Plaque ceremony, tours held at Suffolk County Community College Workforce Development Center

By Vince Capogna, LEED AP+ On September 15th about 100 people attended a USGBC-LI plaque ceremony and facility tour of the recently awarded LEED Gold, Workforce Development and Technology Center located on the Grant Campus of Suffolk County Community College (SCCC). Opened in 2009, it features state-of the-art laboratories and classrooms for training specific to HVAC and manufacturing technologies. Over the past two years this facility has offered a very knowledgeable and dedicated teaching staff the proper setting in which to educate the next generation of technicians. Recognizing the need to be energy efficient and environmentally responsible is critical to our collective well being. Understanding the mechanics of how products achieve this goal and being able to install, diagnose and repair products so that they perform to this increased level of efficiency and responsibility is a challenge that SCCC has taken head on for the benefit of all Long Islanders. The Workforce Development and Technology Center provides a great first step down the path of specific 21st Century workforce training needed on Long Island. Not content to take but one step in the right direction, SCCC is preparing the way for the future of Long Island with the announcement of plans to create a Renewable Energy Training Academy adjacent to the center. As explained to me, this training academy will educate and train students in proper weatherization technologies, creating responsible energy efficient structures, as well as in renewable technologies such as wind and solar that can help provide for the reduced needs of an energy efficient structure. In my opinion, any discussion regarding the implementation of renewable technologies without first considering the efficiency of the building envelope it is being applied to is irresponsible. It is foolish to think that the best way to fill a bucket with holes in it is to switch from a garden hose to a fire hose. While it will probably work as long as you keep that fire hose open, any rational being would simply plug the holes first. As envisioned the Renewable Energy Training Academy will incorporate a mobile "smart house" that will slide in and out on rails so that students can see how a building will react to proper weatherization technologies in real time and under true real world conditions. Armed with this fundamental and essential knowledge students will also learn how to install, diagnose, repair and integrate solar panels and wind turbines. Built with a vegetated roof that can produce food and along with masonry floors and walls to absorb free passive solar energy, the building can be listed among the instructors. USGBC-LI commends the forward thinking and practical knowledge SCCC is providing to the students that must make up the future workforce on Long Island, and throughout our country. These facilities, together with the dedicated men and women that envision, develop and deliver this knowledge, supports USGBC's mission of "green buildings for everyone within a generation." USGBC-LI looks forward to working together with SCCC and supporting this project in any and every way possible for the benefit of all Long Islanders. Vince Capogna, LEED AP+, is the executive director of US Green Building Council - Long Island and principal of Synergy Green Building Group, Inc., New Hyde Park, N.Y.