RETool for Renewable Energy Jobs

PROFESSOR STEPHEN LAWRENCE

LEEDS SCHOOL OF BUSI NESS

UNI VERSI TY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

RETool

for

Renewable Energy Jobs

Agenda


Topics


Renewable energy: Why now?


Business opportunities


Renewable energy jobs


Wind energy jobs


Solar energy jobs


Biofuel

jobs


Smart grid
jobs


Energy efficiency jobs


US stimulus funds for renewable energy


Observations & recommendations


Goal
: A go
-
forward path for a career in RE

3

Renewable Energy (RE)

WHY NOW?

Volatile Oil Prices

4

http://www.wtrg.com/daily/clspot.gif

Declining Fossil Fuel Supplies

5

Boyle,
Renewable Energy,
Oxford University Press (2004)

GeoPolitical

Concerns

6

Environmental Impacts (Power Gen)

7

Renewable Energy,
Directive 2001/77/EC, European Commission (27 September 2001),

CO
2

& Global
Warming

8

Wikipedia.org,
Climate Change, Global Warming

articles

Government Regulation

A Matter of Perspective…

Threat

Opportunity

11

Business Opportunities

Clean Energy Revenue Growth

12

Clean Energy Trends,
CleanEdge
, 2009

Global RE Investment (2008)

13

Clean Energy Trends,
CleanEdge
, 2009

Growth of Venture Investment

14

Clean Energy Trends,
CleanEdge
, 2009

Renewable Energy Job Growth

Indeed.com

Wind & Solar Job Growth

Clean Energy Trends,
CleanEdge
, 2009

Renewable Energy Job Types in 2030

Green Collar Jobs in the US and Colorado
, ASES, 2009

Wind Energy Jobs

Global Wind Capacity Growth

19

Energy Technology Perspectives, OECD/IEA 2008

Wind Energy Cost Trends

20

Energy Technology Perspectives, OECD/IEA 2008

US Utility Scale Wind Energy

Total
21,017

MW

as of 28
-
Sep
-
08

21

www.AWEA.org 2008

Jobs in Wind Energy

http://www.careersinwind.com/


Project Managers


Wind Turbine Sales


Tax Manager


Sales/Service Director


Contracts Director


Director of Real Estate


Construction Manager


Technical Director


Sr. VP Project Dev.


VP Marketing &
BusDev


Operations
Administrator


Commercial Analyst


General Manager


Wind Engineer


Wind Service Manager


Composite Engineer



Typical Job Wind Job Postings

http://www.careersinwind.com/

Some Colorado Wind Energy Companies

Solar Energy Jobs

PV Exponential Growth

Energy Technology Perspectives, OECD/IEA 2008

26

Grid Parity by 2010
–

2015

Challenges:


Reducing cost


Improving performance
and reliability


Maintaining balance
between supply and
demand (
polysilicon

supply, manufacturing
capacity, distribution/
installation networks)


Understanding and
acceptance by financial
sector, regulators, utilities


Integrating solar with
other systems (grid,
buildings)

27

Margolis,
Solar Energy: Rapidly Evolving Technologies, Markets, and Policies
, NREL/DOE 2008

US Solar Resource Map

http://www.seia.org/cs/about_solar_energy/myths_and_facts

28

Some Colorado Solar Companies

Biofuel

Jobs

Global Growth
of
BioDiesel

Capacity

BioDiesel

2020,
Emerging Markets Online, www.emerging
-
markets.com

IEA
Biofuel

Cost Projections

Energy Technology Perspectives,
IEA 2008

Some Colorado
Biofuel

Companies

Smart Grid Jobs

US Electric Transmission Grid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission

Transmission System

1.
HV transmission

2.
Substation

3.
Main distribution

4.
Local distribution


Overhead


Underground

5.
Service lines


Overhead


Underground



Smart Grids


Marriage of electricity grids with information nets


Self
-
healing, resistant to attack (like the Internet)


Higher quality power; fewer outages


Time
-
of
-
day pricing (shape customer demand)


