Training in the Field - Mobile Training Labs for Building Sciences
I wanted to share this with everyone. Last week, while doing some training work down in SOCAL, I had the opportunity to check out a really cool idea... a mobile training lab that the folks down at Energy Conservation Institute put together. The designer and educator who put it together is still very critical of his own work, and told me that it is a "work in progress"... fueled by all sorts of great, ongoing, late-night ideas. Personally, I think that they've really got a good concept with this thing!
I'm really interested to see what they do next. The need for trained and qualified individuals to do home performance testing is only going to increase in the coming years.
http://www.energyconservationinstitute.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables...
Views: 47
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ECI_MOBILE_LAB_DESCRIPTION.pdf, 1.5 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Richardson on -
Great Idea! Here in New York, hands on field training has been spotty, at best with trainers and instructors relegated to using "volunteeer" homes - often different for each session. This is good for a "real-world" scenario, but often many of the training concepts cannot be implimented or get glossed over.
NYSWDA has built an excellent facility, but it is permanent, not mobile. They are building several more of these demostration "houses" around the state, but a mobile facility would be awesome!
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Permalink Reply by Michael Stuart on -
I believe that ECI and David Brown have plans to put this one lab on the road soon... but I am not sure they have plans to bring it all the way up to NY. You should sent them a note if you are interested.
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Permalink Reply by Tom White on -
David Brown brought the ECI mobile lab up the coast to Berkeley for a visit. Here's my recent blog post and photo:
http://www.homeenergy.org/blog.php?id=103&blog_title=Building_P...
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Permalink Reply by Allison A. Bailes III on -
I love it! The Banner Center in Florida (http://bannercenterforenergy.com/banner_centers.html) has at least one trailer they've equipped for training students in construction. This one in California is the first one I've seen for energy audit training, but I imagine we'll be seeing more of this kind of stuff in the coming years.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Stuart on
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Allison,
Do you happen to know if there are any photos of the mobile construction lab that The Banner Center has put together? I did not see anything rooting around on their website... but maybe I missed it.
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Permalink Reply by Allison A. Bailes III on
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The Banner Center is actually a bunch of different centers, each focused on something different. The mobile training center I saw was for the Banner Center for Construction, and I guess I should've given you the URL for the photos the first time, but here it is:
http://www.buildflorida.org/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=58027
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Permalink Reply by Michael Stuart on
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Thanks for the link. This construction mobile lab looks interesting as well. (I wonder how they got the big green-and-white crane inside the trailer?) ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Todd Chamberlain on -
Nice looking unit, would like to see it up close.
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Permalink Reply by Graeme Nix on -
David Brown did a wonderful job putting his lab together. It looks fantastic.
Mark, it is possible to set up a small training simulator, to emulate a house and duct system. They're lightweight and portable. Not as useful as a volunteer house of course, but a good stand-in, to get that hands-on training. If you, or anyone else, is interested in more information, send me a message. I don't want to turn this thread into that discussion, and take away from David's work.
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