Cleantech Job Skills Inventory and Careers

Robert D. Cormia

Foothill College

Cleantech Industry Survey

• Study of an emerging industry– Cleantech and Silicon Valley

• Ten industry sectors / fifty job types– Interviews with employees / employers– Secondary research on job openings

• Develop a job skills inventory– KSA / competency model– Identify where community colleges can help

What is Clean Technology?

• Designing and building things with ‘efficiency first’ design

• Low use of new materials• Demanufacturing, recycling,

and remanufacturing• Clean energy systems• Biosynthetic fuels• Food system development• Clean water technology

Industry Sectors

• Renewable energy• Biofuels• Green building• Transportation • Batteries / fuel cells

• Smart grid metering• Advanced materials• Water technology• GHG management• Environmental tech

Cleantech is the ‘technology side’ of green jobs. It would include developing energy efficiency technology, but not replacing the

insulation itself. It is the development of new technology as much as the manufacturing of it. It includes environmental technology,

and especially remediation of contaminated soil and water. These jobs generally require more education than traditional green jobs.

Clean Technology Landscape

Energy Renewables

• Solar– Solar installation– Solar development

• Wind– Wind installation– Energy provisioning

• Biomass– Conversion to electricity

and biofuels

Solar Electric Power 2005

Wind Power – Real Power

Biosynthetic Fuels

• Biodiesel– Fuel production– Plant construction

• Ethanol distillation

• Bioalgal research

• ‘Renewable petroleum’– GMO research

http://www.amyris.com/

Green Building

• Green building– USGBC efforts

• LEED certification

• Commissioning

• Retrofits / HVAC

• Energy efficiency

http://www.usgbc.org/

Transportation Solutions

• Electric vehicles– Tesla Motors– Electric scooters

• Transportation management– Traffic analysis– Ridesharing solutions

• Cisco TelePresence– Advanced conferencing solutions

Batteries and Fuel Cells

• Batteries– NiMH– Lithium

• Fuel cells– DMFC– SOFC– Hydrogen

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/fuel-cell.htm

Smart Grid

• Demand response– Appliance and networking– Setting organizational rules

• Net metering / smart metering– Integrating appliances, meters, ISO– PG&E Standard Net Energy Metering

• IntelliGrid™ and GridWise™ Alliance– Developing next generation power grid

GE Digital Energy Solutions

Water Technologies

• Water analysis– Water / soil analysis

• Water purification– remediation

• Water recycling / graywater

• Systems planning / modeling*– Organizational and community

http://www.crystalwatertech.com/

GHG Management

• GHG accounting / audits– WRI / GHG Institute

• GHG management

• Clean energy procurement– Energy provisioning / REC

management

• Carbon accounting / trading / CDM

• Carbon offset investment

http://www.pge.com/climatesmart/

Environmental Technologies

• Analysis– Water testing– Soil / remediation– Remediation projects

• Environmental chemistry

• Hazardous waste mgmt

• Recycling / down cycling

• EMS and SMS (sustainability)

CSQ Environmental Technologies

Initial Results

• Cleantech is a fast growing emerging field– Largest / growing segment in venture funding

• 25% annual growth in renewable energy

• 50 Electric vehicle vendors in CA alone– Requires advances in batteries and fuel cells

• Smart grid (demand response, networks)

• Environmental technology careers– Chemistry, analysis, remediation, sustainability

KSA / Competency Clusters

• Power systems– Electrical systems– Utility and energy– Energy efficiency

• Analytics / informatics• Computer /

networking• Civil engineering• LEED building

• Materials science– Advanced materials

• Chemistry / biology• Environmental tech.

– Analysis / chemistry– EMS / SMS

sustainability

• GHG management• Project management

Multidisciplinary knowledge and skills are critical in clean technology careers!

The Electron Economy

A Subsystems Approach

• Renewable energy• Distribution systems• Smart energy• Energy efficiency• LEED / green building

• Electric vehicles• Alternative fuels• Batteries / fuel cells• Quantum technology• GHG sequestration

Smart energy Smart cities

Smart citizens

Smart policy

Sustainable Capital

• Human capital

• Social capital

• Natural capital

• Economic capital

Sustainability System

Social

Natural

Economic

Self

Directed Sustainability Graph – goal is to build ‘capital’ in all four dimensions!

Summary

• Cleantech is ‘high-tech => sustainability’• Applications in energy, transportation, building,

food, water, and environmental technology• Foundational KSA is multidisciplinary STEM

– Chemistry, biology, engineering, materials science

• Energy systems and environmental knowledge• Community colleges can teach much of this

– Narrow specialties and centers may work too

Developing ‘sustainable business models’ is more important than technology