The New Green Economy and Palm Beach State College 

The College has established an energy and environmental institute to meet the community's need for a highly-trained workforce in emerging Green Industry sectors such as: Renewable Energy, Clean Technology, Smart Grid Operations, Alternative Transportation, Energy Efficiency. 

Officially named the Institute for Energy & Environmental Sustainability (IEES), its director, Dr. Jay Matteson explains that President Gallon and the College's Board of Trustees are "committed to the practice of sustainability in all areas and in becoming a leader in energy education in Florida."  This means that the college is focused on the development of academic and career technical programs that meet guidelines and recommendations from National Science Board to support education and workforce development for Building a Sustainable Energy Future (NSB-09-35, April 10, 2009).  

With support and guidance from IEES business & industry advisors, goals to be accomplished in 2011 include:

• Producing a pipeline of highly qualified technicians from entry level to advanced for the Clean Energy & Renewable Energy Technology industry
• Creating "rigorous" and "relevant" courses of study that connects
• STEM benchmarks to job skills for the New Green Economy that are of high value to employers
• Developing articulation agreements with secondary schools and state universities to enable students to achieve advanced degrees in new and emerging Green industry occupations
• Collaborating with Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers and national associations (e.g. American Association of Community Colleges / Sustainability Education and Economic Development) to disseminate "best practices" and "lessons learned" www.theseedcenter.org/About-SEED with goal to become an Advanced Technology Education center of excellence atecenters.org/
• Exploring and laying the foundation for development of career & technical education programs and courses of study for the new & emerging Marine / Ocean Renewable Energy industry www.marinetech.org/home.php
•  Procuring grants for IEES Sustainable funding projects in collaboration with business & industry and community partners; e.g. U.S. Department of Energy National Science Foundation; U.S. Department of Labor; U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Department of Agriculture.


   Please view our current Contact Magazine article - "At Palm Beach State, the future is Green" 

Palm Beach Gardens Campus, May 2011 - Establishes integrated Solar & Wind Electric vehicle charging station; developed by Palm Beach State College's District Facilities management and Institute for Energy & Environmental Sustainability