Powering the Future: Bridging the Clean Energy Job Gap with Steve Engler

Quantum Quote: “What if someone told you that we have everything we need to decarbonize most of the economy, we could just start electrifying every new car furnace, water heater, dryer, and cookstove and industrial process starting right now." - Stephen Lacy, paraphrasing Saul Griffith.

 

As we stand at the edge of a clean energy revolution, the urgency for a skilled workforce in this sector has never been more critical. With the United States experiencing a surge in clean energy jobs growing at twice the rate of other industries, the demand for qualified technicians is staggering. Unfortunately, a significant gap remains in our labor force, preventing the full potential of clean energy technologies from being realized.

 

Consider this: while we have the solutions at our fingertips—like heat pumps and electric vehicle charging stations—what's truly needed is the manpower to deploy these innovations across the nation. Many are eager to take part in this movement, but without a clear path into these jobs, we're at risk of stalling progress.

Steve Engler from Emerald Energy recognizes the need for a collaborative approach to build a community of clean energy installers. Through initiatives like Cleantechs, he aims to educate and inspire individuals from diverse backgrounds to step into these roles, ultimately bridging the workforce gap and addressing environmental justice along the way.

 

In this episode,Ron Kamen interviews Steve Engler, founder and CEO of Emerald Energy, a recruiting and training platform for clean energy technicians. Based in New York City, Steve discusses his project supported by an E2 fellowship, aimed at addressing the critical shortage of clean energy installers. 

 

He highlights the importance of this initiative in the context of transitioning to a sustainable energy future and provides insights into the various clean energy jobs that are emerging in the industry. 

 

Listeners will learn about the collaboration between environmental entrepreneurs and the role of organizations like E2 in promoting policies that benefit both the economy and the environment. Tune in to explore the future of clean energy workforce development and the entrepreneurial spirit driving change.

 

Join us as we delve into the transformative potential of clean energy jobs, highlighting the intersection of community engagement and technology, and learn how we can collectively forge a sustainable future for our planet.

 

Steve Engler is the Founder and CEO of Emerald Energy, which is solving the critical shortage of clean energy technicians. This year he is an E2 Fellow building Cleantechs, a community and newsletter for prospective clean energy installers from nontraditional backgrounds. He previously worked as a product manager and in energy policy and is based in NYC.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

 

• Understand the role of clean energy technicians and the growing demand for these jobs in the context of the energy transition.

• Discover the significance of heat pumps in decarbonizing buildings and how they work, including the differences between air-source and ground-source heat pumps.

• Explore the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on job creation in the clean energy sector and the financial incentives available for clean energy technologies.

• Learn about the importance of bipartisan support for clean energy initiatives and how these efforts are being implemented across the country.

• And more…

The Challenge: What I'm working to solve is this looming shortage of clean energy installers. According to the Blue-Green Alliance, we need to hire 1 million climate jobs that will have been created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Rewiring America just came out with a 2024 workforce report that says that home electrification,  electrifying billings and homes will create 3 million jobs. We need to find the people to fill these jobs, and it can be a difficult pathway now to get into clean energy jobs, even just really defining what a clean energy job is.

 

Social Proof: Spotlight in this newsletter, we focused on a technician named Manny, who comes from New York. He worked his way up the ranks doing an HVAC program, which led to some coursework at City Tech here in New York City. And led to a job initially as an installer in an HVAC company, and then landed a job at Dandelion Energy, which does geothermal heat pumps. He was promoted four times in two years. Sometimes we have a problem explaining what these jobs are and who does these jobs. It would be great to sort of personify and a person Manny, who I've met,  has spoken a lot about his journey really shows that it's tangible that it's possible to do this job. 

 

SuperNova #1. During the pandemic, a number of resources started like Work on Climate, which is the Slack community new Energy Nexus. New York Climate Tech is another great resource here in New York City that helps more office workers navigate into climate jobs, either to start their own companies or find companies to work for or other work like that. 

 

SuperNova #2. I launched a Substack, which is a newsletter called Cleantechs. You can subscribe at cleantechs.substack.com. It's focused on getting folks into installer and technician jobs and solar, wind, HVAC, and EVs, and batteries, while helping to demystify climate jobs. And each newsletter, we have a spotlight on some aspects of the clean energy journey. So we've had two newsletters so far sent one out in September and in October, and we'll send a new one out in early November.

 

SuperNova #3.There's obviously a huge need for policy types and the financing side of clean energy. But the bulk of the work that has to be done to decarbonize this country is kind of boots on the ground work, installing heat pumps, installing EV charging stations, installing batteries, putting more solar on roofs, setting up more offshore wind turbines. Some jobs require you to go to community college. Some jobs don't. There are jobs like you could become an HVAC apprentice level helper without going to a community college. And you can get into a great career that way. If you're working in a job as an HVAC technician and you've been there for five years or so, you could start making six figure salaries without a college degree, without college debt, which is extraordinary. And I think we have to get out the word on these jobs.

 

What the future looks like for clean energy jobs: We can supplement some of the work being done by the federal government whether it's through some of these incentive programs, whether it's through the white House effort to get around 20,000 technicians into clean energy jobs. One thing people focus on is how much do you get paid to start? And I think if you look at maybe a job in the fast food industry or a job as a HVAC apprentice, you might even have similar starting hourly wages. But I think what you have to argue is, what does your trajectory look like after five years if you stay in this industry, how much work could you be making in this space? What does your job potential look like? You could start your own company, you could work at a bigger company, you could work in sales. The sky's the limit.

 

Partnerships / alliances to carry out the goal: Our hope is that with this newsletter, we could help kickstart a community to get folks into these jobs. And part of what we're doing too, is we partnered with local workforce development organizations like here in New York City, just wanna give a shout out to Youth Action Youth Build, WE ACT for Environmental Justice with whom I've worked and got the word out about this effort. 

Resources Mentioned:

 

• Cleantechs Newsletter: cleantechs.substack.com

• E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs): e2.org

• Rewiring America: rewiringamerica.org

Connect with Steve Engler:

 

• Emerald Energy: emeraldenergy.co

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sengler

    http://www.linkedin.com/company/tryemerald

• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sengler4