Accommodate renewable energy sources


Run efficiently and effectively


Better control of transmission and distribution


Provide customer choice and incentives



Smart Grid Positions

http://www.gridwise.org/kema.html

Colorado Smart Grid Players

Other Technologies

www.lookintoireland.com/marineturb.jpg

werievents.wordpress.com

www.theoildrum.com/node/5216

Other Technologies


Hydro energy


Small scale hydro dams


Pumped hydro


Geothermal energy


Natural steam


Hot rock cracking


Oceanic energy


Wave energy


Tidal energy


Ocean current energy


Carbon sequestration


Small scale wind & solar


Energy storage


Batteries, flywheels, super
capacitors, hydrogen, …


Distributed generation


Bio & electric vehicles


Exotic energy sources


Ship sails


Ocean chimneys


Zero point energy



Energy Efficiency

Energy Wedges for CO
2

Reduction

43

Kutchner

(
ed
),
Tackling Climate Change in the US
, American Solar Energy Society, January 2007

Energy

Efficiency

Costs & Benefits
–

Low Carbon Economy

Pathways to a Low
-
Carbon Economy,
McKinsey
, 2009

Energy Efficiency Jobs in 2030

Green Collar Jobs in the US and Colorado
, ASES, 2009

U.S.

CO

US RE Stimulation Funds

US 2009 Stimulus Package

http://www.recovery.gov/

RE Stimulus Expenditures
–

Categories

0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
Geothermal
RE Training
RE Science
Transport
Carbon Capture
RE Loans
RE Tax Credits
Electric Grid
Efficiency
Millions of Dollars ($)
Chart by S.R. Lawrence from data on Recovery.gov

Observations &
Recommendations

Renewable Energy Value Chain

50

Pater,
A Framework for Evaluating the Total Value Proposition of Clean Energy Technologies,
NREL/TP
-
620
-
38597, Feb 2006

Observations and Recommendations


RE is
here to stay


RE is about
business

&
business skills


RE needs the skills
you

have


Identify and study a
single sector


Pick a technology or sector that fits you best; that you like


Play to
your strengths


Don’t start from zero
;
retool

the skills you already have


Network, network,
network!


Colorado Green Tech
Meetup

(
http://alternativeenergy.meetup.com/171/
)


Other organizations and trade groups

RE Industry Resources & References


Renewable Energy


NREL.gov


EERE.energy.gov


EIA.DOE.gov


IEA.org (international)


Wind Energy


AWEA.org


Windustry.org


GWEC.org


Biofuels


Biodiesel.org


EthanolRFA.org


NBB.org



Solar Energy


ASES.org


SEIA.org


COSEIA.org (Colorado)


SolarBuzz.com


Energy Efficiency


ASE.org


EEBA.org


ACEEE.org


General


Greenbiz.com


Cleantech.com

Online RE Job Postings


Monster.com


Indeed.com


RenewableEnergyJobs.net


GreenJobs.com


SustainableBusiness.com/Jobs


Jobs.Treehugger.com


Jobs.Greenbiz.com


SolarJobs.com


WindJobs.com


Ecojobs.com



NREL.gov/employment/job_openings.html


www1.eere.energy.gov/education/careers.html

RETool

Renewable Electricity Workshop


CU
Leeds School of Business & the CU Energy
Initiative


October 29
–

Thu
–

8:30
-
5:30 PM


Downtown Denver


Topics


Overview of renewable electricity


How much do they cost; how well do they work?


Business opportunities in renewable electricity


Key challenges for renewable electricity technologies


How do I break into this growing industry?


Panel
discussion with RE
entrepreneurs


Future workshops


Weds Nov 18: Energy efficiency


Weds Jan 20:

Smart grids


Visit
http://Leeds.colorado.edu/RETool

for details

PROFESSOR STEPHEN LAWRENCE

STEPHEN.LAWRENCE@COLORADO.EDU

Questions
?



Leeds
-
faculty.colorado.edu/Lawrence/
RETool