July 29, 2009 DiNapoli touting mobile 'green' classroom By NICK REISMAN
LAKE GEORGE -- Sooner or later, most homes will go green.
Thats why labor union officials say now is the time to train home improvement experts how to build and maintain environmentally friendly homes.
"This is an area where training is catching up with demand," said Gregory Hart, the regional director of the Workforce Development Institute in Saranac Lake. "Its a start and stop process. Not everyone is understanding the potential of the new energy economy."
Hart, along with state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and dozens of labor union representatives, came to Lake George on Tuesday morning to view the Green Training Trailer, a 44-foot-long mobile classroom that travels the U.S.
The trailer, maintained by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, is used to demonstrate ecologically friendly technology that could one day become commonplace in most homes and businesses.
It is also used to teach union members how the new technology works.
"To really fix our economy, we need to focus on green building techniques," said Larry Bulman, the business manager of Local 773 plumbers union.
"We really need to be up to speed in green building for both the residential and industrial field."
The trailer, set up in the parking lot of the Fort William Henry Resort and Conference Center, included mock-up demonstrations of water-efficient pipes for toilets and sinks, solar panels and a hydrogen fuel cell.
The trick, said Tom Zalocha, a union representative from Utica, is to not only explain the new technology to home builders but to the public at large as well.
"Theyve been asking a lot of questions," Zalocha
said. "They want to know how the future is going to work out."
One question everyone has is about money, he said.
"They want to know about the money and the efficiency of the technology," he said. "Everybody is always interested in how much it costs."
DiNapoli, the state comptroller, was at the convention center to deliver a speech to union members and tour the trailer.
Schools and communities have increasingly turned to renewable fuels and resource-efficient technology as a way of controlling costs, DiNapoli said.
"The payback potential has been a lot sooner than people thought," he said.
The cost of installing solar panels or wind power technology could also decrease soon, he said.
Danna Potter, a Fishkill resident visiting Lake George, took a tour of the trailer and said she was intrigued by the solar panel technology.
"I like the whole idea of solar efficiency," she said. "Its just one of the little things you can do."
Susan Reid, a visitor from Garrison, said she had recently moved into a more fuel efficient home.
"Im looking to buy a new home, so some of these (ideas) are going to come in handy," she said. "I think were all becoming more aware about whats going on environmentally."
