Symposium To Explore Maui County’s Growing Green Workforce

Photo courtesy UH-Maui College.

By Sonia Isotov

The County of Maui’s Office of Economic Development and the Hawaii State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) are co-sponsoring a Green Workforce Development Symposium on March 30, 2011. 

The symposium will focus on the future of green industries, the workforce needed to support these developing industries, and feature key state, county, and business experts working to make it happen.

“Green” jobs are jobs related renewable energy and energy efficiencies. Employees in a green workforce can work on wind and solar energy farms; design, install and maintain solar technology; construct and retrofit commercial and residential buildings using sustainable construction technology; install and maintain sustainable landscaping; produce food using organic and/or sustainably grown agricultural products, and more.

Expert speakers will discuss current and future green workforce development from the point of view of the state government, the educational community, and the private sector.

Featured speakers will include Jeff Matsu, Lead Researcher for the State DLIR Research & Statistics Office. Matsu will discuss the Hawaii’s Green Workforce: A Baseline Assessment Report which the DLIR released in December 2010.

According to this report, Maui County has 2,597 green jobs, which is 4.6% of all county jobs, and will add 437 additional green jobs by 2012.

Clyde Sakamoto, Chancellor of the University of Hawaii Maui College, will discuss the college’s direction and opportunities in the green industry. 

A panel of speakers from the corporate sectors will talk about their green businesses located in Maui County. The panel will be moderated by Leslie Wilkins, Maui Economic Development Board Vice President.

The event will be held on March 30, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at the Maui Economic Development Board’s Malcolm Center building located at the Maui Research and Technology Park.

For more information, please call the County of Maui, Office of Economic Development at 808-270-7710.