual reports. With regard to IFRS, an overwhelming majority of CFOs (80%) are confident that IFRS will be adopted, but do not know when. CFOs' perceptions of President Obama remain low, with 64 percent reporting their U.S. economic outlook has weakened since he took office.

Full survey results and historical data comparisons are available at www.cfosurveys.com or from Nicole Madison at Nicole.Madison@fd.com. The study is also available online at the Financial Executives Research Foundation bookstore and on the Baruch College home page at www.baruch.cuny.edu.

CFOs looking toward 2010 anticipate positive increases in a number of areas. Key areas of expected increases include:

• Net earnings expected to rise by 22 percent (more than double anticipated Q3 mean increase of 11%)
• Revenue anticipated to grow by 10 percent
• Capital spending expected to grow by 8.9% (compared with an increase of 1.1% in Q3)
• Technology spending anticipated to increase by 6.1 percent
• Inventory anticipated to increase by 2.5 percent (compared with Q3, where CFOs predicted reductions of -1.9%)
• Hiring expected to grow by 2.9 percent (up from 1.7% in Q3)
• Price of products expected to grow by 1.13 percent (up from the Q3 projected increase of 0.7%)

When CFOs were asked this quarter to identify areas for increases in 2010, marketing and advertising and business acquisitions were also top of mind, with 39 percent of CFOs planning to increase marketing and advertising and 33 percent of CFOs planning increases in business acquisitions. In addition, while 37 percent of CFOs reported they will cutback on executive perks, a small number of respondents remain (4%) who plan to increase executive perks in the coming year.

Efficiency is the New Norm

"The return to a place where CFOs are anticipating increased earnings and revenue provides encouragement that those companies that have endured the downturn are ready to come back strong," said Marie Hollein, CEO and President, Financial Executives International. "As far as the new normal is concerned, efficiency is the name of the game."

When asked what their organizations would continue to do as they begin to emerge from the recession, nearly nine out of ten CFOs reported that they would continue process efficiencies put into place during the downturn.

Two-thirds (66%) said they will continue technological efficiencies, and one-third (34%) plan to continue the restructuring of their business.

CFOs Taking Steps to Be "Greener" but Debate Continues Over Regulation

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is

• reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  

This was followed by

• reducing waste in production and packaging (30%)
  

promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).

Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%), and supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%).

Support of Environmental Legislation is Split

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs.

49% believe regulation a bad response,

37% support government incentives to spur innovation,

14 percent support limits on emissions,

9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators. More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

The USA needs more local job training shops stocked with machine tools.

Some high schools and community colleges currently have woodworking and auto mechanic shops that are open for continuing adult education, as well as student vocational education.

But product fabrication facilities is a new idea that is making progress.  High tech approaches to sensors, controllers, photovoltaics, LED lighting, etc. could spur advancement of innovation, as well as prepare the workforce for these cutting edge jobs.

CNC equipment like mills and lathes and a variety of other advanced tools and processes including biotech systems are needed to prepare people for the current revolution in manufacturing.

These shops might be seen as public extensions of local schools, essentially turning the shops of public schools into a public library of tools.

A few variations on this concept have been developed
Men's Shed,  http://www.mensshed.org/
FabLab,   http://fab.cba.mit.edu/
TechShop,  http://techshop.ws/
100KGarages,  http://100kgarages.com/

And books like David Morris' "Neighborhood Power: The New Localism" propose similar approached to distributed technical education.

A related article is "The Case for Working With Your Hands":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html

Note from the Australian Men's Shed Association:  "Communities are keen to provide activities, identity and meaning for vast numbers of older, unemployed, job-redundant, 'downsized', isolated, depressed and happily retired, active, creative, enthusiastic men. Men's Sheds are fast being recognized as vital, viable places to fulfill these needs and provide relaxed, happy creative spaces for men to enjoy."

This new report by the National Academies is broad, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary to see how the rapidly developing tehcnologies and masses of data can be merged to address the four key challenges ahead of us:

• Climate
• Food
• Energy
• Health

  What's different is the scale of the challenges and problems facing us, as well as the collaboration in a multi-faceted world. The report is also downloadable for free.

  PDF Summary
  Download executive summary in PDF.
  
  Report In Brief
  Download report in brief in PDF.
  
  Full Text
  Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free.
  
  

Who creates middle-skill jobs?  Who researches and innovates, who sells, manages, takes out loans to build a business, and saves for a rainy day.  Who pays for the education of employees in middle-skill jobs?  Those hard questions have to be asked at the same time the call goes out to give everyone an equal chance at a good paying job.

The truth is that middle-skill jobs, which require more than a high school
education but less than a four-year degree, currently make up the largest segment
of jobs in the U.S. economy, and will continue to do so for years to come.

