Mission Statement
The mission of Enlightened States Power Consortium (ESPC) is (1) to promote the adoption of alternative energy through educational alliances between states and countries and (2) the development of industry liaisons to promote and support educational programs that will graduate highly trained technicians to realize the pending boom in alternative energies such as wind and solar.
ESPC’s first objective will be to negotiate, fund, and deliver a unified, top-tier industry ratified (or certified) curriculum to train and deploy qualified wind technicians. A solar initiative may follow.
In this epoch of converging economic implosion and impending climate crisis, as reflected in limited budgets and broadening educational needs, ESPC bridges the gaps between silo-ed entities with obvious common interests and potential common goals. Our goal is the economy and enhanced power of enlightened synergies. For example:
• Individual states lack inter-state collaboration in their educational programs to train renewable energy technicians.
• The states themselves show little or no intra-state coordination between their own institutions which may, or may not, have programs to train renewable energy technicians:
• Universities
• Colleges
• Technical Schools
• Junior Colleges
• At least at the educational level, turbine manufacturers and other key players of the industry are not allied – neither amongst themselves nor with the array of educational facilities that offer turbine technician training – to promote either general or turbine-specific technical training.
• Power companies have a vested interest in the development of this sector in order to meet federal and state mandated REP standards and to hasten the maturity of alternative energy so those power companies can progress from transition to profit.
• Grid operators have a vested interest in the development of this sector in order to make the pending investment in the smart grid deliver the greatest possible benefit with the least cost. Transition time is expensive. The efficiency of scale that can be achieved by the coordination of both centralized and distributed renewable energy installations will repay huge dividends. The sooner the better.
Who else should this benefit? Training for the professional technical green arena should, of course, be open to high school graduates of merit. But we fervently believe that, through grants and public funding, this opportunity should be broadly inclusive of inner city people who have missed out on the American dream; people of color, as well as those rebounding from life challenges and who demonstrate a desire to improve the prospects for themselves and their families. We will seek allied organizations to work out the details and obtain funding to empower the full spectrum of our people. To paraphrase Van Jones, there can be no green revolution if it is not universal; energy apartheid would fail the dream of rebuilding and renewing America.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Jon Warren Lentz (jwl) is the founder and director of the Enlightened States Power Consortium (ESPC) www.espc.UNcom.com - ESPC is a dba of UNcom, Inc., a 501C-3 not for profit California corporation, formed in 2006 (also by jwl) for the purpose of “Promoting public awareness and understanding of the state of the global environment with a goal of environmental preservation.” UNcom currently operates as a sponsor entity providing status to the San Diego Green Business Network - www.greenbusinesssd.org - and the ESPC.