The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (commonly known as the Stimulus Plan) has awarded at least $20 million dollars to green jobs training that will be allotted to local community college districts and individual community colleges in California.

Here are a few of the programs and colleges in or near Los Angeles where you can go to get training for a new career in the renewable energy sector.

The Clean Energy Workforce Training Program offers training in the areas of: green building designed, solar panel installation, sustainable landscape, maintaining electric vehicles to computer programming and researching fuel cell technologies. The Clean Energy Workforce Training Program is a cooperation between the California Energy Commission, the California Employment Department, the Green Collar Jobs Council, the Employee Training Panel and the California Workforce Investment Board.

Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, located at 400 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, adopted a Green College Initiative in the fall of 2006, which became the basis for their Green Workforce Education Program. They offer training in the following diverse areas: Architecture, Building Construction Techniques, Community Planning, Electrical Construction and Maintenance, Hybrid vehicles, Plumbing, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning/HVAC, Solar Design, Installation, and Maintenance, Waste Water Technology, Water Technology, and Weatherization and Energy Efficiency, among others.

Pasadena City College offers classes in several departments, including: sustainability and environmental issues of climate and lighting and how these issues can be addressed as integral components of an architectural design solution; electronics and the environment; the reclaiming, recycling and storage of coolants and refrigerants in the automotive department; as well as the education, training requirements, ethical and environmental concerns of engineering design.

The Audubon at Debs Park, located at 4700 N. Griffin Ave., Los Angeles, CA is currently sponsoring the "Solar System Hands-on Training for Maintenance and Design" which takes place on the third Saturday of every month from 9am to 3pm. The instructor is Wade "Solar" Webb, a solar advocate and systems designer for over 13 years. To contact Mr. Webb for more information about the class, check out the website at Wade "Solar" Webb.

Free webinars are offered online, such as the webinar on photovoltaics (solar power) on September 16th. This webinar, "The Fundamentals of Photonics - Photovoltaics” will be given by Mr. Jeff Hecht, author and Contributing Editor of Laser Focus World, on Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 10am PST/11am MST/12 noon CST/1:00PM EST. It will compare the types of photovoltaics in use and in development, and look at the major trends in research and development.

To register, go to the webinar registration website or contact Laser Focus World for more information. 
 

Photograph by Diane Tegarden 

For more information on green jobs, go to: Green Jobs Blooming in LA