About This Project

The era of renewable energy now is a reality, from wind to solar and even biomasses have become a viable option for energy supply around North America. At the same time, energy efficiency has become an environmental and economic necessity for public and private entities. These developments have created, in a short time, a billion dollar industry, generating thousands of jobs. For example, according to the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the renewable energy industries represented more than 504 thousand jobs in the US alone in 2007 and its rapidly growing.

The renewable energy and energy efficiency industry involves a wide range of professionals with a great variety of practices and skills, some of which have particular characteristics that require specialized training. The lack of sufficient qualified professionals has been identified in the work of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation as an important factor that may limit the growth of the industry.

For that reason, the CEC commissioned in 2008 a scoping study on Training Resources, focusing on Renewable Energy [add hyperlink]. The study identified training capacities in North America for those involved in the design, procurement, installation, inspection, and operation & maintenance of both small and large wind, photovoltaic, and solar water heating systems and developed a database. In an attempt to make this database more useful and more widely available, the CEC decided to develop this portal and to include initiatives related to other renewable energies as well as those related to energy efficiency.

The website is also intended to include more initiatives as they are developed, and it allows institutions to open a free account and register their course offerings.