Develop a Green Workforce

As North Carolina captures the economic benefits from a clean energy future, we must consider what kinds of skills workers in the new energy fields will need. In many cases, this will require adjustment in workforce development policies, but in many cases existing skills may be easily transferable to energy enterprises. The most efficient way to prepare for these new jobs is to build upon the existing foundation of North Carolina’s state and local workforce development systems and embedding green skills training into existing curriculum rather than investing in entirely new programs.

The IEI Energy Working Groups made the following recommendations for developing North Carolina's green workforce:

Match curricular to energy skills: Match high education curricula and programs (four-year, community college and continuing education) to the skill sets required by firms/clusters in the new energy economy. Link actions to measures adopted in response to the University of North Carolina Tomorrow Commission recommendations.

Create a science-based advantage: Create a seamless set of technical and science-based curricula and research on university and community college campuses that will be a competitive advantage for the state, especially in areas such as biofuels, power engineering, electronic controls and transportation engineering.