The Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building just announced the 2010 workshop schedule. The Evergreen Institute (TEI) offers training for educators, energy professionals, homeowners and individuals interested in pursuing a career in residential renewable energy or green building. 

The schedule includes numerous hands-on workshops at the TEI's educational center in Gerald, Mo. TEI also has off-campus locations in Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis, Mo., Boulder, Colo., and in Clarendon, N.Y. TEI teaches workshops in solar electricity, solar hot water, wind energy, passive solar heating and cooling, green building, natural building, and home energy efficiency.

To help those wishing to learn about these vital topics in the difficult economic times we're facing, TEI has reduced prices on many workshops and offers substantial discounts for early registration. TEI is also offering numerous free-workshops. The schedule can be accessed online at The Evergreen Institute.

Earlier this month I visited Greensburg, Kan., and toured a few of its many green buildings. It was a great trip, and you can see more photos from my visit in this Greensburg photo gallery.

Background. Greensburg is the rural Midwestern town that was struck by an EF5 tornado on May 4, 2007. The storm was 1.7 miles wide — it killed 11 people and destroyed most of the town.

After the storm, the people of Greensburg made a commitment to rebuilding the town as a model green community. That effort is already well underway, and you can even watch its progress on TV. A Greensburg TV series on the Planet Green network is following the progress of rebuilding. The third season begins filming soon.

My visit.  Mother Earth News is based in Topeka, Kan., so Greensburg is relatively close to where we’re located — about a 4 hour drive — but this was my first visit to the town. I took a walking tour guided by volunteers from Greensburg Greentown, a community-based nonprofit devoted to helping Greensburg build green.

So what does Greensburg look like these days? Well, there’s still a lot of evidence of the storm, even more than two years out. As our tour guides explained, Greensburg used to be locally known for its trees, but now most of the trees are gone. You can see from one end of town to the other — the view is wide open. Most of the storm debris is gone, too, but there are still remnants of many buildings — a wall here, some steps there. But already many homes and buildings have been rebuilt, and many more are under construction.

There are nine different buildings on the walking tour of Greensburg (some you can go into, and others are just visible from the street). While there are many green features to see, I was struck by one recurring theme: concrete. Many of the buildings are being built with insulated concrete form walls (ICFs). In fact, ICF construction makes a lot of sense for Greensburg. Not only does it provide excellent insulation, the buildings are also structurally strong, and therefore very resistant to storm damage. From a green standpoint, one of the disadvantages of concrete is that it takes a lot of energy to produce. But in Greensburg, there are always more opportunities to go green — in this case by recycling concrete debris from the storm. The Silo Eco-Home in Greensburg is made of precast concrete, and 35 percent of that concrete is recycled from local storm debris.

Another noticeable fact about Greensburg: There are renewable energy systems everywhere, especially on the new city buildings. The arts center has wind turbines, city hall has building-integrated solar panels, and many buildings have renewable energy systems that are not readily visible from the street, including rooftop solar panels and underground geothermal heating and cooling systems.

If you want to visit.  For anyone who’s interested in renewable energy or green building, Greensburg is a great place to visit. You can simply walk up and down Main Street and see numerous examples of eco-friendly building in action, and even more green buildings are planned for the future. One exciting project is the Chain of EcoHomes being planned by Greensburg Greentown. This project is designed to help visitors understand the green options available to homeowners.

If you’re in the area, don’t miss the chance to stop by and check out what’s happening, and be sure to check in with Greensburg Greentown for more information about tours. You can also download their self-guided tour booklet for much more information about the green features of individual buildings.

Cheerful, albeit exhausted solar decathletes are headed home this week after 21 days of excitement on the National Mall.

For the second decathlon in a row, Team Germany took first place, impressing judges and peers with their SurPLUShome, which used the maximum building dimensions acceptable by competition standards. In addition to first place overall, Team Germany was  recognized for excellence in the Architecture, Lighting Design, Comfort Zone, and Hot Water contests.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign took second place with Gable Home, a small home intended to pay tribute to its cultural roots while integrating advanced solar technology.

Team California’s Refract House took third with its innovative design and excellence in Architecture, Communications, Engineering and Market Viability contests.

Check out the video below to see Team Germany’s reaction when the Solar Decathlon 2009 winners are announced.

To get the whole story on this year's Solar Decathlon, take a look at these previous updates.

It's Almost Time for the 2009 Solar Decathlon
The Houses Leave Home
The Little House from a Big Town

On Oct. 16, the overall winner of the Solar Decathlon 2009 will be announced, along with the teams taking second and third place. In the meantime, each home is being evaluated during the DOE’s 10 contests, while teams keep an eye on the scoreboard.

Currently in eighth place, is Team ZEROW, whose head of communications, Allison Elliot, took a few moments from the chaos to share her enthusiasm about ZEROW HOUSE, and the opportunity to show it to the public.

