The United Association launched a new Green Awareness Certification for its members, which covers topics such as energy efficiency, energy management, alternative energy, HVAC systems, solar systems and plumbing.

The United Association has launched a new Green Awareness Certification for its members. HVAC Excellence and Ferris State University developed the course, “Green Mechanical Systems, Awareness of Fundamental and Emerging Green Technologies,” which covers topics such as energy efficiency, energy management, alternative energy, HVAC systems, solar systems and plumbing.

“You can’t get maximum efficiency from equipment if you don’t install it properly and maintain it properly,” said Jerry Weiss, HVAC Excellence’s executive director.

The Green Awareness Certification has been a joint effort between the UA, HVAC Excellence, the Green Mechanical Council and Ferris State’s College of Technology.  The certification examinations will be delivered and administered for the UA by the National Inspection Testing and Certification Corp. in coordination with HVAC Excellence.

“This new training course and certification has been in development for a while and it reflects the progressive and aggressive stance the UA has taken to ensure the vaunted UA training program stays current and even ahead of the curve in the vital green building industry,” said Mike Arndt, UA’s director of training.

Gary Hamilton, UA’s director of plumbing services, added, “With this new training and certification program we are ready to train our members in the terms and common knowledge required to become aware of what the green/sustainable movement is about. It all comes down to training and education. All our apprentices will become green.”

NITC will make the certification available to UA members via the traditional pencil-and-paper method and by computer-based testing, said Mike Massey, NITC executive vice president. NITC will work with HVAC Excellence to ensure the exam is accessible to UA members. The price per person is $75, which includes the training materials and the test itself.

“The Green Awareness Certification will be administered for the UA in essentially the same way that NITC delivers testing and certification services for medical gas piping systems and the UA STAR mastery series of examinations,” Massey said. “UA training coordinators will be able to order this certification just like they order any other tests NITC provides.”

He pointed out that this effort is similar to one undertaken by UA in 2002 to utilize NITC’s third-party certification services largely because of NITC’s ANSI accreditation. By opting to partner with these groups, Massey said, UA is demonstrating its ability to move quickly to address a need for its members and signatory union contractors.

NITC is an accredited certification body by ANSI to the ISO/IEC 17024 conformance standard. Visit www.nationalitc.com for more information.