John Anderson (right), owner of John Anderson Service Company, Inc., and Donny Holmes (left), director of GNTC’s Residential Energy Efficiency program, put the finishing touches on the installation of a mini-split heat pump system.
Trane, a global provider of indoor comfort systems and services, donated a state of the art mini-split heat pump system to the Residential Energy Efficiency program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College.
The Residential Energy Efficiency Technology program trains students in green building techniques that differ from standard building techniques. Students learn not only how to save energy, but also how to build a structure that will last longer, according to Donny Holmes, director of the program.
“The main concept we teach is simply to build with sustainability in mind,” said Mr.
Holmes.
The Trane system was donated to the program’s EarthCraft Education project. For this project, two houses were built side by side on the Gordon County Campus. One house was built under new green and energy efficient specifications using new materials and techniques with EarthCraft House guidelines. The other house was built under standard building practices and traditional construction typical for most houses in the U.S.
John Anderson, owner of John Anderson Service Company in Calhoun, installed the system and coordinated the donation with Trane.
“Donny asked me to come over and help start off the EarthCraft Education project, so we did the heating and cooling load on both houses,” said Mr. Anderson. “I recommended to Donny that we contact Trane and get them to donate this mini-split system since it was suited to the needs of the energy efficient home and I came over and installed it for him.”
Mr. Anderson says that the Residential Energy Efficiency program at GNTC, and green building techniques in general, is just good building practices.
“This is just the way things should be done,” said Mr. Anderson. “I believe in what we are doing here at GNTC and it’s what I do on a daily basis with my company.”