INSTALL floor-covering professionals are benefiting from a new green building training program from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. The UBC’s International Training Fund is a member and educational provider of the U.S. Green Building Council. This course has been reviewed by USGBC and is listed in its course catalog. These materials also have been reviewed and endorsed by the Green Building Initiative (GBI).
The training program, "Awareness: Green Building" teaches floor layers the concepts, terminology, materials, benefits and regulatory agencies involved in green building. The course prepares union members for the world of green construction, with the goal of providing UBC contractors with better informed, more productive workers.
Floor layers learn about natural carpet fibers and adhesives, proper recycling practices, low-VOC materials, and how green practices contribute to a healthful indoor environmental quality. Environmentally preferable building materials, as well as those made from salvaged or recycled products and those that both save energy and contribute to a safe and healthful environment, also are discussed. A section on the benefits of green building includes the cost factors, and ecological and human benefits so that members understand how green building addresses the broader issues affecting the environment, business interests and the quality of everyday life.
Information on planning for green growth is included to give members an appreciation of changing planning and construction practices and how these new practices control the effet of growth and construction development on the community and the larger environment. The importance of regulatory agencies and specific descriptions of the leading regulatory and certifying agencies also are presented.
