Auburn University's Office of Professional and Continuing Education are now offering online "green" courses.
These non-credit courses are offered to Auburn students, faculty and alumni and to anyone with Internet access and an interest in sustainability.
Gina Murray, program developer with the Office of Professional and Continuing Education, said sustainability is an important topic, adding that Auburn feels that sustainability is relevant to the students who are primarily adult learners and working professionals.
Murray said that a year ago the University was looking into courses that would help further knowledge about sustainability.
She was approached by a company called ProTrain. The company asked the University to partner with them to provide courses online where students can learn more about sustainability and sustainability technology.
Since then, they have developed their own programs and now offer a heating and air conditioning workshop on sustainable practices, said Murray, who added Auburn also offers exam preparatory courses for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, also known as LEED, and that they administer certification tests.
She said Auburn is also working on certificates for working professionals on sustainable practices for business managers.
"We hope to have those classes rolled off in the fall," Murray said. "These courses are helping people learn how to use resources efficiently."
Local businessman Scott Selman did a presentation on Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment for the Auburn University's Office of Professional and Continuing Education. During the seminar, Selman said he talked about the equipment used in HVAC systems.
"The people at the seminar were already familiar with HVAC systems," Selman said. "We just talked about the efficiency of the equipment used for sustainability practices."
Selman said HVAC systems are helping the environment by reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions that are emitted into the atmosphere.
"Anytime you can do something that is more efficient and consumes less energy, then you can reduce greenhouse gases," Selman said. "You also reduce dependency on foreign oil which is more important to me."
Auburn University's Office of Professional and Continuing Education reached out to him to help with the seminar while he was working for Trane Air Conditioning, Selman added.
Mechanical Engineering professor Sushil Bhavnani has also helped contribute to the "green" movement.
Bhavnani taught Introduction to Sustainability (SUST 2000) in the Fall 2009 semester, along with the primary instructor, Dr. Lindy Biggs, director of the Office of Sustainability. He was also involved in the solar house project.
Bhavnani said the solar house was built from 2001-02 in response to a United States Department of Energy competition called the Solar Decathlon.
"I believe that a home should be perfectly structured," said Bhavnani. "However, you can't forget to make your home energy efficient."
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