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News
$2
Million Department of Labor Grant to Support Green Jobs Training at NICC
Posted 19 January
2010
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a $2,060,000 grant award to East
Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) Business Growth Inc. and
its partners, including Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC), to
develop and provide training programs for workers to enter energy
efficiency, renewable energy industries and other green occupations.
The funding supports academic program development and continuing
education workforce training through NICC. The labor department grant
will provide current and new NICC faculty members with the resources
they need to train students to enter growing fields in the green sector.
Nearly half of the grant funding will support costs to offer the newest
academic program at NICC, the Wind Turbine Repair Technician program.
The program, scheduled to open in fall 2010, will train students to
repair wind energy infrastructure. Iowa contains over 1100 working
turbines spread over 47 wind farms, and the state is now the second
largest generator of wind energy in the nation, behind the state
of Texas. Over $933,000 in federal funds will provide assistance to
NICC in the areas of learning system and curriculum delivery, faculty
development and hiring, and direct scholarships to students enrolled in
the Wind Turbine Repair Technician diploma or associate in applied
science degree program.
The new NICC program will meet this workforce need at a critical time
and is consistent with local, state and federal initiatives to increase
the use of renewable energy. Forty percent of Iowa land can produce
wind speeds necessary to generate power and the need for wind turbine
repair technicians will grow as the industry expands, according to
National Wind, a wind energy advocacy and informational organization.
Additional funding from the grant, which was authorized through the
Energy Training Partnership Grants program, will support training for
Green Building Professional certification in residential and commercial
construction. The college’s Continuing Education department will roll
out training programs this year that teach students how to earn
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building
Rating System certification. Developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) in 1998, LEED provides numerous standards for building
projects that meet environmentally sustainable construction criteria.
Students who train through NICC will learn how to evaluate a
structure’s energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions
reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, stewardship of
resources and environmental impact. The funding directly supports
curriculum delivery and training equipment purchases, and tuition costs
for 120 students through 2012. The Continuing Education department will
offer Green Building Professional certification programs at the
college’s Calmar campus and the NICC Town Clock Center for Professional
Development in Dubuque. Each NICC location will offer the training in
both residential and commercial construction.
In addition to the Green Building Professional certification in
residential and commercial construction, the grant will also fund
Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET®) HERS training
programs to train home energy raters and develop courses in green
electrical skills. The electrical skills funding will cover program
costs for 60 students and will provide “green” skills to current
electricians in the field. In addition, the college will receive
$415,000 to train 120 students in the next two years for the RESNET
HERS Training program. Funding will cover textbooks, laptops, rating
tools, supplies and costs to hire faculty to provide the training. This
program teaches participants how to rate structures in specific areas
for their energy saving features.
RESNET's standards are officially recognized by the U.S. mortgage
industry for capitalizing a building's energy performance in the
mortgage loan, certification for private financial investors and by the
federal government for verification of building energy performance for
federal tax incentives, the Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY
STAR program and the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America
Program.
Collaboration between many educational, community foundation and
workforce development organizations helped to secure the funding. In
addition to ECIA Business Growth Inc. and NICC, other partners include
the Dubuque Area Labor Management Council, United Labor Participation
Committee, the City of Dubuque, Community Foundation of Greater
Dubuque, Region 1 Employment and Training programs, Upper Explorerland
Regional Planning Commission, Wisconsin Workforce Connections and
Minnesota Workforce Development Inc.; Private sector partners include
Clipper Turbine Works, Acciona Windpower, Independent Wind Turbine,
LLC, Alliant Energy, Gronen Restoration/Properties, Loomis Plumbing and
Heating, and K&K Gardens.
For more information on NICC programs of study and Continuing Education
offerings, visit www.nicc.edu. |
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