“The last few days on the Mall have been wonderful,” Elliot says. “We have been open for public tours for two days now. Today alone we had over 2,020 visitors. The public has been excited by the cost of our house ($140,000) and has loved the beauty of the interior.”

This beautiful little home comes from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Its style is inspired by Project Row Houses in Houston’s Third Ward District, and is designed to fill a need in the community for affordable housing.  

ZEROW HOUSE’s unique features, emphasized on its team’s website, include the following:

Light Core: a space which can extend the indoor living area onto the deck, because Houston’s outdoor climate is pleasant for much of the year.

Wet Core: an 8-foot-by-10-foot space containing all of the home’s plumbing, electrical and solar systems.

Material Selection: building materials “affordable, sustainable and replicable” for Houston residents.

Photovoltaics: an on-the-grid solar system producing 4.2 kW with the goal of being affordable and accessible to local homeowners.

Solar Hot Water System: solar thermal collectors angled at 30 degrees to effectively absorb and retain heat.

Green Wall: a front porch wall planted with star jasmine, coral honeysuckle and tangerine cross vine.

Shade Structure: a shade for the light core and porch made of powder-coated steel.

According to Elliot, more than 100 students have put time and energy into ZEROW HOUSE since its inception, and that hard work was rewarded when the team took first place for hot water and second for architecture and market viability.

While Team ZEROW is thrilled with the success of their house, Rice News writer Jessica Stark quotes the decathletes’ enthusiasm about returning the little house to its big hometown in her article “Rice's unconventional house making waves — and energy — at Solar Decathlon.”

“Our house is a little different from the others out on the National Mall,” said Roque Sanchez, a Rice graduate student. “But that’s because we built ours for Houston. It still looks awesome out here between the Capitol and Washington Monument, but we’re excited to bring it back home and hope it will be a big winner.” 

Disassembly will begin on Oct. 19, just three days after the winner (Team California is currently in the lead) is announced. In the meantime, Elliot, Sanchez and their teammates are residing in a long-term stay hotel in the evenings and guiding tours during the day for visitors who, Elliot says, are delighted with the simplest aspects of ZEROW HOUSE.

"Everyone has loved the clothesline," she says. "You would be amazed by the number of people who stop to take a picture of it."

In my last blog post on landing a job in renewable energy, I discussed the importance of obtaining training, especially hands-on training, to those interested in pursuing a career in solar electricity, wind energy, passive solar design, home energy efficiency and green building.

Remember, too, that you can learn a lot from a good book. In recent years, there’s been an outpouring of good books on the subject. I’ve spent the last decade writing on the subject to help fill the void.  If you’re interested in solar electricity, check out my newest book, Power from the Sun. If you are interested in small wind, check out Power from the Wind. If you are interested in green building or natural building, I’ve written a bunch on those subjects, too. But enough shameless self-promotion.

My second advice was to get a move on. In other words, get going, as there are many people just like you who are pursuing the same dream.  Get your training now.

But what else can you do?

Another important step toward finding employment is to get out and meet the professionals in the industry. Call for a brief appointment to talk with the owners of local renewable energy companies—installers, manufacturers, consultants, or whatever aspect you are interested in.

Remember, however, these are busy folks. Sometimes very busy. Try to make an appointment for a brief visit at their office. Don’t propose sitting down over a cup of coffee that you’ll buy—as many people do to me. (They want me to drive a half hour to meet them, chat for an hour over coffee, then drive home for a lousy cup of coffee!) Your $2 dollar cup of coffee won’t make up for the $100 to $200 we lose just getting to know with you.

So, call, ask for five minutes at their office at a time that’s convenient for them so you can introduce yourself. Bring an updated resume that lists the courses you’ve taken, especially installation courses. Bring a cup of coffee and a doughnut or a potted plant, perhaps.

Come well dressed and well groomed. Lead with a smile and a friendly hand shake. Don’t be pushy. Let the person know you are interested in a job and what your qualifications are. Point out your practical experience.

Remember, too, it’s not enough to say you’ve been interested in this field for 20 years. So have a million others. And, more important, why didn’t you get into the field 20 years ago like the guy or gal you’re talking too?

Long-standing interest always amuses me. Many of us have been in this field for a very long time, fighting crucial battles, earning next to nothing … we have the battle scars to prove it. And now all of a sudden, here you are, claiming this long-standing interest. It not only amuses me, it’s a bit irksome. I don’t know how others feel, but my guess is that it irks them a bit, too.

So, simply let your prospective employer know your profound interest in the field, what classes you’ve taken, what certificates you have obtained, and what hands-on training you’ve had.

And here’s a radical idea: If he or she says they’re not hiring right now, but maybe a few months, tell him or her you’d be interested in working as an unpaid intern for a month or two—if you can afford the time.

