Who will be largest job creator in Hampton Roads in 2011-2012? Which business sector will it come from? Would you believe it could be a recently formed nonprofit organization focused on green jobs?
Green Jobs Alliance potential 2011-2012 direct economic impact:
- Job Creation
- NEXT STEP Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program: 600-800
- Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program: 35-50
- Weatherization Training Center: 410
- Annual Payroll
- NEXT STEP Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program: $20-$27 million
- Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program: $1-$2 million
- Weatherization Training Center: $10-$15 million
- Utility Savings
- NEXT STEP Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program: $2.5 million
- Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program: $0.5 million
- Retrofit Investment (materials only)
- NEXT STEP Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program: $10-$15 million
- Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program: $2 million
- Total Potential 2011-2012 Direct Economic Impact: $46-$64 million
- Total Potential 2011-2012 Job Creation: 1,045-1,260
Additional potential important outcomes:
- Leverage the NEXT STEP program to stand up a vibrant residential and commercial energy efficiency industry in Hampton Roads for the long term;
- Leverage the WIPP program to create an energy efficiency industry serving the multifamily housing sector;
- Leverage the Weatherization Training Center grant into creating a one-of-a-kind in the nation Energy Efficiency and Renewable Training Center to support the recruitment and growth of renewable industries, especially offshore wind, in Hampton Roads.
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How is this possible? What will it take to achieve?
Of course, it will not be easy. It will take the concerted, collaborative effort of private enterprise, local government, economic development departments, educational institutions, regional organizations, community agencies, and nonprofits. Photo credit: SENCON
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The simple and direct question is…What can/will you do to help make it a reality?
Green Jobs Alliance: Filling an Economic Need and Opportunity
Hampton Roads’ own Green Jobs Alliance (GJA) is accomplishing what they set out to do in a way that will positively impact economic growth in the Hampton Roads region. GJA was created as a 501c3 nonprofit in 2008 in response to the Green Jobs Act of 2007. GJA was established to bring together a coalition of formerly disparate, even competitive, partners to provide green job creation, workforce training and education, job placement and career development services. GJA provides these services in its project areas of interest; energy efficiency and green building and renewable energy. Energy efficiency and green building includes, energy auditing and modeling, weatherization, energy efficiency retrofits and green building standards. Renewable energy industries include; wind (offshore/terra), wave/tidal/current, solar, geothermal, bio-mass, bio-fuels, hydrogen and waste-to-energy projects.
GJA Goes 4 for 4
GJA identified an unfilled need and opportunity Hampton Roads for energy efficiency, green jobs and green jobs training. By the beginning of 2010, GJA had applied for four (4) Department of Energy (DOE) grants that would provide funding to meet this unfilled need. GJA won all four grants, securing funding to bring energy efficiency and green jobs to Hampton Roads.
NEXT STEP Energy Efficiency Program: Advancing Home & Building Performance
GJA’s first win came when it, and 11 other communities across the Southeast United States, in partnership with the Atlanta-based Southeastern Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), was awarded a $20 million DOE Ramp-Up Through Retrofit Grant. DOE has recently renamed the program Better Buildings. This program is designed to be self-sustaining after the grant period, thus providing jobs, economic impact and energy efficiency and environmental benefits long into the future.
The funds from the Better Buildings grant, leveraged 5:1 with private funding, are being used to launch a Regional Energy Alliance to promote and implement a residential and commercial energy efficiency program in Hampton Roads…the NEXT STEP program. This program will be comprised of stakeholders specified in the EPA’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR™ program, which is delivering on the promise of green jobs through energy efficiency in 30 states across the country. Stakeholders include financial institutions, builders and contractors, realtors, appraisers, certified energy auditors, educational institutions, training organizations, state and local government, utilities, manufacturers, retailers and property owners.
Through the NEXT STEP program, it is projected that retrofitting just 1% of the homes in Hampton Roads will create 600-800 construction trades jobs, generate annually $33-$44 million in direct economic impact to the local economy in payroll, retrofit investment and utility savings. In addition, it will increase real estate values and save millions of metric tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere.
Weatherization Training Center
Less than two months later, on June 4, the DOE announced the 34 projects selected to receive $29 million to develop and expand Weatherization Training Centers across the country. GJA was one of the 34 projects awarded.
Under this program, GJA will work with local community colleges, private enterprise, workforce investment boards, labor and community agency partners to produce a weatherization workforce of as many as 410 skilled workers through non-credit training and certification over the next two years. The initiative will support the DOE’s goal to expand comprehensive weatherization training centers for residential energy efficiency, especially for low-income residents, and will focus on rapidly putting people to work.
This project will reach out to unemployed and underemployed tradesmen and contractors, and support the high demand in low-income neighborhoods for upgraded housing, lower energy costs, improved neighborhoods, local employment and economic development in Hampton Roads. Training and employing these workers will create a direct payroll economic impact of $10-$15 million annually.
Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program
Again, on August 19, 2010 U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that GJA, along with the Charlottesville, VA-based Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP), was one of 120 organizations across the country selected to receive nearly $120 million to drive innovation under the DOE’s Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program (WIPP). The team of GJA and LEAP was awarded $1.9 million to improve energy and water efficiency in low-income multifamily housing throughout the Hampton Roads and Charlottesville-Albemarle communities. They will work in partnership to provide landlords with investment-grade energy audits, one-stop contracting and financing options, as well as run a comprehensive tenant engagement program designed to educate and involve the tenants who can benefit the most from these energy-saving efforts. GJA’s WIPP program will retrofit 1,700 low-income multifamily housing units in Hampton Roads and Charlottesville creating an $8 million direct economic impact.
State Energy Program
Finally on September 9, 2010, the DOE awarded a multi-state partnership including the GJA and LEAP $2.8 million in an effort to lower energy bills for families and businesses, boost job growth, and increase investment in companies that deliver energy-saving technologies in Virginia. This grant will help create a sustainable transformation in the market for energy-saving, whole-building improvements in residential and commercial buildings.
Potential Outcomes
In 2011 – 2012, GJA could potentially and realistically be the largest single job creator in Hampton Roads. This region needs to leverage GJA’s success into a larger green economic expansion. In addition to the jobs created and economic impact previously outlined, the following important outcomes are possible and should be pursued by the region with real zeal.
- Leverage the NEXT STEP program to stand up a vibrant residential and commercial energy efficiency industry in Hampton Roads for the long term;
- Leverage the WIPP program to create an energy efficiency industry serving the multifamily housing sector;
- Leverage the Weatherization Training Center grant into creating a one-of-a-kind in the nation Energy Efficiency and Renewable Training Center to support the recruitment and growth of renewable industries, especially offshore wind, in Hampton Roads.
The simple and direct question is…What will you do to help make it a reality?
GJA needs you! Get involved business, community, government leaders! The time is now for you to actively support the efforts of the GJA. You can come alongside the GJA and help to bring economic growth and green jobs to our region and your locality.
When: February 7 to April 10, 2012, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
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The Center also offers the Virtual Youth Career Center. Developed and maintained in collaboration with Old Dominion University, youth are able to use an avatar to access local resources, live career presentations, and network with career advisors. This virtual world allows youth in distant communities to access these much needed resources where transportation is a concern.
The site caters to technology and business professionals as well as supporting professionals such as lawyers, accountants, marketers, etc.