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Posts Tagged ‘austin community college’

“Women in Green Jobs” Solar Training Information Session

Posted in Energy, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010 |

Austin Community College is having a free information session on their Women In Solar class, a women-focused solar installation course being offered this spring and summer. Check it out, but register today — its the deadline for Saturday’s session!

Learn more:

“Women in Green Jobs” Solar Training Information Session

The registration deadline for this event is 3/5/2010

Start Date: 3/6/2010 Start Time: 10:00 AM

End Date: 3/6/2010 End Time: 12:00 PM

Event Description

Attend this free 2-hour information session and learn why the jobs of the future will be in “green technology” and why women will play a key role in this future. This session will provide specific information on upcoming women-focused solar installation course sections as well as provide insight into all of the “green” related course offerings that ACC has to offer from a women’s perspective.

Location Information:

Riverside Campus – Riverside Campus (View Map)
1020 Grove Blvd.
Austin, TX 78741
Phone: 512.223.6201

Contact Information:
Name: Women in Green Jobs Hotline
Phone: 512-223-7520
Email: eardizon@austincc.edu

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Austin Community College: A Leader in Sustainability

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2009 |

As a student at Austin Community College, I have witnessed the school adopt many environmental programs and truly set a great example to its student as to how be good stewards of our environment.

The college has been recently featured in the Times magazine to recognize its new Renewable Energy Program,

When Austin’s semiconductor industry started tanking in 2000, ACC quickly stripped down its chip-development courses and soon repurposed clean rooms for emerging green technologies. These days, it generally takes about six months of weekend classes to get qualified to be a solar installer, a job that can pay up to $16 an hour. But starting in August, a compressed weekday program — catering to the recently unemployed — will allow students to cram the same courses into just two months.” – Times Magazine

The college also just celebrated the opening of its first green building. The parking garage of the Rio Grande campus was recently opened to provide five hundred more parking spots for student, staff, and faculty. The building has received a 3-star green building rating from Austin Energy recognizing the building’s design, construction, and operation. The school also provides parking spots for energy-efficient cars. If you are a student who drives one of these cars, you get to park closer to your class.

ACC also encourages its students to recycle. I have yet to be in an ACC facility that didn’t have a blue recycling bin or many of them. I see most students and staff recycle.

At the beginning of the Spring semester of 2010, the college will supplement its commitment to cutting emissions by handing out bus passes to every student, faculty, and staff member. The pilot of the ACC Green Pass program will begin on January 5th, 2010.

The libraries at the college also encourage students to print PowerPoint documents in handout format, save documents on external devices such as jump drives, and to preview before printing in order to avoid wasting paper and ink.

ACC sets a great example for many other institutions in Texas and across the United States to adopt such sustainability programs that will have a positive impact on our environment.

To learn more about the ACC Sustainability initiatives, visit the Sustainable ACC website.

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Texas House: Green Jobs Bill Hearing

Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2009 |

The House Technology, Economic Development and Workforce Committee met today to discuss HB 516, a bill to establish and fund a green job skills training program under the Texas Workforce Commission.  Representative Mark Strama (D-Austin) authored the bill, which specifies green jobs as being “jobs in the field of renewable energy or energy efficiency.” These include jobs in energy efficient building, construction, and retrofitting, renewable electric power, biofuels, deconstruction and reuse of materials, energy efficiency assessments, manufacturing of sustainable products, and manufacturing using sustainable processes and materials. Considering the fact that Texas unemployment rate has hit a 19-year high and is home to an increasingly environmentally-conscious public, creating green jobs simply makes sense.  Austin City Council’s recent approval and the public’s support of the Webberville solar plant shows that there is local a push for a greener economy. The fact that $43 billion of the recently passed stimulus package is slated towards energy, especially green energy, speaks volumes about what direction the country would like to go towards its use of energy. If the bill does pass, federal funding will be the principal source of money. (more…)

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City Delays on Solar Plant Vote

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2009 |

austin-skyline-bannerAs expected, the Austin City Council made the decision to delay the vote on Austin Energy’s proposed solar plant until March 5th.  Council Member Mike Martinez wanted to put it off longer, but since the bid for the plant will actually expire just seven days after this March meeting, the council agreed unanimously to have the final vote in three weeks time.

The foremost explanation for this delay was to give more time for the public participation process… though I think it is important to note that the “public” we’re referring to here is chiefly the city’s largest industrial rate-payers.  The general Austin public has already shown its colors on this issue.  According to recent surveys conducted by Austin Energy (and presented yesterday morning by Roger Duncan, general manager of the utility), Austinites want much more solar.  At 30 MW, the proposed solar plant would be the largest utility-scale photovoltaic array in the nation, and the 6th biggest solar plant in the world.  From where I’m sitting, that looks like just what the doctor ordered.

Large-scale users are up in arms because, since they use so much more energy, they think they’re going to be particularly hard hit by any slight rate increase.  Due to information that surfaced during this meeting, I am inclined not to feel terribly sorry for these folks.  If you’ll just stick with me here, everything will be illuminated.  I promise it’ll be good.

The council had already decided to delay the vote before they even entered the chamber, but listened to presentations and public comment anyway.  First on the agenda was Roger Duncan, general manager of Austin Energy.

Roger started out by laying out the basics of the proposed solar plant and how it would fit in with the City’s strategic energy plan.  The City plans to get 100 MW of its power from solar energy by 2020.  The first goal in this process was to install 15 MW of solar power by 2007.  We missed that stepping stone — Roger said we currently have 1.5 MW of solar installed on rooftops throughout Austin.  The next goal in line is to get 30 MW by 2010.  If the proposed project is approved, and built within the expected 18 months, Austin will be right on schedule to meet that goal. (more…)

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