Page 24 - SKILLS Workforce Development Guide 2021

For Job Seekers: Clean Energy Outlook
‘AN INDUSTRY YOU CAN FIND A HOME IN’
BY DAVID LEVINE
Opposite page: Nic Talbot, a former equipment operator for Dandelion Energy, works with the company’s trenching team to install a geothermal loop system. Talbot has since been promoted.
Clean energy offers many well-paying opportunities for those with or without a college degree.
After many years of depending on fossil-fuel-driven energy, the U.S. has recently begun to embrace
clean-energy alternatives. The Biden administration has pledged to make clean energy one of its top priorities and create 10 million new jobs, both to boost post-pandemic employment and to make a sizable impact on climate change.
Here in New York, that comes as good economic news. The state ranks fourth in the nation in clean energy
jobs (through 2019), according to research released by the nonpartisan business group E2. Westchester County is helping lead the way, with new companies popping up like spring tulips. And they need workers.
Which is even better news for those looking for a fruitful career without the benefit of an advanced education. Soulful Synergy, a local consulting company that focuses on sustainability and workforce development, especially in underserved communities, offers, among other things, certification training programs and employment placement assistance in the energy efficiency sector. “Almost two-thirds
of our participants don’t have college degrees,” says Dwayne R. Norris, co- founder of Soulful Synergy. “This is an industry you can find a home in.”
That home pays well. The E2 report mined data from the U.S. Labor and Energy departments and concluded that, on average, clean energy jobs pay 25% more than the national median wage, are more likely to include retirement
and healthcare benefits, and have more unionized workers than other sectors.
Want numbers? Jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric grid modernization, and clean fuels and vehicles paid a median hourly wage
of $23.89 in 2019, almost $6 an hour higher than the national median wage of $19.14. Jobs in solar energy paid $24.48 an hour, wind and grid modernization jobs averaged more than $25 an hour, and jobs in energy efficiency offered a median hourly wage of $24.44. Many of these jobs actually pay more than jobs in fossil fuel industries, E2 says.
GREEN PAYS MORE THAN GREENBACKS
The money is good, yes. But green industries offer more than a nice income. “You have the potential for
a good living, and also doing good,” Norris says.
Rand Manasse, chief operating officer of Sunrise Solar Solutions in Briarcliff
22 SKILLS What’s Hot. What’s Next. What’s Needed.
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