Fayette offers 'Green' courses for building industry professionals

Designers, architects, engineers, builders, developers, subcontractors and others can now obtain the education they need to enter and compete in the sustainable building marketplace thanks to new course offerings at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. Beginning this fall, the Fayette campus is offering Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Green Advantage prep courses as well as the Green Advantage Environmental Certification examination through its Outreach and Continuing Education office.

Specific course offerings include:

LEED Green Associate Exam Prep Course from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18.
LEED-A+ Building Design and Construction Exam Prep Course from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m on Friday, Sept. 25.
Green Advantage Environmental Certification Class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Green Advantage Environmental Certification Exam from 8 to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

LEED is a green building rating system developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council that is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability. The LEED exam courses are developed for designers, architects, engineers and project managers. The LEED Green Associate examination prep course will highlight such topics as green building practices and principles, project site factors, water management, project systems and energy impacts, and acquisition, installation and management of project materials. The LEED-A+ course will provide an overview of LEED rating systems and examine sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.

Green Advantage is a commercial construction program designed for builders, developers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. The course prepares participants for Green Advantage certification by helping them understand and enforce the core concepts and construction principles behind sustainable building, become knowledgeable about the LEED rating system, and learn how to be an effective partner with design professionals and achieve a LEED-rated building. What they learn will help them lighten the impact on the environment, save energy, and improve health conditions of construction workers and building occupants. Participants can become Green Advantage certified by successfully completing the 90-minute exam offered at the end of the course.

Joe Segilia, director of outreach and continuing education at Penn State Fayette, said, “One of the goals of our Outreach and Continuing Education Office is to provide cutting-edge educational programming to meet the energy-focused training and education initiatives so critically needed in today’s world. Through these LEED and Green Advantage courses, regional building industry professionals will be able to gain a new level of expertise that they might not otherwise have access to.”

For more information about these courses or to reserve a seat, call the Penn State Fayette Outreach and Continuing Education Office at 724-430-4211.