Why look at California's jobs?  With a gross state product of $1.8 trillion dollars, California is the eighth largest economy in the world, ahead of global powerhouses like Russia, Canada,
India and Mexico.  That's a lot of Americans!

California faces deep, systemic economic problems today that threaten to undermine the programs, policies and industries that have long made us strong. Ranking as a national innovator is slipping. With layoffs, state budget cuts, housing foreclosures and business shutdowns dominating headlines for the past year, some may believe California's economy has gone into a permanent decline.

The way out is to keep the workforce ready for tomorrow's jobs.  Which jobs?


Addressing the need for middle-skill workers will require attention not only to educational opportunities for young people, but also for those already in the workforce.

Fifty-eight percent of the people who will be in California's workforce in the year 2020 were already working adults in 2005--long past the traditional high school-to-college pipeline.

About 2.7 million "middle-skill" jobs will be created in the state by 2016, according to the study, "California's Forgotten Middle-skill Jobs"  (Oct 2009)  by the Workforce Alliance, Skills2Compete and the California EDGE Campaign. 

Who are middle-skill workers?

The term middle-skill refers to the level of education required by a particular job. It should not be confused with the actual competence and capacity of workers and occupations--many middle-skill occupations require highly skilled trade and technical workers with several years of training and on-the-job experience.

Middle-skill jobs refer to those that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree. They include jobs in construction, healthcare, law enforcement and many other fields.

"Federal funds from the stimulus bill are expected to create new jobs and many of these will be middle-skill, especially in green jobs, construction, manufacturing and transportation," the report says. "Matching the skills of our workforce to meet this demand will help our economy recover more quickly and prepare us for better times ahead."

The report calculates that about HALF OF ALL JOBS  in California fell into the middle-skill category in 2008, and predicts that about 43% of all job openings in the next seven years will be middle-skill.

Low-skill jobs will account for a quarter of all job openings over the same time period,

High-skill jobs will make up 32% of openings.

The problem: A shortage of middle-skill workers could develop because the state has cut back on the training of those skills. State budget cuts have drastically reduced funding to community colleges and adult education centers, for example.

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Policymakers have become increasingly concerned about U.S. global competitiveness in recent years, and a broad consensus has developed about the need for a strong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce to support innovation industries and emerging technologies. In particular, business and political leaders have called for increasing the number of students receiving bachelor or advanced degrees in these fields.

However, these highly skilled professionals aren't the only STEM workers in short supply. Employers have indicated there is a significant shortage of the technicians and middle-skill workers needed to implement the new technologies developed by highly skilled innovators. In California between 2006 and 2016 among STEM occupations that are expected to have worker shortages, there will be 18,460 job openings annually that will require an associate degree and 3,590 that will require some other level of postsecondary vocational education short of an associate degree.

This adds up to 44.2 percent of all STEM jobs  in occupations with expected shortages.

Recommendations

• The study urges the state to ensure that every Californian has access to the equivalent of two years of education or training past high school that leads to a vocational credential, industry certification, or one's first two years of college.

• This training must be available at whatever point and pace makes sense for individual workers and industries.

• It must be designed to serve not only those who transition directly from high school to college, but also those who enter postsecondary education and training while working or after spending time in the workplace.

• Best practice research about institutional and program practices that have proven successful should be used to boost participation and success rates.

• Design and deliver programs that ensure that every Californian has access to the basic skills needed to pursue postsecondary education.

As federal economic recovery funds are invested, a large share of the jobs they create will be middle-skill jobs building and repairing roads, manufacturing renewable energy products and caring for our aging population. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's, projects that by the fourth quarter of 2012, stimulus spending from ARRA will substantially improve employment nationwide in several industries dominated by middle-skill jobs, including

• construction (802,800 jobs),
• manufacturing (589,700) and
• transportation and warehousing (129,600).

Despite these numbers, policymakers at both the federal and state levels have increasingly
focused on college and university education, without proportionate attention to middle-skill jobs, and the education and training investments needed to ensure that workers have the skills they need to succeed in these vital occupations. This represents a lost opportunity to invest in our economy, both the immediate recovery and our long-term economic future.

High Growth, Local Jobs

The report predicts above-average growth in positions including dental hygienists, respiratory therapists, emergency medical technicians and industrial machinery mechanics through 2016.

Middle-skill workers are the police officers and fire fighters who keep us safe. They are the medical technicians and echnologists who keep us healthy. They are the air traffic controllers, electricians, and mechanics who keep our infrastructure up and running. They are local, hands-on jobs, meaning they are unlikely to be outsourced to other countries.

Creation of a "green economy" and "green jobs."

