Piloting an Energy Specialist Training Program: Lessons Learned

Engineering undergraduate students at the junior and senior level are exposed to many technical electives that are related to topics in energy. Traditionally, these classes have been limited to classroom instruction, however, making it difficult for students to obtain experiences that are closer to real world situations. Instructors have found it difficult as well to include outside of the classroom experiences for students. This paper describes the implementation of a state funded project to provide an outside of the classroom opportunity for students to receive training on calculating building energy efficiency through exposure to Energy Star, Portfolio Manager and brief content on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Students studied the energy consumption of several buildings in the vicinity both on and off campus and calculated their respective energy efficiency ratings, which they reported back to the building facility managers. Through this training, students received real world exposure to building operations and maintenance activities. Assessment of student experiences through this project was conducted through surveys which revealed that the students had an overall positive experience, including an increased interest in the energy efficiency field. As a pilot program this project demonstrates how such a building energy efficiency training program could be continued in the future on a periodic basis, and provides directions for further expansion of this type of training program so that engineering students who are interested in continuing their careers as energy specialists have the opportunity to expand on their classroom instruction to real world applications. Lessons learned during the organization and delivery of the Energy Specialist Training Program, in addition to the lessons learned about student needs and interests in such a program and the impact to the students are presented.