WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Resources for Students Interested in Careers in High-Performance Building

Career Maps

These three career maps, developed by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, are interactive tools that explore different pieces of the green building energy efficiency industry, charting possible progression between the diverse jobs available, and identifying the sorts of credentials necessary to do them well.

Learning Resources

Green Builder Media is a great source for lots of short, relevant articles discussing what’s going on today with building science, healthy homes, and energy codes.

DOE (at energy.gov) has lots of free resources online including live webinars and recorded videos on a huge range of topics related to high-performance building.

Building Performance Association has lots of great free educational resources, including videos and articles to read so you can get a further taste of what’s going on in green building.

IREC has free training and training you can pay for if you’re really interested. They’ve also got job postings so you can get a taste for what’s available.

Credentials

The Building Performance Institute offers a slew of professional certifications. They also have a job search located on their website.

ABC offers 800 programs and over 60 chapters across the country. There are paths available for various skilled trade positions. These are targeted more toward individuals who would like to work on a high-performance building construction site.

RESNET is well-known in the industry for their HERS raters and the HERS index, which uses computer software to calculate how much energy a home uses.

LEED is a widely recognized credentialing program that anyone can participate in by studying for and passing an exam. Several of the Green Buildings Career Map opportunities recognize various LEED credentials.

Field Opportunities: Maryland High-Performance Building Companies

The energy rating companies and builders listed below are part of the high-performance building industry in Maryland. Each one has contact information on their websites. Students looking for shadowing opportunities or summer internships in the high-performance building industry can reach out to these organizations for more information.