For decades, the New England Institute of Technology has trained students to take careers in electrical engineering, automotive repair and other blue-collar jobs. Now, the technical training school is adjusting its curriculum to prepare students for jobs as “green collar” workers.
The manual labor work force employed to help consumers, businesses and governments reduce their carbon emissions and become more energy efficient is expected to explode in coming years, driven by more stringent environmental regulations and increasing popular concern about climate change and rising fossil fuel prices.
The green-oriented jobs that will be increasingly in demand, according to experts, include workers trained to do solar installations, retrofits to increase water efficiency and conservation, attic insulation and weatherization, clean up of hazardous materials, landscaping and vegetative roofs, and even installing programmable thermostats or changing light bulbs.
“This is the cutting-edge now … so we have to adapt our curriculum,” said Phil Parsons, vice president and general counsel at New England Tech. “We’ve always taught the most current technologies out there. As things are moving more toward renewable energy sources the students in electrical need to know how to work on windmills, they need to know how to work on photovoltaic cells.”
New England Tech, which has about 3,000 students and offers associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in more than 30 programs, already has programs training students to repair hybrid cars and other green-collar skills, Parsons said.
But the school is looking to beef up its green-collar curriculum, he said. In January, New England Tech began working with green business consultant Connie McGreavy to develop an action plan for integrating sustainability into the school’s physical operations and curriculum.
McGreavy’s consulting firm, Conserve By Design LLC, worked with faculty and department chairs at New England Tech to come up with a set of recommendations, she said.
“We went through the whole curriculum, from alternative fuels to auto programs, to HVAC advanced indoor air quality courses,” McGreavy said. “We’ve recommended everything from a major in sustainability to short certificate programs in renewable energies. There can also be more lengthy certificate programs in renewables – that’s the beauty of a technical college, you can make an 18-month program, you can do a short course, a half-day.”
New England Tech has applied for two grants that would enable the school to install photovoltaic cells and a windmill, which would be used both to power the school’s facilities and to train students. The school is also considering a geothermal installation, Parsons said.
New England Tech, which currently operates two campuses in Warwick – a 26-acre parcel on Post Road and a 33-acre parcel on Access Road – is working with McGreavy to develop a green plan for the school’s planned headquarters on a 25-acre parcel it recently purchased in East Greenwich.
New England Tech’s work to develop the first comprehensive, green-collar curriculum in Rhode Island will be a multi-year process, Parsons said. For example, the school’s ability to train students to install and repair wind turbines and photovoltaic arrays will depend largely on whether it receives grant funding to build the projects, he said.
“Some of these things are going to take a while to implement,” Parsons said. “You have to get your teachers LEED certified to be able to teach it. It’s a process.”
McGreavy, who is also spearheading an effort to establish a Rhode Island chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said she increasingly hears from business leaders and economic development officials in the state about the need for green-collar training in Rhode Island.
“There’s so much discussion about preparing and training a work force – I hear it everywhere,” McGreavy said. “I hear it at the chamber, I hear it at Economic Development Corporation meetings, I hear it all over.” •
