The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and its partners today announced the launch of the Green Buildings Career Map, an interactive career map highlighting the breadth of rewarding career opportunities in building energy efficiency. The Map was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office, in partnership with the Building Performance Association (BPA), Community Action Partnership (CAP), Home Builders Institute (HBI), Building Performance Institute, and National Institute of Building Sciences.
The Green Buildings Career Map features 55 jobs in energy efficiency for buildings across four different industry sectors, as well as over 300 potential advancement routes—all developed with input from industry subject matter experts. By helping interested job seekers learn about quality jobs related to energy efficiency in buildings, the Green Buildings Career Map will help foster a robust and inclusive pipeline of qualified workers to meet employer demand.
“The Green Buildings Career Map will raise awareness about the diversity of meaningful career options in energy efficiency, particularly among diverse and underserved communities,” said IREC President & CEO Larry Sherwood. “This is crucially important to sustaining the rapid growth of this important industry and ensuring the benefits of employment in this sector are accessible to more people ”
Energy efficiency is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. These jobs will become increasingly important to meeting climate goals because power and space conditioning for buildings accounts for 40% of all energy use in the U.S. To ensure this job growth also benefits underserved communities, the Map even highlights 32 “New-Collar” Green Jobs—skilled roles that do not require a college degree. IREC and the partners will conduct extensive outreach to share the Map with relevant audiences, including underrepresented groups, such as communities of color and low-income communities, and organizations that serve them.
The Map can be used by a wide range of audiences from job seekers and workers to school and career counselors, training providers, and recruiters. Job seekers from entry-level to advanced can use the map to identify opportunities for career progression. Current and prospective students can use it to evaluate the skills needed and possible on-ramps for different roles, while counselors and training providers can use it to help people identify different career paths and training options. Recruiters can showcase the variety of advancement opportunities stemming from specific jobs.
“Now more than ever, workforce development is critical in our industry,” said Building Performance Association CEO, Steve Skodak. “BPA recently conducted outreach to over 400 members and discovered that career opportunity awareness and training accessibility is a barrier to industry growth. We hope the Career Map will encourage individuals to consider a career in energy efficiency, highlight well-paying jobs, and reach those in underserved populations.”
“The Community Action Partnership is excited for the launch of the Green Buildings Career Map,” said Denise Harlow, CEO of CAP. “Coming at this time when many are looking to pivot their career paths toward what is coming next, a tool that helps navigate the world of green jobs is critical. The nation’s 1,000 local Community Action Agencies connect individuals to opportunity and to have this new resource in the toolbox is important.”
“IREC’s Green Building Career Map is an indispensable resource that aligns a diverse workforce with the building industry’s contributions to sustainability, affordability, and economic strength,” said Home Builders Institute President and CEO Ed Brady. “As the nation’s leading provider of career technical education in construction, HBI does one thing: train skilled workers for the building industry, with a focus on placement in meaningful jobs. This initiative is a perfect fit for HBI and its students.”
The Map was created with the input of an experienced, cross-sector group of industry subject matter experts who helped ensure its accuracy and real-world usefulness. “The Green Building Career Map will transform the way we engage students with their career possibilities,” said Amanda Hatherly, Director of the EnergySmart Academy at Santa Fe Community College and one of the subject matter experts that contributed to the project. “It’s visually engaging and simple to use, while having so much valuable information embedded within it.”
IREC specializes in the creation of interactive national clean energy career maps that showcase the breadth of jobs in a particular sector, having also developed acclaimed and widely accessed maps for the solar and HVAC/R industries. Rich job detail and market data showcase not only the career, but the training and certification pathways to get there.
To access the Green Buildings Career Map, visit www.greenbuildingscareermap.org/. IREC will host a webinar about the Map on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 2pm Eastern Time. Interested individuals can register here.
About IREC: The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) builds the foundation for rapid adoption of clean energy and energy efficiency to benefit people, the economy, and our planet. Its vision is a 100% clean energy future that is reliable, resilient, and equitable. IREC develops and advances the regulatory reforms, technical standards, and workforce solutions needed to enable the streamlined integration of clean, distributed energy resources. IREC has been trusted for its independent clean energy expertise for nearly 40 years, since its founding in 1982. For more information, visit www.irecusa.org or follow IREC on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
About National CAP: The Community Action Partnership (CAP) is a national nonprofit membership organization that provides technical assistance, training, and other resources to Community Action Agencies, nonprofit and public groups funded by the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), federal funding that connects Americans to greater opportunity. CAP’s mission is to ensure the causes and conditions of poverty are effectively addressed and to strengthen, promote, represent, and serve the Community Action Network, a network of a thousand agencies in local communities. CAP also represents the Weatherization Assistance Program Network, 500 of which are also Community Action Agencies. For more information, visit www.communityactionpartnership.com/energy-partnerships.
About BPA: The Building Performance Association (BPA) is a 501(c)(6) industry association with over 9,500 members across North America in contractor services, weatherization agencies, product manufacturers and distributors, program administrators, building science, and non-profits. BPA represents the largest network of professionals dedicated to advancing the home and building performance industry by delivering improved energy efficiency, health, safety, and environmental performance of buildings. BPA supports its members by offering educational programs, advocacy at the state and federal level, and member resources. For more information, please visit www.Building-Performance.org.
About BPI: The Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI) was founded in 1993 and has become the nation’s premier standards development and credentialing organization for residential energy auditing and upgrade work. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, BPI’s mission is to provide the benefits of home performance to the nation’s homeowners through best practice standards, credentials, and quality assurance services for the home performance and weatherization industry. For more information, visit www.bpi.org.
About HBI: The Home Builders Institute (HBI) is a national nonprofit that provides training, curriculum, and job placement services for the building industry. With overall program job placement rates at over 85 percent for graduates, HBI training programs are taught in local communities across the country to at-risk youth, veterans, transitioning military members, justice-involved youth and adults, and displaced workers. Visit www.hbi.org for more information and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About NIBS: The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) successfully brings together representatives of government, the professions, industry, labor and consumer interests, and regulatory agencies to identify and resolve problems and potential problems that hamper the construction of safe, affordable structures for housing, commerce, and industry throughout the United States. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1974, the Institute is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, visit www.nibs.org and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.