Green Energy Jobs – Starting a New Era
Green energy jobs are a vital type of green or green-collar jobs that are growing in number and have a secure future. Bright Green Talent are committed to helping you find your perfect green energy job and have created this resource to give you an overview of the market and specific job opportunities. We truly believe that we can help you find the right job that you always wanted. The best part about this is that this will be an environmental friendly job position. Of course, you will need the proper education and skills, but the majority will be taught to you on the spot.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, a green job can be defined as “work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute(s) substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality.” Green energy jobs are mainly related to green energy or sustainable energy. Here is one of the many definitions of green energy:
“Energy which is replenishable within a human lifetime and causes no long-term damage to the environment.” – Jamaica Sustainable Development Network
Green energy jobs can be divided into two major areas, renewable energy jobs and jobs that promote energy efficiency.
Renewable energy Jobs: These are jobs generated in the energy sectors like wind, solar, thermal, biomass and geothermal where these renewable energy resources are used to generate more environmental friendly electricity and heat. This job category offers jobs in manufacturing, research and development, fuel processing, installation, operation and maintenance and many more. The renewable energy sector aims to provide more dependable energy options and minimize the harmful effects of fossil fuel energy and nuclear power.
Energy efficiency jobs: These are jobs generated in the sectors where new technologies are used, in an effort to save energy or improve energy efficiency in the residential buildings, industries, transportation etc. Many equipment, appliances, buildings and vehicle that work on low carbon emission technology and also try to improve the energy efficiency are considered in this category. Basically, energy efficient technologies provide solutions to increase nation’s energy productivity in a cost-effective way. There are two major subcategories here:
Green building: There are many job opportunities in the green building projects like planning, designing, material procurement, building control technicians, insulation worker, energy and indoor air quality auditor, energy engineering and management etc.
Green transportation and storage: Our global transportation is responsible for major contribution in carbon emission and greenhouse gases worldwide as it burns 70% of world’s fossil fuel. Therefore, this area offers a great opportunity for future technological developments. Many green vehicle and battery jobs implementing energy efficiency technology are now available especially in electric vehicle and energy storage area.
Future of Green Energy Jobs
As mentioned in the “The Telegraph”, by 2050, the share of the energy market from renewable resources will increase to approximately 30% and one-fifth more jobs will be created in the energy sector than in the current energy businesses. Also, between the years 2010 to 2050 an average saving of $760bn a year will be made on capital and fuel costs in power generation.
Although, there will be many challenges regarding investments and technologies, green energy will provide a great opportunity to bring down the global temperature rise to below 2 degree Celsius this century. It will also be an effective tool to fight against poverty and worst current economic situation all over the world. Many environmental groups for example the Sierra Club claim that green jobs are a victory for the environment and for workers.
As more and more new technologies for green energy are coming into the market, many new jobs in areas like manufacturing, installation operation and maintenance will be created. Also, skilled scientists and engineers will continue to remain in great demand for research and development purposes.
Do Green Energy Jobs require change in existing skills?
Looking at the future prospects of green energy jobs, there will be many new job opportunities and people with current job skills will need some degree of skill enhancement in order to be able to work for green energy jobs. Changes in existing occupations happen more often at the low and medium-skill level. Therefore, based on the degree of skill change requirements from none to high, different job categories can be defined:
Category 1: People in this category may not require any additional skills and degree of skill change required is almost none. Some additional training may work fine for example existing bus drivers may always drive green buses with some extra training.
Category 2: People in this category may require some on-the job training or short term training courses for example electricians or boiler mechanics. Here, degree of skill change requirement is low.
Category 3: This category may require some proper training courses for the people to take care of the changing scenario for the jobs like car mechanic for electric cars or energy consultant for the green buildings. Here, degree of skill change required is medium.
Category 4: University degree or long training will be required for this category for the jobs like solar energy technician or green building architect. This category requires high degree of skill change.
Are you interested in Green Energy Jobs?
If you are qualified or trained in any of the renewable energy disciplines or energy saving technologies, Green Energy Jobs are for you. Also, people who have enough expertise in the existing energy sectors and are able to demonstrate transferable skills are welcome to contact for free information. Please sign up with Brightgreentalent.com on the right of the screen for regular updates.