According to a report from the American Solar Energy Society the renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) would generate about 37 million jobs and $4,294 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
There are quite a few new job titles pertaining specifically to the green energy sector and you don’t need a complete career reinvention to be a part of this growing industry. If you research in-depth you’ll find that a large part of your present skills might be applicable/transferable to suit the requirements of the green energy market.
As you’ll see from some of the brief job descriptions below which outlines the general responsibilities for the open positions in green energy job market – many new job titles are sprouting in the green field. But what you need to look in-depth is that it is not necessary that you would have to completely and extensively retrain, or get a LEED certification or other “green” MBA to qualify for such positions. Then how to set the foot through the door or initiate a career change toward the green jobs of today and tomorrow, here are some tips:
- If you have a desire to change careers and apply for the green jobs what you need to do initially is to research well to identify which skills and how much experience is expected for this career move. Study the job descriptions that you find most relevant to your ideal job or career and find out exactly what the employers are looking for the best match for this position.
- Some retraining might be required, but note that these are usually not lengthy or tough, most likely with some retraining or even some tweaking of your resume to highlight these specific skills you’ll be ready to conquer the green energy jobs – the jobs of today and future!
Recent Green Energy Open Positions
Some of the positions that are coming up on job search boards these days pertaining to green energy sector are:
Green Engineering Manager
Brief Job description:
- Retro-commissioning of existing buildings
- Energy Audits
- Peer review of “green” building mechanical and electrical design documents
Green Mechanical Engineer
Brief Job description:
- Design mechanical components of solid state lighting lamps and luminaires with a constant focus on manufacturability of design under the considerations of high volume manufacturing
- Thermally analyze heat transfer from LED target to ambient for optimal Identify soft and hard tooling suppliers, conduct tooling feasibility study and cost analysis
Smart Grid Hardware Engineer
Brief Job description:
- Act as a Digital Hardware Engineer for the company’s various wireless infrastructure products.
- Develop hardware for new products as well as support sustaining engineering tasks on existing released products.
- Manage the release of hardware products from R&D to production readiness.
Renewable Energy Policy & Planning Manager
Brief Job description:
- Policy Development and Implementation
- Reporting and Research
- Build Teams: Lead and manage talented and motivated team of analysts working in high profile business area
Now let’s have a look at some of the different industry sectors which are helping sprout up new green energy jobs which are here to stay and help us in the longer run.
Smart Grid – Electric Power Generation
The Dummies series has good information on the Smart Grid jobs, the book titled: Green Jobs in Smart Grid Infrastructure offers good general and in-depth information on the current buzz word “Smart Grid”:
If you’re interested in a career in smart grid infrastructure, here are a few jobs that could be key to its creation and adaptation:
Systems:
Smart grid standards leader, smart grid chief technology officer, smart grid partner director, smart grid solutions architect, smart grid director, smart grid electrical engineer, smart grid engineer, transmission systems engineer, project manager, smart grid solutions architect/engagement manager, transmission systems engineer, test engineer, renewable systems engineer, systems project manager, distribution systems engineer, smart grid systems project manager, critical infrastructure consultant
Standards:
Smart grid standards leader, smart grid systems interoperability validation manager, grid security director
Software:
Smart grid software engineer, smart grid manager infrastructure development, software infrastructure subsystem leader, lead software engineer, software infrastructure quality assurance leader, software infrastructure test engineer, senior software systems engineer, advanced metering engineer
Marketing and sales:
Smart grid marketing, smart grid sales, director business development, strategic commercial manage
The dummies green job series offers a wide range of info on the green energy jobs and could well be your starting point to browse and find out which of these areas sounds more appealing to you or matches your current or desired skills.
Biofuels
“Biofuels” are transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel that are made from biomass materials. Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oils, fats, or greases — such as recycled restaurant grease. Biodiesel fuel can be used in diesel engines without changing them. It is the fastest growing alternative fuel in the United States. (Source US Energy Information Administration). And the good news is that this renewable target of energy for the automobiles and more offers a lot of jobs. Many positions are open for the engineering, technical, chemical and biology professionals; go to the job boards to find job descriptions for the following to see which could best meet your current skills and future career aspirations:
- Biofuels Operations Advisor
- Senior Scientist Field Testing (Biofuel)
- Molecular Biologist – Biofuels
- Biofuels Process Engineer – Corn Ethanol Specialist
- Technical Business Manager – Biofuels
Solar energy
You might hear fluctuating news on the growth and projection of the solar energy industry but sure enough the jobs are on the rise and there is a tremendous opportunity to retrain and get into this field now when the non-renewable energy is surely burning up faster than what meets our needs. And of course it the green way – if we really start sourcing green energy the green way – well that’s another discussion then. But the insight comes from the millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration and other funds being allocated in the recent years to the green energy growth – obviously it is to train employees and get their skills updated to populate the growing demands from this industry in the coming years. Follow such news and see how you can benefit from the trainings and skills development to be ready when the demand unfolds.
BLS.gov recently came up with a detailed report on Solar Energy jobs, worth a read for those who are interested in knowing more about this industry and planning for a green energy career path. Read it here – Careers in Solar Power.
>> Note that in these green industries there are “general employment” opportunities such as interns, administrative assistants, and technical IT support staff since the regular operations of an office and an organization requires the staff to run their operations. You need not reinvent your career around or retrain to enter the now hot green energy sector all you need to know what the hiring trends are and which companies are on a hiring spree.
Salaries for Green Jobs
Yes of course, there’s always this question on how well the green job s are paying these days, a CNBC report says:
A recent report by the Brookings Institution and research group Battelle counted 2.7 million jobs in the United States’ “clean economy,” paying an average salary of $44,000 — a premium of nearly $6,000 over the average salary of all U.S. jobs.
Fair enough – let there be more ‘green’ and more green jobs, the best way to boost our economy and to do good to the human race!
Infographic via visual.ly:
