From Humvees to PVs: NREL’s Veteran Green Jobs Academy

The United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently hosted a special and very green graduation ceremony. The Colorado based Veterans Green Jobs (VGJ) Academy saw its first class of graduates eagerly take their diplomas as a first step on the road to renewed livelihoods in the green energy economy. The smiles and cheers for the 15 grads who successfully completed a tough eight-week training program were accompanied by speeches vividly lauding the new careers that these veterans had chosen.

VGJ Executive Director Brett KenCairn said.

Veterans Green Jobs empowers military veterans to become leaders in the new green economy to embody a new era of shaping swords into plowshares,Transitioning from humvees to PVs, from infrared rifle scopes to infrared energy cameras, from Striker Brigades to weatherization teams, these 15 men came from all over the U.S. and from many different personal circumstances because they believed in this new mission and pledged themselves to learn these new tools.

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In his commencement address, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter praised the former military men for accepting new roles as environmental stewards.

When they returned home from duty, these gentlemen were not done serving our country. They volunteered again, this time, to become leaders in protecting the environment.

 Commencement speaker Colorado Governor Bill Ritter congratulates VeteransBJoe Stepzinski. Thanks to his training, Stepzinski already has secured work and will soon be headed to Savannah, Ga.

NREL and Vets Green Jobs to Create Clean Energy Training Center

Plans to expand the program are on the horizon. At the graduation ceremony, Gov. Ritter announced that VGJ, in collaboration with NREL Education Programs, will establish Colorado’s first National Training and Demonstration Center in Energy Efficiency.

This initiative will retrofit unused commercial property, for example, a big-box store now standing vacant on acres of empty parking lots. These gray fields would become green fields of opportunity, retraining not only veterans but other people who might otherwise not have access to training in green jobs.

VGJ, NREL, and other academic partners, are currently looking to identify unoccupied industrial and commercial property that can be recycled into the envisioned training center. One area currently under consideration is a vacant Wal-Mart in Lafayette, Colo. The Wal-Mart Foundation recently awarded nearly $750,000 to Veterans Green Jobs to support the development of four such training sites. The Colorado site is seen as a potential pilot project that can serve as a model for other regional training facilities.

NREL Education Programs Manager Cynthia Howell said

NREL Education Programs has placed workforce development as a high priority and an important focus throughout our work. We could not be more pleased to join forces with VGJ in developing energy efficiency training and outreach programs for Colorado and the nation. NREL will extend its reach locally and nationally as veterans and other intern ambassadors apply energy efficiency and conservation technologies promoted and developed here at our Lab.

The training centers, while focusing on immediate workforce development, could also be used as public demonstration and education centers for reuse, energy efficiency and conservation.

“Veterans tell us repeatedly that being able to serve their country through meaningful, restorative work is the most healing thing they could experience post combat,” KenCairn said

Short URL: http://www.mygreeneducation.com/?p=3412

Posted by Gordon Smith on Jul 2 2009. Filed under Certificate, College, Energy Tech, Re-education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry