KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Local Workers Ready for Renewable Energy Boost

Local Workers Ready for Renewable Energy Boost

(WICHITA, Kan.)

It's a way to reuse energy while keeping workers in several industries busy. President Obama is working to create more green jobs - setting aside $4 billion dollars for renewable energy.

The boost excites local contractors, but they know they can't do it alone.

Students spend years learning circuits, how to troubleshoot and use different methods to generate power to just about everything.

Tony Naylor is Director of the Wichita Electrical Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee on West 13th St.

Training Center

"As long as we're training on the new technologies, I think change can be a good thing," Naylor said.

And the people at the center know change is here.

"It's kind of exciting actually. Getting to do different jobs all the time," student Paul Winter said.

Winter knows renewable energy will soon become a routine part of his work as an electrician.

He says, "We're trying to save the environment one step at a time. Take baby steps, but it'll happen eventually."

Winter receives training at the center to make it happen, and knows green technologies will mean job security down the line.

"Well that and you got to save the environment a little bit. Everybody has to do their little part," Winter said.

That's why Wednesday the training center opened to the public to showcase their operation and the importance of what we can do to save.

Dean Kerr, an electrical engineer with Air Products, stopped in. "You look at the wind farms, you look at the solar. You see it's an emerging technology," he said.

The training they're getting in the classroom transfers to the job site. And with more government money going towards Green technology they can only expect to find more jobs related to renewable energy.

Naylor says, "That is what makes our jobs somewhat exciting. It is changing." An ever-changing field well into the future.

Of the stimulus money allotted for green technology, $500 million will go towards grants for training workers.