Program Highlights

LATTC has an over 80 year history responding to the workforce development and training needs of industry in emerging technical fields and clearly, there is an emerging need for weatherization and energy efficiency specialists. Weatherization and Energy Efficiency are closely related to the fields of construction, HVAC and energy. LATTC’s Construction, Design, and Manufacturing department is the largest in the state and ranks #1 for conferring degrees and certificates in Carpentry, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, and Machining and Machine Tools. LATTC is the only community college in the city of LA to offer Construction, Electrical, Carpentry, and HVAC degrees, so it is logical that we offer a Certificate of Achievement in Weatherization and Energy Efficiency, which is related to each of these professions.

These professionals are trained to install energy efficient products for residential or building retrofits, including windows, doors, insulation, lighting and other weatherization materials in compliance with retrofitting standards. They also replace energy inefficient appliances, furnaces, water heaters, air conditioning units, and other appliances with more energy efficient upgrades. Sealing the “envelope” of a building is a large part of the weatherization process which includes replacing or sealing air ducts where air leakage occurs.

The reduction in energy loss when a home is weatherized greatly benefits the environment. The construction and operation of residential and commercial buildings in the U.S. accounts for 39 percent of our total energy use. This compares to the industrial sector at 33 percent and the transportation sector at 28 percent of total U.S. energy use. Because buildings are such a significant consumer of energy and contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, they also need to be a focal point for any
potential solutions. As California’s legislation and policy move in the direction of requiring that buildings become more energy efficient, the cluster of energy efficiency jobs that perform this work will be in great demand (Center of Excellence, 2009).