The job opportunities that didn’t exist a few years ago

Hello there. I am Natalia Gutiérrez , climate engagement manager for The Associated Press. Today I want to tell you about some amazing people who’ve changed careers and are now working to bring cleaner energy into our lives.

Clean energy is the most important solution to climate change. We rely on energy for almost everything — powering cars, running our refrigerators, heating or cooling our spaces and lighting our homes.

The challenge is that most of the energy we use today comes from burning gasoline, coal or natural gas. That releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, driving global warming.?

Transitioning to cleaner energy is opening up lots of jobs that didn’t exist a few years ago. The AP is highlighting people who have created or moved into some of these positions, to show how they did it and what the evolving job market looks like now.?

Kameale C. Terry

Co-founder of ChargerHelp!, Los Angeles.

Terry, now considered an expert in the new field of EV charger maintenance, cofounded ChargerHelp ! to alleviate the issue of the growing number of EV drivers who encounter chargers that are out of service.

She’s found that her best technicians often come from careers in oil and gas, or in sales. One of her most highly requested techs is a former furniture salesperson.

"It is the coolest thing seeing a group of folks that may not have fully known about this space prior to, but are so bought in to the idea of pushing forward massive EV adoption. That to me brings me so much joy," Terry said.

ChargerHelp! currently operates in 17 states.

?? Read the full story by Isabella O'Malley, M.Env.Sc. , Krysta Fauria and Eugene G.

Jordi Zonneveld

VP, Plug Power , Netherlands.

Zonneveld was young when he started working at Frames Group, a Dutch oil and gas company. He rose quickly in the business, but as he became a father with two growing daughters, he realized he didn’t want them to live in a world reliant on burning oil, gas and coal, warming the planet.

He began to see a different path: green hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that can be burned like a fossil fuel and generates high heat. But it does not create the same emissions that warm the Earth.

In 2021, he shepherded a merger between Frames Group and the New York-based company Plug Power, focused on hydrogen and fuel cells. Plug Power technology now runs clean forklifts in 80 Amazon warehouses. Amazon is also making its own clean hydrogen on-site in Aurora, Colorado using a machine called an electrolyzer, made by Plug Power.

The Biden administration is doling out billions of dollars in tax credits to companies that make this kind of clean hydrogen. Plug Power is in line for some of that money.?

?? Read the full story by Jennifer G. McDermott and Aleksandar Furtula.

Cindy D. Taff

CEO, Sage Geosystems, San Antonio.

Taff was a vice president at oil and gas giant Shell in Houston, but after a 36-year career there, she left to become chief operating officer at a startup geothermal company called Sage Geosystems Inc.

Taff had wanted Shell to pursue the energy that comes from the Earth’s natural heat. But that didn’t seem to be happening.

"I didn’t understand why Shell wasn’t pursuing it," she said, about applying the company’s drilling expertise to heat energy. "Then I got this great opportunity to pivot from oil and gas and work with these guys that I have the utmost respect for. And also, I wanted to make my daughter proud, quite frankly."

The Energy Department estimates this next generation of geothermal projects could provide some 90 gigawatts of electricity by 2050 — enough to power about 65 million homes.

Sage has raised $30 million so far and is growing.?

?? Read the full story by Jennifer G. McDermott .

Jackie Robinson

Instructor, Energy Coordinating Agency, Philadelphia.

Robinson's transition into the clean energy workforce came during his time in prison. He was there for 27 years and took advantage of courses offered in welding, carpentry, accounting, fashion merchandising and Arabic. He also took a class about the energy field and had the chance to work on refrigerators and heating and air conditioning equipment with Johnson Controls, an international building equipment company. After prison, he worked for them.

More than 3.3 million people work in the clean energy industry and the number is growing fast. But Robinson, now a building trades instructor, is concerned that’s not widely understood.?

"A lot of low income people don’t even know these jobs exist … it’s all about getting the word out," he said.

The Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) is a nonprofit focused in part on energy equity, with a life-size roof on the floor to practice installing solar panels and mazes of walls with exposed piping. It offers free classes, with funding from grants and trains more than 200 people each year.

?? Read the full story by Isabella O'Malley, M.Env.Sc.

• Check out all our climate coverage here.

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Thank you for reading this newsletter. We’ll be back next week. For questions, suggestions or ideas please email [email protected]

This newsletter was written and produced by climate engagement manager Natalia Gutiérrez, and edited by Ingrid Lobet.

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