Ohio’s universities develop ‘green collar’ workers for energy jobs

A report released by the American Solar Energy Society, funded by the Ohio Department of Development, predicts that 174,000 Ohioans could have jobs related to advanced, renewable energy by 2030.

According to the Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC), the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment, Ohio's universities and colleges are gearing up to meet the need for skilled green-collar workers through new programs, degrees and training specific to the advanced energy industry.

One university, Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, has received a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration to build an innovative learning facility where students will receive hands-on training in advanced energy. The state-of the-art Hocking College Energy Institute will feature modern learning labs for those students studying in the college's energy programs.

Jerry Hutton, dean of energy and transportation technologies for Hocking College, believes that “training skilled workers is critical to attracting renewable energy companies to Ohio and recharging the state's manufacturing base."

Ohio's direct market access to renewable energy consumers and its state-sponsored programs are helping companies develop and launch the next generation of advanced energy technologies and compete effectively in a global economy.

Through initiatives such as Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's Energy, Jobs and Progress plan, announced in 2007, Ohio is modernizing its energy infrastructure, ensuring affordable and stable energy prices and attracting renewable energy jobs of the future through an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard. Ohio also is a driving force behind initiatives to increase the production of ethanol, biodiesel fuels and cellulosic ethanol, a fuel produced from farm waste and plants.

One of the most significant initiatives supporting Ohio's renewable energy industry and future job force is the state's Third Frontier Project, a 10-year, $1.6 billion initiative to develop connections between companies and academia. The project is the state's largest-ever commitment to expand high-tech research capabilities, promote innovation, company formation and create high-paying jobs. Ohio’s developing green-collar workforce will fill many of those jobs.

"Ohio is at the heart of next-generation, advanced energy industry success," says Ed Burghard, OBDC executive director. "In addition to the development of a highly skilled workforce to meet the ever-growing green collar industry demands, Ohio-based companies benefit from the state's continued effort to focus on creating a profit-friendly business environment through revamped tax and tort laws."