Environmental Construction
Many of the construction projects on Job Corps centers were carried out with an emphasis on conservation and sustainability, allowing students and staff to utilize a variety of training practices during the building process.
The Shreveport Job Corps Center used an abandoned house on center and converted it into a "green home" with the help of students and instructors from four career technical training areas - Carpentry, Painting, Welding, and Home Builders Institute. Solar and wind power provide energy to the house, while water is supplied through a rainwater-capture system. The house features green furnishings and utensils, bamboo cookware, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, natural lighting, solar panels, and toilets that use recycled water.
This project gave students the opportunity to apply their skills in a work environment and allowed the center to work with several local contractors, providing welcomed business to these companies and establishing relationships that will benefit students and the center in the future.
"The premier green home is essentially one big instructional project," said Steven Ingle, Shreveport Job Corps Center team manager. "It is a great way to provide hands-on training to students and teach them about important green technologies they will need to know when they graduate and start looking for jobs."
Greenhouses
At the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center, students in the Facilities Maintenance, Manufacturing Technology, and Heavy Equipment Operations career technical training areas disassembled an unused greenhouse from a local Veterans Health Administration facility and then transported, restored, and reassembled it on center.
Greenhouses were built at many centers, including the Turner, Oneonta, St. Louis, and Atlanta centers. Students at the St. Louis Job Corps Center received hands-on training in constructing a hydroponic and aquaponic greenhouse, which provides its own power source through wind, solar, and ground radiant heat.
Home Builders Institute and Facilities Maintenance students at the Atlanta Job Corps Center built a greenhouse using tempered glass and aluminum framing. The structure will be used by the center's Culinary Arts program to educate students on the cultivation of organic products for use in preparing healthy meals.
Solar Panels and Wind Turbines
Centers across the nation have installed alternative energy sources and are using these projects to supplement training opportunities for students.
Wind turbines were installed at many centers, including the Angell, Joliet, and Tongue Point Job Corps Centers. The Muhlenberg, Philadelphia, Treasure Island, Wilmington, Woodland, and Woodstock Job Corps Centers were just some of the many centers that powered up solar panels or added to their already existing solar panel fields.
The Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center installed a wind/solar hybrid grid inter-tie electrical power generating system. Students were learning about the new technology from the very start of its construction - Cement Masonry students poured the concrete pads for both the wind tower and the solar array, Welding students fabricated and installed the wind tower mounting pole and solar panels, and Electrical students wired the solar panels together, mounted the hardware in the mechanical room, and put the system into service.
Electrical students train on the operation of the solar array and wind turbine to perform routine maintenance and track the system's weekly output. This system provides power to the center, and any excess will be sold back to the local utility company.
At the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center, the greenhouse temperature is controlled with energy provided by solar panels and a combined heat and power unit installed by students in the Electrical and Heavy Equipment Operations training areas.
The panels power the motor for a composting barrel constructed by Advanced Manufacturing students. The center composts office, center, and greenhouse waste, and Office Administration students are analyzing the project to determine the center's return on investment.
Pittsburgh also boasts a 62-foot wind turbine that provides clean power for the center. More than 60 Construction, Advanced Manufacturing, and Heavy Equipment Operations students assisted in its installation from start to finish.
The center's goal is to have the wind turbine and the new solar panels produce more energy than what is consumed by its greenhouse. The turbine currently generates 2,400 watts of energy with 20-mph winds.
"This project has helped our students understand the new green terminology and how to construct a wind turbine from the ground up," said Mark Lawecki, coordinator of Career Technical Skills Training and green training for the center. "We're seeing more and more of this technology in Pennsylvania and across the country, so our students' knowledge in these areas will help prepare them to fill jobs in these emerging green markets."
Gardens
Development of organic gardens on Job Corps centers provides valuable training and healthy food choices for Job Corps students. The Albuquerque and Penobscot centers each cultivated organic gardens with the produce used for meals served in the centers' cafeterias.
The Treasure Island Job Corps Center built an urban farm to promote healthy lifestyles and educate students about ecology, horticulture, composting, and sustainability. Students installed solar panels to power the outbuildings on the farm, and the center will use its projected annual yield of 7,000 pounds of vegetables, 5,000 pounds of fruit and nuts, and more than 6,000 eggs to supplement the needs of its cafeteria, Culinary Arts program, and student-run restaurant.
The New Orleans Job Corps Center planted an organic garden and installed rain barrels to collect water for irrigation. The garden was built by students in the Construction training area. Culinary Arts students planted the herbs and vegetables, which are used in the center cafeteria. The center has opened up the garden to the community, giving local residents the opportunity to pick fruits and vegetables, and it adopted a local first-grade elementary school class to help maintain the garden.
The gardens are reducing other center operational costs. For example, the Maui Job Corps Center grows native Hawaiian vegetables in its garden, reducing the center's dependency on outside suppliers. The center also created a water capture system that recycles rainwater to irrigate the garden. The Brunswick Job Corps Center also anticipates a cost savings on food purchases because of its garden.
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