“I’ll work for nothing” demonstrates a profound interest. You’ll surely get noticed.  If the prospective employer agrees, you’ll learn a lot, too. If you work hard and appear to be a great employee, you may land a job at the end of your internship.

Besides meeting face-to-face with prospective employers, start attending national conferences on renewable energy like the American Solar Energy Society’s annual meeting. If you are interested in small wind, attend the small wind conference in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin in June each year.

More important, be sure to attend meetings of local renewable energy or green building groups, and be sure to attend their conferences. Shake hands, get to know the folks … you never know what might happen. You can easily locate renewable energy groups online. Check out your state chapter of the American Solar Energy Society as a starter. They’re listed on the ASES web site.  In my next blog, I’ll discuss the importance of certificates. Until then, happy job hunting.

I teach classes on renewable energy and green building at The Evergreen Institute, my educational center in east-central Missouri. I also teach through other organizations and institutions such as the University of Colorado’s continuing education program.

One trend I’ve noticed in recent years is a dramatic increase in the number of students interested in pursuing a career in renewable energy or home energy efficiency. A few years ago, only one or two students in my classes would raise their hands indicating they wanted to pursue a career in renewable energy. Now, it’s half my class — sometimes more!

One of the questions students invariably ask me is “How do I get a job in the industry?” I’ll discuss this topic in this blog and a few follow ups.

My immediate answer to this question is “Get as much education as possible — with as much hands on experience as possible, too.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to enroll in college. Many colleges and universities in fact, are only recently awakening to the fact that we need programs in renewable education — and are scrambling to set them up.

(Permit me a bit of soapbox time: It seems to me that colleges and universities, the bastions of forward thinking, are always the last to figure out important trends. As one who has taught at the college level for more than 30 years, it seems to me that administrators haven’t grasped the importance of environmental education or renewable energy until recently. Where have they been?  I know there are programs in environmental science and some in renewable energy, but they’re often fairly new and inadequately supported. Enough said.)

A far faster way to get up to speed is to sign up for courses on renewable energy at one of the main educational centers like ours of Solar Energy International (based in Carbondale, Colo. If you live in California, try the Solar Living Institute). In a few weeks time, spread out over six months to a year, you can get up to speed fairly quickly.

By all means, though, once you’ve completed the basic and intermediate-level courses, sign up for as many hands-on courses as possible. The theory and background material you’ll gain in “Intro to Solar Electricity,” even “Intermediate PV,” is great, and the knowledge you’ll accumulate will help immensely. But if you’re interested in working for a company that installs solar-electric or wind systems, you’ll need experience — as much as possible — to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Sign up for as many installation classes as possible. This will save your employer the cost and time required for on-the-job training.

That leads me to my second recommendation. If you are truly interested in landing a job in this field, get to it right away. You’re not alone.

As I noted earlier, there are a lot of people who have suddenly arrived at the conclusion that renewable energy is an idea whose time has come. So, get going on your course work now.

If there aren’t any classes right now, you can begin by reading. There are many good books on these topics, available through our bookstore (www.evergreeninstitute.org), your local bookstore and online.

In future blogs, I’ll discuss other tips on landing a job in the industry.

On the morning of Oct. 1, 2009, 20 student teams from universities across the United States and around the world will crowd onto the lawn of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. They will work around the clock for seven days, compete in 10 contests, and, on the ninth day, guide curious tourists and locals through the results of an endeavor the students have been living for the past two years.

It is the fourth, biyearly Solar Decathlon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Student teams apply and prepare at least two years in advance, meticulously constructing their solar-powered homes at their sponsoring universities, then disassembling them, transporting them to D.C. and reassembling them on the National Mall, where they will be judged in the following 10 categories: 

1. Architecture
2. Market Viability
3. Engineering
4. Lighting Design
5. Communications
6. Comfort Zone
7. Hot Water
8. Appliances
9. Home Entertainment
10. Net Metering 

In a recent webinar providing information about the upcoming event and requesting volunteers, Director Richard King shared his enthusiasm about the decathlon, and pointed out that the original motivation for the project was a need to integrate aesthetics with reliable technology. The DOE reached out to architectural universities to develop this possibility. The result is a temporary village consisting of beautiful, structurally sound, energy-efficient homes.  

But the vision doesn’t dim when the houses are disassembled on Oct. 21. King noted that the buildings are always placed in a permanent location after the competition, with many being housed on their sponsoring campuses as educational facilities. 

The University of Darmstadt, Germany took first place in 2007, with a deceptively box-like structure discovered to be enclosed with tri-fold, floor-to-ceiling doors. It was followed by the University of Maryland in second place, and Santa Clara University in third. 

This year, eight teams will return from 2007 and one from 2005. They will be joined by 11 new teams. We’ll be keeping you updated as the teams reach D.C., begin assembly and are judged on the overall quality of their solar-powered homes.

Pictured above: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2007 Solar Decathlon house. Photo by DOE/NREL/JIM TETRO