Regularly designing zero energy/carbon buildings requires an educated and motivated workforce. Collegiate competitions like the Solar Decathlon are a proven tool to develop this workforce and provide an engaging environment that kick-starts professional learning and success. The observation of trends over 20+ years of the Solar Decathlon program has revealed a knowledge deficit on the basics of how buildings work and the vocabulary that is used; to address this deficit, the Solar Decathlon Building Science Education series was developed.

If there is one thing we have far too much of in the building design and construction industry, it is siloed information and a lack of understanding for the challenges our trade and design partners face. In this session, we cover a new approach to training in architectural engineering programs to educate new engineers with a holistic approach to building design and construction.

In the next 10 years, half of current facilities management workforce is expected to retire, according to an IFMA study. This statistic brings up some alarming questions – what happens to our buildings when their managers retire? Who will replace them? How will they know what to do when the person who has been managing this facility has been doing it for decades?