Colleges Team Up to Win $200 K Green Energy Grant

MASSASOIT, BRISTOL, AND CAPE COD COMMUNITY COLLEGES TEAM UP TO CREATE COURSES IN GREEN ENERGY DESIGN AND BUILDING - THE PLAN WINS THEM A $196,666 GRANT AWARD

Massasoit Community College has successfully partnered with Bristol Community College and Cape Cod Community College in proposing the Green Energy Design and Building (GEDB) Project. The project is one of six in the state to be awarded a highly competitive Clean Energy Workforce Training Capacity Building grant from the Commonwealth Corporation, in collaboration with the state’s new Clean Energy Center. The $196,666 award will enable the three community colleges in southeastern MA – in partnership with industry, vocational technical high schools, and Workforce Investment Boards – to develop a Green Energy Design and Building course.

The course, aimed at building industry professionals and vocational school students, will survey technologies, materials, and techniques used in building and designing green, energy-efficient buildings. It will combine online instruction with hands-on workshops at the three community colleges, and it will be offered in modules, with both credit and non-credit options.

Course topics include:
· Planning, design and construction process
· Geothermal technology
· Selected changes in the Massachusetts State Building Code related to energy efficiency
· Lighting including day lighting, control systems, new luminaries, and other applications
· Wind turbines
· Greenhouses
· Siting and landscape design for energy savings
· Water, including supply sources, acquisition, and resource management
· Air conditioning and refrigerants
· Solar thermal for space and water heating
· Solar photovoltaic

The GEDB Project will also develop Sustainability and Green Energy (SAGE) career and educational pathways from secondary schools to a range of green post-secondary degree and certificate programs and careers in the region. Massasoit’s Emergent Technologies Division will be an important locus of activity in the development of this and similar projects.