Green Jobs or Green Snobs?

BY: DOMENIC K. ARMANO, P.E.

Yesterday, I attended the New England Clean Energy Council’s Clean Energy Industry Economic  & Workforce Development Leadership Summit. The goal of the event was to stimulate discussion and ideas that could help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to strengthen its position as a national leader in the clean energy industry.

There was a lot of talk of how green jobs are different from many of the existing jobs out there in the market place today and with that I couldn’t help but wonder “Are we hurting ourselves by labeling jobs with the “green” stamp?”  Truth be told, many of these jobs existed before the “green” economy. For example, insulators, HVAC technicians, plumbers and electricians were all around before the “green” economy and they’ll be here long after green fades to gray.  Isn’t it just the technology and its application that’s different? By labeling these jobs as “green” are we potentially shutting out those from other industries because they don’t have previous green experience.  Are we green snobs?

Anyhow, we have millions of talented folks doing their very best to market themselves  to the clean energy industry and at the end of the day it’s up to US to look for the folks who have a passion for our business, a little creativity and a whole lot of initiative.  With the right on the job training and a little patience we’ll help those folks grow in their new roles. As an industry, we need to take some responsibility for the investment in cross-training and put these people in roles to help our industry grow!