For all these activities, a lot of skilled personnel are needed, that is why a number of training programmes are carried out and recently 2 new educational programmes for more jobs in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources were started:

• a new university course at the Fachhochschule Wels from which "Sustainable Energy Engineers" will graduate" and

• a vocational training, called "Okoenergie-Installateure", training installers especially in solar and biomass.

Due to the focus on energy advice, it is important to train energy advisers. The training course comprises a basic (50 lectures) and an advanced training course (120 lectures). So far more than 400 people have passed these courses.

Supporting industry & companies:

Another main part of the commercial buildings programme is the support for industry and companies. In order to support business development, the "Okoenergie-Cluster" (OEC), a network of green energy businesses was established. Presently 134 companies are partner of the network, employing 2,100 people and achieving a turn-over of around 270 M€. The network is managed by O. O. Energiesparverband.

The aim of the Okoenergie-Cluster network is to foster co-operation between the partners by common training & information, research and export activities. Among the very successful activities within the network were a co-operation project to improve the quality of user manuals of biomass heating systems for domestic customers, the development of energy concepts for different sectors of commerce and industry and a promotion programme for triggering large scale solar thermal installations.