Training Aligns with Climate Goals for California and the Paris Accords
BEST-Ctr-CA-HPBOP-PR-091118.pdf (1716 downloads )
(OAKLAND, CA) BEST Center is pleased to announce the start of its High-Performance Building Operation Professionals (HPBOP) 12- session program for a new cohort of energy and building professionals from the Facilities Management Division (FMD) of the State of California’s Department of General Services (DGS). Funded by investor-owned utilities (IOUs), the training is designed primarily for chief engineers, stationary engineers, office building managers and others operating buildings for a variety of departments such as the Department of Justice, Department of Motor Vehicles and Treasury Department. About 50 FMD Employees from Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area will complete the training, with Sacramento having finished in August; southern and northern California cohorts starting September 14 and 21 respectively. The HPBOP curriculum was developed by the BEST Center as part of its mission and in response to the high-demand for prepared technicians to manage new, highly efficient, intelligent buildings and retrofitted buildings in a greater effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The September 14 class will be in the Los Angeles area at Mount San Antonio College; the Bay Area class will be at Laney College (one of the four Peralta Colleges) and San Jose City College, and starts September 21, 2018. Peralta Community College District Chancellor, Jowel Laguerre, Ph.D. states, “Providing this training highlights our ability to train the incumbent and future workforce in a technological field that has global impact on climate change and our future.”
The training will aid FMD, which manages state-run facilities, by improving building performance and reducing energy consumption, which will contribute to California meeting its 2030 Climate Commitment. The curriculum was crafted with industry input and includes sessions on Information Technology, Whole Systems Analytics, BAS (Building Automation Systems), Commissioning, Continuous Quality Improvement to name a few.
“In September, California will host the Global Climate Action Summit in support of the Paris Agreement to exchange new climate change commitments from the global community,” said Jemahl Ämen, Deputy Director of the Facilities Management Division (FMD). “One of the six goals in California’s climate strategy is to double energy efficiency savings in existing buildings and I believe HPBOP training represents an essential step towards achieving this goal,” added Ämen. He went on to suggest that “A workforce with modernized training in building automation, information technology, energy conservation and whole system analysis best positions our workforce to operationally address some of the worst effects of climate change.”
Pamela Wallace, BEST Center Director noted, “It was very rewarding to hear DGS employees consistently emphasize the importance of this hands-on training which optimizes building performance and helps them with current and future on-site projects. Our instructors all have a lot of experience in industry, some of whom have managed facilities for the California State University System, the University of California System. Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and Livermore Labs. The training is endorsed by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and supported by Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas, and California Community College State Chancellor’s Office Sector Navigator for Energy & Utilities.”
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.globalclimateactionsummit.org; www.bestctr.org;www.dgs.ca.gov; www.scc.losrios.edu/met/
For more than 50 years, the Peralta Community College District has served the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Piedmont by providing 30,000 students each semester with a range of educational programs and life-long learning opportunities.
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Tags: California, Climate Change, Paris Accords, COP24, building performance