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Local demand for renewable energy workers remains strong

The solar panel array on the headquarters of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC in Winston-Salem
Courtesy Piedmont Environmental Alliance
Solar panels on the headquarters of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC in Winston-Salem

A local environmental group says opportunities for “green jobs” are growing in the Triad despite a change of focus at the federal level toward non-renewable energy.

Piedmont Environmental Alliance is hosting its second green jobs fair on Wednesday. Will Eley, the nonprofit’s green economy program director, says there are more openings now than last year.

The Trump Administration is trying to ramp up energy jobs. But renewable efforts such as wind and solar aren’t priorities.

“We're seeing a lot of excitement and growth here locally," he says. "But clearly understand that the current administration is trying to create as many headwinds as possible.”

Eley credits an influx of companies like Divert, whose mission is to prevent food waste. He says locally, energy efficiency is the fastest-growing sector within the green economy.

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.