But what are those jobs? the skills needed in the green economy closely mirror the middle-skill demands of the labor market as a whole. Greener Pathways examines emerging opportunities in the energy efficiency, wind, and biofuels sectors, and urges stakeholders to scale up green job training by leveraging existing state and local workforce development systems

One study from the University of California-Berkeley found that "The renewable energy sector generates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, per unit of energy produced, and per dollar of investment, than the fossil fuel-based energy sector."15 That study further found that environmental protection laws are not the reason why jobs in the fossil fuel industry have declined in recent years.

California has been experiencing a shortage of middle-skill workers.

In 2007, about 50% of all jobs were classified as middle-skill, but only 38% of California workers had the education and training required to fill those positions.

In reality, the gap was likely even greater in certain industries because many workers trained to the middle-skill level--and even those with bachelor's degrees--did not have the specific technical skills needed. This means that thousands of well-paid and rewarding jobs were going unfilled in the state, in industries that are and will be essential to California's economic portfolio.

A Growing Middle-Skill Challenge

But our state will see a significant change in these trends over the subsequent fifteen years, when the proportion of low-skill workers in California's workforce is likely to increase at the same time that the percentage of high-skill workers is projected to decline.

HIGH: The number of workers prepared for high-skill jobs rose by 4% between 1990
and 2005. However, their ranks are expected to fall by 3% by the year 2020

MIDDLE: Workers prepared for middle-skill jobs fell slightly between 1990 and 2005. Their numbers are expected to drop more rapidly through 2020, for a fall of one percent. California educational projections  suggest the shortage of workers to fill middle-skill jobs that our state saw in 2007 is likely to worsen. During the fifteen years between 1990 and 2005, the California saw an increase in residents with educational attainment at the high-skill level.

LOW:  After falling by 3.7 percent since 1990, the number of workers educated at the low-skill level is expected to rise by 3.9% by the year 2020

Meanwhile, California's share of the nation's immigration is falling at all levels.  As more California-born residents stay and fewer people migrate to the Golden State, we must make greater investments in preparing our workforce for the jobs that are available here.

Basic Skills Are at Emergency Levels!

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) indicates only a slight increase in quantitative (math) skills between 1992 and 2003, and no improvement at all for prose and document literacy. Nationally, 93 million adults lack the literacy to participate in postsecondary education and training. This means that tens of millions of Americans cannot access middle-skill education and training programs because they lack basic English and math skills, or do not have a high school education. Even for those who enter postsecondary education, basic skills can be a barrier to success.

Remedial Education



Like the nation as a whole, California faces substantial challenges when it comes to basic skills, only on a much greater scale than many states.

 

The national version of this report, America's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs, is available at www.Skills2Compete.org.

To learn more about the Skills2Compete-California campaign, go to
www.Skills2Compete.org/California.

Green jobs and green careers are based on a new set of job performance tools -- they could be called the "ecometrics" of the new green economy.  As explained by a professor of mechanical engineering...wow!... the same new tools being used by businesses to measure their environmental impact, are also the new tools needed by employees in the green economy.

"Interface CEO, Ray Anderson, developed 'Ecometrics' as the term for their measurement system to track their progress. These indicators include waste reduction, renewable energy, carbon emissions, water and energy usage, and percentage of recycled and biobased materials in products. Much more detail on their site includes data on the reduction of energy used per unit of product manufactured, waste diverted landfills, etc. They are green manufacturers and one of the leaders of developing a business strategy for green manufacturing and, eventually, sustainability," says David Dornfeld,  a mechanical engineering professor.

The New Career "Ecometrics"

Environmental indicators include

• waste reduction
• renewable energy
• carbon emissions
• water and energy usage
• percentage of recycled materials in products.
• biobased materials in products

How do you add these new career tools to your credentials?  Some of them come from field experience ... knowing the core operations of your business.  But some are new methods of accounting, product design, and marketing strategies that weight different features and factors in new ways. 

Waste reduction is an example.  In sustainability and green manufacturing, nothing is defined as "waste".  It's kind of like "Prince" who changed his name to ... "the person formerly known as 'Prince"!

Waste materials are now either reduced into non-existence...or seen as valuable resources to be reclaimed and reused in your own operations or by someone else.  Energy is one of the most widely affected "waste".  Energy efficiency reduces wasted energy.  Heat reclamation can use wasted energy in internal processes.  And used petroleum can be recycled or reclaimed.  Packaging can use recycled content and use manufacturing and printing processes that make the material more easily recycled in a future generation. 

Certifications can help you learn these new job skills, and industry metrics.  New certifications are being developed by many trade associations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to help expand these new skills, and share them with the workforce in the field.

Our new website, "GreenJobWizard.com" is a directory of certification programs that help you upgrade your career skills to today's cutting edge green, sustainable and high-performance metrics... you could call them the "ecometrics" of the new economy.  

San Francisco will host the 2009 West Coast Green Conference, from October 1 through 3, 2009.  The conference is the largest event relating to green innovation for the built environment.

