Classes at A-B Tech are putting sustainability into the curriculum and the community through various projects and classroom exercises on and off campus. 

The Carpentry program teaches students a variety of sustainable building methods, from advanced framing techniques, which use less wood and more insulation for more energy efficient structures, to natural building techniques which utilize local, low-energy embodied materials such as straw, mud, and even waste products like used tires to construct buildings with less environmental impact.

The program uses field trips, multi-media, lecture, and hands-on experience to give students the ability to use modern building science and cutting-edge construction tools and materials to learn a variety of methods, which allows them to compete in the evolving world of construction in a conscience way, according to Instructor Heath Moody.

Students in Construction Management Technology oversaw the construction of a NC Healthy-Built modular home by Carpentry, Electrical Technology, Welding and CAD Technology students.

"This home utilizes super insulated box beam headers, closed-cell foam insulation, natural clay plaster, spacing for more room for insulation, as well as a flex design to fit different needs for occupants," Moody said.

Carpentry I students have worked with Vance Elementary on a cob structure in a community garden. Cob is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive. "In this project, students get a crash course in the ancient art of cob construction from local natural builder Tony Beurskins," Moody said. "Students not only get to stomp in the mud making cob, but get vital framing experience by building the roofs for the cob lion bench, cob concession stand, and a cob turtle-monster. Tony and I have been working together on projects for a few semesters now. It's been a great symbiotic relationship."

Students also framed a shed roof on a round structure, which was then planted to become a living roof. "The bottom of the roof panels were painted by Vance Elementary students, which have become a mural on the ceiling and creates collaboration, giving everyone ownership in the project," Moody said.

At Issac Dickson Elementary School, the Carpentry I students again got some good framing experience by building a hexagon roof over a cob pizza oven. The roof protects the cob oven from the elements and provides a little shade for parent volunteers who use the oven to sell pizza. More than $600 was raised for a student outing at one of the last pizza sales.

Ken Czarnomski's Carpentry II class built a mock roof structure to train photovoltaic installers and inspectors taking Frank Miceli's Residential Electrical Wiring class.

"This roof was constructed at a site on the Asheville campus, which will be our sustainable playground in which a variety of classes will be able to explore everything from appropriate energy alternatives, green building, sustainable landscape design and more," Moody said.

Miceli's students installed a photovoltaic array in the back of the Maple Annex, which produced more than 500 watts of energy for the house. "It's co-generating electricity for the building. If the building is not using any electricity, the power is available to be sold back to the power grid," Miceli said.

"This semester, we plan to expand and install our wind turbine and add more panels to the array. It shows tangible progress, real progress. The College is proactive at attaining sustainable energy," Miceli said. "There are many plans for many other things on our campus, this is just a small beginning." Biology instructor Scott Jackson worked with the NC Arboretum to get a $64,000 grant to build a series of rain gardens on campus to address water runoff issues.

"There are a lot of instructors and students who are doing a lot to address sustainability at A-B Tech, and hopefully administration will be able to find money to support more efforts," Moody said. "Community colleges play an important role in the changing economy by training for new jobs for appropriate solutions to energy, construction, ecological, and agricultural issues facing a world that must embrace the future of sustainability."

"Myself, Heath and others have drafted the President's Climate Commitment," said Ken Czarnomski, Construction Management Technology chair. "It is an active commitment throughout the US to reduce carbon footprint and reduce the use of energy on campus."

Czarnomski, Moody and Miceli also serve on the Global Institute for Sustainability Technologies (GIST) advisory board, and Construction Management faculty are members of the Western North Carolina Green Building Council.

"This is what we live everyday. It is a passion to interact with the environment, community and our economic structure," Czarnomski said.

This article first appeared in A-B Tech's Tech Talk newsletter, April 2009.

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