5 Green careers that continue to grow…

The job situation might have improved slightly in recent times… but it’s still a , shall we say “challenging” market for job seekers. You would be forgiven for thinking that the past 6 years or so have brought nothing but a decline in the number of jobs available across the board… but you’d be wrong!

Job opportunities within the “green” sector (those industries which are involved in ensuring an environmentally sustainable future) have continued to see sustained growth throughout the recent recession and don’t show signs of slowing any time soon.

For example, at the end of 2013 there were over 15,000 people employed in the UK’s renewable energy sector alone (a 74% increase on 3 years before) and experts predict that the next 10 years will see at least 100,000 new jobs being created in these industries.

So it’s safe to say that there is going to be a huge demand for the very specific skills required to operate in a wide range of jobs within these specialist areas. To illustrate the number of career opportunities which are continuing to grow within this sector, heres a quick rundown of some of the jobs we reckon are going to be in high demand in the coming years.

Sustainability manager-  This is a career that has emerged from traditional businesses attempts to increase their environmental sustainability.  It is a job role that can include a huge range of activities and may include things like:

• Overseeing the creation, development and implementation of the company’s energy policy

• Creating and implementing new sustainability and environmental policies

• Implementing policies which constantly decrease the companies impact on the environment without hindering its growth/profitability

• Creating and delivering educational campaigns and activities that promote environmental responsibility amongst the companies employees.

Renewable Energy Engineer

This is a growing career option that encompasses an enormous spectrum of specialist areas and involves working a wide variety of environments.  Generally speaking a renewable energy engineer is concerned with finding efficient, clean and innovative ways to supply energy from renewable/environmentally sustainable sources. A renewable energy engineer could fulfill some of these roles;

• Developing and using technical expertise in all matters to do with renewable energy and environmental control

• Taking an active role in the research and design, development and construction of renewable energy technologies

• Managing the integration of sustainable energy production into existing power systems

• Carrying out inspections of renewable energy production sites and advising upon improvements to sustainability and efficiency

• Taking an active role in the maintenance and repair of machinery involved in the production of renewable energy

• Remaining constantly up to date with developments in renewable energy innovations and seeking ways to implement these innovations.

Energy Analyst

As was the case with renewable energy manager, this is a role which can be carried out for a number of businesses, organisations and other institutions across a wide range of industries and working environments. The role’s primary function is to examine the uses of energy in buildings, sites and in manufacturing/industrial processes in order to assess and improve efficiencies. As an occupation, it’s certainly not new but as companies are becoming ever more aware of the need for ecological and environmental responsibility (and as government legislation becomes increasingly comprehensive) a major facet of their role is assessing the sustainability of practices.

The role is such a varied one that it is difficult to pin down precisely what you could expect to do on a daily basis, however here’s a few things which may feature;

• Carrying out regular inspections of equipment, structures and other assets to gauge energy consumption and identify opportunities for increasing efficiency.

• Processing of data collected through inspections- calculating and tabulating results in a way which findings may be simply expressed

• Analyzing the findings of your work and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

• Ensuring that findings are compliant with company and government legislations

• Working in an advisory capacity to the sustainability manager or other members of staff with regards the company’s sustainability policy.

Conservation Officer

Put in its plainest terms this is a law enforcement officer that protects wildlife and the environments that they live in. It’s a role which has seen significant growth in the past few decades as most governments have stepped up their efforts to preserve the biodiversity and long-term survival of their natural environment. A conservation officer’s work is concerned with protection, management and enhancement of the local environment which may include a range of ecosystems including;  rivers, deciduous/coniferous forests, grasslands, marshes, beaches/sand dunes, lakes, mountainous terrain etc.

You can imagine then that their general day-to-day work activities can be extremely varied – but on the whole, as a conservation officer you could certainly be expected to carry out the following;

• Taking a leading role in an area’s environmental policy plans for sustainable management

• Undertaking and assisting in ecological surveys and scientific observations

• Collating the data which has been gathered and presenting it in a way which demonstrates its environmental significance

• Regular monitoring of an area’s ecological assets and finding solutions to any negative changes which occur

• Creating and delivering educational campaigns and activities that promote environmental responsibility and conservation

• Overseeing staff and volunteers

Ecologist

This is a career in which the main purpose of your job is to study the relationships between plants, animals and the environments in which they live.  It’s a career which is very much at the forefront of our understanding of the Earth’s natural processes because of our every growing realisation of the environments extreme sensitivity to even the slightest change in its ecology.  People who enter this field will generally choose to become highly specialised in one particular type of environment or plant/animal species, but generally speaking you could be expected to carry out any of the following:

• Carrying out field surveys and collecting information on the population and distribution of organisms within a particular area – Using a wide range of complex ecological sampling strategies

• The identification and classification of organisms present within an environment

• Carrying out environmental impact surveys in order to predict the effects of human activity of local ecosystems

• Analysing, interpreting and presenting the data which has been collected so that it may be used in the development of future policy

• The management habitats for plants and animals

• The creation of plant/animal habitats aimed at encouraging environmental sustainability

Of course there are plenty more exciting careers within the green sector, but hopefully this has given you a little idea of the opportunities which currently exist and are likely to see growth in the coming years