More than ever before, our State's vocational technical schools are providing an enriched academic environment that has dramatically changed enrollment demand.
Innovative program offerings are focusing on a different series of workplace competencies, including creative problem solving and collaboration, to address vital current and future workforce needs - ranging from healthcare services to the green construction industry.
The new Vo Tech fosters an emerging collaborative environment with outside organizations and insitutions of higher education - readying the graduate for either workforce placement or the opportunity for continued education in their track of study.
If planned properly, these collaborations do not require additional built space but can operate within existing building footprints. Time sharing, offsite instruction and outside partnerships can all contribute to the new Vo Tech environment of innovative study.
The program will demonstrate the types of energy-related improvements that can be implemented and financed with the use of bonds, power purchase agreements and energy savings improvement plans. The presentation will display actual energy-related improvements through the use of a power point presentation--namely, boiler replacement, HVAC control systems, lighting, and solar energy panels to name a few. The program will demonstrate the most cost-effective way to finance these improvements by maximizing state aid and energy-related financial incentives--such as rebates and the sale of solar renewable energy certificates.
The Green Schools Committee of the USGBC NJ chapter is committed to linking sustainable facilities design and operations to curriculum at all grade levels. Committee leadership has developed DOE approved curricula focused on the 5 areas of LEED, as well as vocational school curriculum focused on preparing students for employment in the green buildings industry.
This session will present curriculum related to the 5 areas of LEED (site preservation, water conservation, materials reuse and recycling, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality) and relate them to specific, developed lesson plans for all grades.
In this Action Lab, participants will be given an overview of Green School objectives, and will have access to web-based resourves and live instruction in preparing a Green Schools Action Plan that they can take back to their school for implementation that can lead to changed behaviors in facilities and reduced operational costs.
The Green Schools Leadership Institute action lab will demonstrate how to use the school building as a teaching tool and investigate options for lowering operating cost of the facility. It demonstrates 21st Century collaboration by connecting green industry professionals from the USGBC-NJ Green Schools Committee with school leadership to developing a green strategic plan