Promising careers don’t happen by accident. So let’s go out there and build one – together.

The AESP Emerging Leaders Institute is for the individual who isn’t satisfied with waiting around for success to come knocking. It’s for the person who sees the promise of a bright career in clean energy and wants to go out and grab it.

And we want to help. No more fumbling your way through your first few years in energy. AESP’s Emerging Leaders Institute makes the daunting task of starting in a new industry a thoughtful, high-impact, and slightly less stressful experience.

When you join our Emerging Leaders Institute, you get a guided pathway that provides you with vetted, customized education in your specific discipline and a community of peers and mentors to grow, share, and bond with.

Together, we’ll take an entire year’s worth of happenstance learning and awkward soft skills moments and replace it with six months of deep insights, curated ah-hah’s, and impactful community building.

How does the Emerging Leaders Institute help me advance?

Our dual learning approach blends traditional structured learning formats with communal learning to help you cram an entire year’s-worth of growth into only six months.

Communal Learning

Some lessons can’t be learned in a formal training. When you join, you are assigned to a peer cohort that meets monthly or quarterly for facilitated virtual sessions that include discussion, Q&A, and guided reflection on foundational topics. At the same time, you will be matched with a mentor for six one-on-one sessions to help you digest and apply what you are learning.

Customized Formal Education

When you join, you will pick from one of eight pathways (more on that later) that cater to the most common careers in energy. These pathways deliver a vetted menu of live, online, and self-paced courses you can pick from. Choose from a wide range of topics based on your career needs; from the basics of weatherization and solar foundations, to demand-side program management and beyond.

Which pathway will you choose?

From the catalog of courses in your pathway, you can build your own experience by selecting any six courses you like.

Program Management

Ideal for utility or implementation staff managing aspects of the program lifecycle.

Choose from these courses:

Introduction to DSM: Principles, Practices, and Prospects / Cost-Effectiveness / Building Broader Participation into Your Program Design / Managing People / Overcoming Objections to Your Proposal / FLEX Series / Overcoming Objections that Delay and Derail Energy Projects / Debunking Myths that Prevent Income-Property Owners from Pursuing Efficiency / Making Efficiency Work in Landlord-Tenant Settings / Finding and Motivating the Right Decision-Makers and Influencers / Demand-Side Management Program Design Lab: From Problem to Program

Evaluation, Measurement & Verification

Ideal for internal evaluation teams, EM&V consultants, regulators

Choose from these courses:

Certificate in Impact Evaluation / Attribution & Net-to-Gross / Understanding the Uncertainty Assessment for Current M&V / Cost-Effectiveness / Evaluation for Implementers / Building Broader Participation into Your Program Design / Building Science Foundations (8-Part Series) / Building Geometry Basics (6-Part Series)

Implementation

Ideal for program delivery teams, engineers, outreach specialists

Choose from these courses:

Certificate in Impact Evaluation / Industry Fundamentals Accelerator / Building Science Foundations (8-Part Series) / Building Geometry Basics (6-Part Series) / Getting Homeowners Excited About Energy Efficiency / Getting More Projects Approved with Concise and Compelling Financials / Handling Workspace Conflict / Solar Energy Fundamentals: Technical Core (3-Part Series) / FLEX Series

Business Development and Consulting

Ideal for independent consultants and advisory firms

Choose from these courses:

Industry Fundamentals Accelerator / Communicating a More Compelling “Cost of Waiting” / Getting Homeowners Excited About Energy Efficiency / Making the Perfect Pitch / Intro to Solar Energy: Big Picture / Cost-Effectiveness / Building Broader Engagement into Your Program Design / Helping Customers Compare Financing Options / Finding and Motivating the Right Decision-Makers and Influencers / Presentation Excellence / Winning with Concise Communication / Solar Energy Fundamentals: Technical Core (3-Part Series) / Learning the Secrets of Selling in a Recession / Getting More Projects Approved with Financials

Trade Allies and Contractors

Ideal for energy auditors, HVAC contractors, lighting and weatherization professionals

Choose from these courses:

Selling to Small Business Owners / Making the Perfect Pitch / Getting Homeowners Excited About Energy Efficiency / Escaping Three-Bids Syndrome / Emotional Intelligence for Managers / Learn the Secrets of Selling in a Recession: Residential Edition / FLEX Course 1: Introduction to Demand Flexibility and the Resources That Make It Work

Foundational Skills

Ideal for interns, new hires, career changers

Choose from these courses:

Industry Fundamentals Accelerator / Demand Side Management (DSM) Online Course Bundle (1-4) / FLEX Course Series / Effective Presentations / Effective Public Speaking / Introduction to Demand Side Management (DSM): Principles, Practices, and Prospects / Building Science Foundations (8-Part Series) / Building Geometry Basics (6-Part Series) / Cybersecurity 101: Guard the Grid

Marketing and Outreach

Ideal for utility communicators, outreach managers, engagement leads

Choose from these courses:

Content Marketing / Strategic Marketing for Your Energy Efficiency Programs / Presentation Excellence / Effective Public Speaking / Emotional Intelligence for Managers / FLEX Course Series 1 / Making the Perfect Pitch / Winning Concise Communications from Initial Pitch to Proposal / Presentation Excellence

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), Building Sciences and Energy Fundamentals

Ideal for emerging professionals, implementers, program staff, consultants, regulators, program managers, planners, business development professionals, career changers, planners, early-career implementers

Choose from these courses:

Building Science Foundations (8-Part Series) / Building Geometry Basics (6-Part Series) / Intro to Solar Energy: Big Picture (5-Part Series) / Solar Energy Fundamentals: Technical Core (3-Part Series) / DER Management Systems (DERMS), and How to Monetize the Markets for Customer Programs

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