Building Performance and Energy Management

The Building Performance and Energy Management Certificate of Achievement is designed for students who are interested in careers that serve the green and sustainable construction industry sectors. Students may pursue a variety of high-demand professions including, but not limited to, energy auditing, building science, renewable energy, electric vehicle charging, advanced framing, water efficiency, and high-performance building. Students learn how to operate the most modern technologies applicable to building performance and energy management such as manometers, blower doors, duct testers, combustion analyzers, thermographic cameras, multimeters, and much more. The primary focus for this certificate will be how to achieve safety, health, comfort, durability, and energy/water efficiency on every construction or energy project.

The Building Performance and Energy Management Certificate of Achievement is projected to have an increased enrollment of 10-15 students/year with 8-12 completing the certificate annually with future exponential growth.

Cabrillo College is seeking approval from the Chancellor’s Office for  the Building Performance and Energy Management Certificate of Achievement in Career Technical Education.  The Building Performance and Energy Management certificate provides the fundamental knowledge to address the business aspects of construction management. The need for this certificate has been advocated for by local general contractors, business owners, speciality trade leaders, union members, non-profit organizations, and community members and supported by current, regional labor market index data (TOP Code 0957.00; CIP Code 46.0415). 

The Construction and Energy Management (CEM) program is aligned with Cabrillo’s mission, master plan, and statewide community college work in Guided Pathways.  Approval of this certificate will benefit local and regional employers, fulfill workforce needs of the local community, augment college enrollment, and support non-traditional and underserved minority students in a viable career and academic path. 

The program objectives include benefits to non-traditional learners who profit from hands-on learning. It also gives our students the knowledge and skills they need to qualify for entry-level positions or have a foundation to pursue higher education. This certificate is part of a package of stackable certificates of achievement that lead to an associate in science degree. They also allow for specialization and  exploration in vocational occupations. 

The potential for a starting salary for Construction Management is  $22.38/hour in the Santa Cruz subregion and $30.49/hour in the Bay Area subregion. This is a baseline starting salary and is variable depending on previous skills and experience in addition to ongoing advancement in employment and education. 

Connecting students to our faculty using experiential learning and knowledge is the cornerstone of our program. It is critical to student learning and landing them employment opportunities by providing them industry insight, career exploration, in addition to the technical and business skills. 

Based on all available Labor Market Index (LMI) data, there appears to be an undersupply of Construction and Energy Management TOP Code 9570.00 compared to the demand for this occupation in the Bay region and in the Santa Cruz-Monterey sub-region (Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties). The annual gap between demand and supply is about 3,101 students in the Bay region and 152 students in the Santa Cruz-Monterey sub-region.  The purpose of our program is to train and certify students to meet the high labor market demand needs in our local and regional areas.

There are 16 required units in the construction and energy management department. Cabrillo College has collaborated with and received mentoring from successful programs.  We hope to promote construction and energy management to our students and continue to develop strong workforce professionals in this area.   The sequencing of courses is designed to prepare students to be successful when they continue their education or join the workforce at entry level positions. Furthermore, program content and program mapping have been chosen based on student needs.

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CEM151	Construction Fundamentals	3.00	S1
CEM151L	Construction Fundamentals Lab	1.00	S1
CEM162	Sustainable Construction	3.00	S1
CEM162PS	Passive Solar Design	2.00	S1
CEM162BS	Building Science for Construction Technology	3.00	S2
CEM162HR	HERS	1.00	S2
CEMLD	Green Building and LEED	3.00	S2

N/A

There are no programs in the SC-Monterey subregion under TOP 0957.20 - Construction Inspection in Bay Region. Hartnell College offers two programs under Top code 0957.00 (Construction Management and Architecture A.S. Degree and Construction - Sustainable Construction: Construction Management, CoA 16 - 30 units). Clint Cowden, Dean Academic Affairs, Hartnell College was contacted on 3/26/2022 via email and responded on 3/27/2022 that there are no concerns with Cabrillo College offering the Building Performance and Energy Management Certificate of Achievement).