(OAKLAND, CA) – On January 3-6, 2018, BEST Center will host its fourth Annual Institute for community and technical college educators at Laney College in Oakland, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. 43 faculty members from 32 U.S. colleges from 18 states will be seeking to improve or start new programs in commercial HVAC, energy management, and building automation. The Institute’s theme, “Buildings as Information Systems”, intends to draw a clear, direct line from managing high-performance buildings to enhancing energy conservation and occupant health. Jerry Yudelson, author of Reinventing Green Buildings, will provide the keynote address that will focus on green building and energy management trends.
Participants will hear from many leading experts and explore activities tailored for classroom use. Here are some highlights of this year’s event:
- Virtual tools for teaching retro-commissioning and controls.
- Hands-on networking and programming of open architecture building control
- Troubleshooting exercise at LBNL’s FLEXLAB to study
- HVAC economizers.
- LBNL presentations on the S. Department of Energy’s Smart Energy Analytics Campaign, energy management tools and techniques, and battery storage research.
- Microgrids and energy storage for integration of local renewable energy sources and enhancing building resilience.
- Energy audit of Shanghai Tower to find potential energy savings in the world’s second tallest building.
- Peer-to-peer presentations on best practices in curriculum development, hands-on lab activities, and student recruitment.
“BEST Center is always excited to bring together its educators who have been instrumental to the growth of our cutting-edge programs and student success,” says Peter Crabtree, BEST Principal Investigator and Laney’s Dean of Career and Technical Education. “As their workforce ages, employers are simultaneously challenged to find the next generation of technicians who can support innovative building technologies and a vibrant commercial marketplace. In response, our faculty has committed to invigorate their curricula and supply companies with graduates possessing the advanced technical skills so badly needed.”
About BEST Center
The Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Center supports publicly funded 2-year colleges with programs in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R), building automation controls, and energy/facilities management. Sponsored by Advanced Technological Education grants from the National Science Foundation, this national collaborative promotes state-of-the-art building technician education and dissemination of the latest research, technology, and industry collaborations in energy-efficient buildings.
For more information, go to:
www.bestctr.org; www.laney.edu; www.nsf.gov; www.lbl.gov
Tags:
Annual institute, ATE, BAS, Community Colleges, NSF, high-performance buildings