 More than 125 speakers, 300 exhibits, and 80 planned education and networking sessions. 

With more than 14,000 attendees anticipated, there will also be significant opportunities for informal networking as well.  

The "Innovation Pipeine exhibit showcases inventions coming to market or in intial stages of development.

Tthe West Coast Green iPhone app! ingeniously provides the full conference schedule, session descriptions, site maps of Fort Mason, and an easy way to tweet about sessions! Some education sessions may count as on-going learning credits for certifications and professional associations.

West Coast Green 2009 Educational Tracks

• Building Communities 2.0
• Business Opportunities and the New Economy
• Clean Tech and Cool Products
• Smart Systems
• Social Innovation
• Water and Energy

 

Business Opportunities and the New Economy

What are the emerging business models, processes and best practices in the new economy that centers on energy conservation and independence. What's likely to spawn maximum business opportunities and how are they going to be financed.

• Capital Market Transformation
• Better Business Models
• Funding for Big Ideas
• Measuring What Matters (and managing your metrics)
• Marketing Sustainability in the New Economy

West Coast Green

A new leadership group is poised to steer Silicon Valley into a "green-tech revolution" that could keep the valley from being displaced by other regions around the world.

Energy is the only field offering the same range of opportunities as information technology, say regional leaders.

The "Greenprint Project" goal is to develop a new, 21st-century energy system that would displace the oil-dependent economy and create a second Industrial Revolution that matches the impact of the massive social and economic shift of the mid-1800s.

Chris DiGiorgio of Accenture, Inc. and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, unveiled the Greenprint Project, described as a blueprint initiative to turn global climate change into a thriving local industry. The plan seeks ways to build a new infrastructure from the ground up.

The Bay Area initiative would

• attract or train talent to meet needs of the new industry
• retrain workers from industries that are contracting
• invent new energy technologies to replace the oil-dependent economy
• build a support system for improved housing, health care, education and ancillary services that will keep people coming to or staying in the Bay Area

Applied Materials is providing a $300,000 donation over the next two years to fund a "director of climate prosperity" position for the Greenprint project.

Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture, which is the initiative coordinator, sounded a warning that the national economic woes have begun to impact the valley, which had been relatively insulated from the worst effects. More bad economic news should be expected throughout the year as companies continue to contract.

Implementing a regional infrastructure that includes building a network of charging stations and retrofitting the 90% of existing homes and offices with energy-efficient technologies -- will allow the new energy products to be applied at home and position the suppliers for broader market growth. Venture capital investment in clean technology in Silicon Valley increased 94 percent in 2008 to boost new companies and new industry sectors.

But investment isn't limited to new companies. Firms such as Cypress Semiconductor, Applied Materials and PG&E are investing in the growing solar and smart-metering and plug-in markets.

Communities are entering the green regional initiative, as well. San Jose's "green vision" aims to show the world how energy efficiency and the new clean technologies can stimulate the economy and bring financial returns. Within 15 years, San Jose plans to create 25,000 clean-tech jobs and reduce per capita energy use by 50%. The city wants to build or retrofit 50 million square feet of green buildings and ensure that 100% of its public fleet will run on alternative fuels. All of San Jose's electrical power is expected to come from clean renewable resources

The regional collaboration hopes to encompass business, government, academia, labor and community organizations. The green economy isn't a shoo-in for American leadership in the global marketplace.

Fareed Zakaria, international editor at Newsweek, said Silicon Valley must bolster its social and support network if it hopes to remain a global player. Zakaria said everywhere he has gone in the world -- in China, Korea and Singapore -- he saw America slipping from having the biggest or best, from Ferris wheels and shopping malls to gambling centers. To stay ahead on the new global racetrack, Silicon Valley will have to get away from the prevailing belief that has swayed the country since 1979: that America has a unique place in the global economy.

Silicon Valley must be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the federal stimulus package and other energy policies by improving a flagging social network exhibited by career opportunities and home ownership. "Home ownership is elusive for many and has squeezed the middle class into an "hour-glass" demographic of the rich and the poor, with only a small percentage in the middle. Only 29% of residents can afford a median-priced home in Silicon Valley, compared with 45% statewide, Hancock said.

Community infrastructure attracts workers to an area -- affordable housing, good education, adult-worker retraining and affordable health care. The best and brightest will flock to whichever countries offers a better way of life.

To be successful, Silicon Valley can't invent the infrastructure in a vacuum -- it will take large infusions of cash and policy support from a well-managed government to achieve dominance in the new world order, Zakaria warned.

"Imagine 100 years from now. Imagine the irony that would strike (analysts). We've gone around telling people to 'open yourselves up ... to the American way of life.' America has managed to fulfill its great historical mission. It globalized the world; it just forgot to globalize itself," he said.