With fewer houses being built and a decrease in students enrolling in construction programs, Donny Holmes knew he needed to find a bright spot in the building industry. He found it in the “green” construction movement.
“Hardly anyone is building a home right now, but many people want to remodel to make their homes more sustainable and energy-efficient, especially with the incentives and rebates being offered through utility companies like Georgia Power,” said Holmes, director of construction management programs at Georgia Northwestern Technical College.
About 18 months ago, he began taking classes at Southface, a nonprofit organization that provides training and national testing for green building certifications, such as those offered through the Building Performance Institute (BPI), which sets standards for energy-efficiency retrofit work. Holmes earned the BPI building analyst professional and other certifications.
Now he’s passing that knowledge on to students enrolled in a new green building technician certificate program at Georgia Northwestern Tech’s Calhoun campus. Diploma and degree programs in green building have also been approved by the Technical College System of Georgia, and will start next spring.
“There are jobs in this sector of the building industry at present. Our certificate will help prepare students to earn certifications through BPI or the Home Energy Rating System to apply for those jobs,” Holmes said. “Construction students will also learn the new standards and guidelines of the International Energy Conservation Code, which Georgia has adopted.”
The green building technician certificate program, which costs about $1,200, consists of four courses that can be completed in two or three semesters. Students start with an introductory course to become familiar with the tenets and practices of green building and then take classes in energy measures and efficiency, energy-efficient mechanical systems and green building construction techniques.
These certifications can help construction and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) workers increase their skills and job prospects. Possible employers include utility companies (like Georgia Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority), building contractors that use sustainable building techniques and materials, renewable energy start-ups, and HVAC companies, Holmes said.
Jobs include energy auditors, building analysts, home performance auditors and residential energy specialists. Residential energy auditors complete energy assessments on homes or buildings and provide owners with a spreadsheet of recommended improvements.
The energy-efficiency market is hiring, with a median salary of $44,000 for all green jobs, according to a recent Energy Efficiency Markets Newsletter. Most of the green or clean jobs are clustered in the nation’s largest 100 cities, with the South having the largest number of job postings, according to a 2011 Brookings Institution report.
“Jobs in energy-efficiency and green building are on the rise. It’s definitely a growing part of the construction industry,” Holmes said.
For information, call 706-624-1147 or go to www.southface.org or www.bpi.org.
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