Careers in Energy and Environment


A good "one-stop" shop for careers has been created by IRENA: IRENA Renewable Energy Learning Partnership. This provides an Education Centre for courses, degree programs, training guides, and webinars. It also provides a Career Center with job profiles and guidance, and internship opportunities.

Note: the rest of the information on this page has not been updated since 2010, so is something of an archive now. I hope to update this page later in 2014.

It appears that a good book on careers for renewable energy was recently published by Gregory McNamee, Careers in Renewable Energy: Get a Green Energy Job (2008). I have not read it but it is getting a solid 5-stars on Amazon.

There used to be more resources on this web page, but they were out of date. I have not added more. Looking at some of the organizations on the Organizations Engaged in Renewable Energy page of this website should give a further indication of what roles different types of organizations play, and perhaps lead to informational interviews within some of those organizations. Many organizations now have jobs pages on their web sites for current opportunities.

There are now a number of job sites available. Renewable Energy World Magazine provides a jobs page for both job seekers and employers. Renewable Energy Jobs is a new global site for more than 25 countries. The Sustainable Development (SD) Gateway by the International Institute for Sustainable Development provides an on-line job bank.

Here is a short general essay I wrote some years ago: Careers in the Field of International Energy and Environment.

Several people have asked me to write a history of my career and the ways in which I have managed to act in several different roles over the years -- as facilitator, teacher, researcher, consultant, manager and speaker. Being a facilitator is the hardest, because very few opportunities exist that will pay one to facilitate. Usually that gets done in the margins of some other job with other responsibilities -- a "day job" that nevertheless can give one a good platform or position from which to facilitate. Hope to write more!


Page updated March 8, 2014