KATIE COSEO
The Corsair
On Tuesday at Warrington Campus, faculty, staff, students and administration gathered together for the ribbon cutting of the Green Education Module.
For the past several months students passing the old fire truck garage on Warrington campus have been hearing the drills and saws of construction. When passing the garage students could see the making of a house….but inside.
The house is actually green made from reusable material and new technologies to save energy. “We’re developing triads for the technology of the future,” said Mr. John O’Connor Chairman of PJC Board of Trustees.
Skills USA and Lowe’s Charitable and education Campus Improvement Grant are what made the six hundred square foot green house possible. Lowe’s has donated 1.5 million dollars and is the largest corporation contributor received by Skills USA.
The Electrical, HVAC/Refrigertaion Instructor Arnold Pearson who has been in the construction industry for forty years said. “This is the cutting edge of today’s services. This is how students are going to learn.”
The module is a 3 bedroom two bathroom six hundred square foot house. It was built by using renewable resources and equipment. Electrical student Thomas Rangel explained that the project of building the house began back in the beginning of the semester and how his class was able to work with greener products such as CFL (compact fluorescent lighting) that gives off the same amount of light using only 13 watts compared to a commercial light bulb using 60 watts.
Jennifer Ponson, the coordinator of student and program outreach as well as region one advisor of skills USA announced that “Thanks to Lowes we were able to build the module classroom.” Lowe’s donation to PJC was over nine thousand dollars. The module will be continued to be used by future students about using new technologies that will help save energy. This is one of the few times that the programs for HVAC, electrical, refrigeration, and construction were able to come together for a project as large scale as this.
“I’m proud to announce we will be keeping our building green and be getting greener thanks to Gulf Power,” announced Jennifer Ponson. The ribbon cutting was performed and those attending were treated to refreshments as well as a tour of the green house.