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Energy Efficiency Requires Knowledgeable Trades Market Demand and Accessible Training Drive Skills Upgrading
April, 2007
The Clean Air Partnership, the Canadian Urban Institute and the Toronto Training Board recently collaborated to consider and assess how the construction industry can meet the growing demand for energy efficiency. The following are conclusions and recommendations from the study, Skills for Energy Efficient Construction, released in April 2007 - Editor.
( More demand for energy efficient buildings, systems and products in the marketplace will be the key motivator for training, skills and knowledge upgrades. Lack of skills and/training is not, at this time, a major barrier to the adoption of energy efficient buildings and systems.
( Regulations (i.e. the building code) that require energy efficient construction will drive market transformation by requiring builders and developers to adopt energy efficient products and systems. This, in turn, will drive training and knowledge upgrading.
( Energy efficiency training is not well integrated into trades training. Though a number of opportunities exist for training on specific systems or technologies - some of it very good - this training is by-and-large fragmented, uncoordinated and inaccessible to many tradespeople and building operators. Many energy efficient training programs are geared towards professionals and managers rather than to trades. Some programs are quite expensive.
( Trades are not flocking to the available programs because of the extended boom in construction and a lack of demand for knowledge and skills related to energy efficient construction and alternative energy building systems.
( Energy efficient principles and understanding of the building-as-a-system should be introduced as foundation knowledge in existing training programs.
( Trades need a more integrated understanding of how their work affects the energy efficiency of the buildings they construct or renovate, and how it impacts on the work of other trades looking to achieve the same result.
( A number of new specialties and in some cases new trades are emerging from the movement to construct energy efficient and green buildings. A proliferation of new training programs is occurring with perhaps too little oversight.
( There is an opportunity to combine training of social housing residents and at-risk youth in weatherization and energy-efficient retrofit projects in the social housing sector and in low-income housing in general. This requires long-term funding for both training and retrofits and a commitment by the training organizations, housing providers and builders to integrate workers who may initially require social support.
( Building operators must manage buildings designed to be energy efficient after they are constructed or retrofit. More general training in energy efficiency is necessary for this field, and more specific training should occur when new systems are installed in buildings these operators will manage.
The authors of this report recommend the following:
1. Explore with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, as a short to medium term response to this report, its willingness to establish and fund a clearinghouse web site to provide coordinated information on energy efficiency training and certification available for construction and related trades from a broad range of providers.
2. Encourage the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to explore with the following partners ways of integrating energy efficiency into the training of construction trades and building operators. This should include:
( Employment Ontario
( Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
( Energy efficiency offices of all levels of government
( Construction industry associations
( Building owners and managers associations, including those in the non-profit sector
( Trade associations (HVAC contractors, electrical contractors etc.)
( Organizations such as the Canada Green Building Council and Sustainable Buildings Canada
( Social Housing Services Corporation
( Training providers, including union training centres and community colleges
( Training Advisory Committees
( Energy service companies
( Development of a coordinated approach to a curriculum, delivery and funding of a trades training, apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship bridging program that takes advantage of, rationalizes and fills gaps in the current array of programs.
( Incorporation of foundation knowledge about energy efficiency into all construction trade training
( Inclusion of building-as-a-system concepts in apprenticeship and upgrading courses for trades
( Mechanisms for reaching the large number of construction workers who are not unionized, have not participated in apprenticeship training and have no connection with training centres of any kind
( Energy efficiency training for the renovation sector.
3. To ensure the systematic training of building operators on new energy efficient, energy conserving and renewable energy systems in the buildings they manage, encourage the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Ministry of Energy to reinvest in the Energy Training Ontario initiative so that Seneca College's Building Environmental Systems programs can be made available through colleges in every geographic area of the province with curriculum support and relevant marketing guidance.
4. Promote the benefits of the Province of Ontario providing a mandate and resources to the Social Housing Services Corporation to plan for a more systematic process to retrofit low-income and social housing for energy efficiency, and to prepare and engage social housing residents, unemployed youth and other disadvantaged groups in training programs to carry out some of this work. The SHSC should work with the following participants to develop such a plan:
( Participants of similar existing programs
( Non-profit housing associations
( Social housing providers
( Community economic development organizers
( Advocates for low-income energy efficient housing programs (e.g. Green Communities, Low Income Energy Network)
( Training organizations
( Energy efficiency experts
The complete report can be found at http://www.cleanairpartnership.org/pdf/skills_03_2007.pdf.
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