For those of you thinking about jumping into the "green" building or sales industry, but hesitant to start shoveling over thousands of dollars and weeks of time to obtain certifications that you're not event sure you need other then to impress someone at the next green drinks when you show them the fancy new acronym next to your name, here are my personal reviews of "green" courses that I have taken so far.ABOUT CHEERS®
The California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (CHEERS®) is the first official non-profit organization of its kind in California. Designed to educate and certify a workforce capable of testing buildings and providing an independent voice to be sure our buildings are being built efficiently. READ MORE ABOUT CHEERS® HERE.
Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Core Rater Course
Cost: $600
Additional Association Membership: $130 Annual?
Course Length: 3 Days - 8:30am-5pm
I took this course Jan of 09', prior to the updated course that's now offered so I still need to take the re-certification course soon. The Core training module must be taken before moving into any of the more specific courses like Solar or Existing Buildings.
CHEERS® appears to be a very well run organization with VERY knowledgeable instructors who are working in the industry themselves. So there's a lot to say about the value of first hand experiences our instructor shared throughout the three days.
The course consists of mostly power-point slides and following along in workbooks. There were practice quizzes each day to help you evaluate how well you're doing before the final test at the end of the course, which wasn't too hard as long as you been pay attention. One of the activities I enjoyed most in this class, besides the great food they ordered for us each day, was actually using the duct blaster system on a mock HVAC system. HVAC systems, calculating a buildings efficiency, some general green building and understanding the energy rating industry is what you'll learn in this course.
This course is best for those already in the construction industry who would like to keep up with "green" building science. Architects, city planners and curious sales people like myself will get a lot out of it as well. I do have a background in architecture and have been around construction so it's not all that unfamiliar to me, but this could be a very overwhelming course for someone seeking a simple "green" professional certification.
Written by, Evan T. Little
Realtor®, EcoBroker®
Surterre Properties
949.939.9687 phone
elittle@surterreproperties.com
My other blogs:
Costa Mesa Solar Tour
Orange County, CA Community
Real Estate in Orange County, CA
