The Lancaster County Career & Technology Center

The Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, a career and technical school, was chosen in early 2006 by the NAHB Research Center and HUD as a national PATH (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) Project. The Construction Program, made up of 200 high school trade students, was chosen because of its historic and successful work with young people. The goal of the project is to demonstrate to the Lancaster building community, and the general public, what is possible when building science is applied to a home building project. Not only are these houses often referred to as “green” but they represent the latest research in advanced building practices and performance models.

For the past 17 years, senior high school students enrolled in the Building and Construction Program at the Technology Center have built a home as an applied learning project, doing 90% of the trade work. This year, advanced building processes and products are being integrated, which will result in a home that is designed to be 50% more energy efficient than the same home built 5 years ago. It will meet the highest standards in the National Association of Home Builders Model Home Green Building Guidelines. Currently there is one builder in Lancaster County achieving Energy Star building standards. It is the goal of this project to raise the bar on the energy efficiency of new homes in Lancaster County beyond Energy Star, by demonstrating that if high school students can do it - experienced builders can, and should, too.

Energy is a critical subject in the world today and this project is intended to serve as a science project for young people. In January of 2007, 36 teachers from 11 school districts left a Career & Technology Center sponsored workshop with the tools necessary to begin teaching the study of energy to the PA Science standards. While the career and technical students build the house during the 2006-07 school years, middle school and high school students from surrounding schools, through a NEED (National Energy Education Development Project) grant, will study the science of energy. All schools have been invited to use the Career & Technology Center house project as a laboratory in an effort to connect behavior and design with energy consumption and the built environment.

During the course of the academic year and as new processes and products are integrated into the build schedule, the NAHB Research Center, together with subcontractors and supplier partners, will provide expertise and training to the instructors and the students. The same training will be offered to the members of the Building Industry Association. Local builders, subcontractors, suppliers and architects will be invited to participate in training sessions with the goal of creating new, local leaders in the green building movement. When the project is done and the students graduate, it will become their turn to teach.

In June of 2008 the home will be included in the Parade of Homes which is toured by thousands of people. The home will showcase the latest in building technology from a geothermal ground source heat pump, rainwater harvesting, solar hot water, energy efficient framing, energy efficient lighting, appliances and windows. Tour goers will learn what makes a house “green” from the inside out. Events will be scheduled to educate the public and the industry about the next generation of home building and the young people who will greatly influence it.

By engaging a broad and influential audience, this project has the unique and far reaching potential to create a technologically advanced workforce; help to meet academic science standards; and create new markets and resources in a local economy, mainstreaming energy conservation practices relative to the home building industry. What makes this project truly special is that it originated at a career and technical school – a place which one might not expect to find such advocacy.