Page 6 November 1977 RAIN Solar Technician Train_ing Program The solar water heaters which now dot the roofs of various state-owned office buildings (including the one OAT is in) and apartments in Sacramento are part of the work of this program. It feels good to know that the hot water coming out of the faucet wasn't heated by Rancho Seco nuclear power plant. - CC I In November 1976, the State of California started an innovative program to train previously unemployed, underemployed and economically disadvantaged Sacramento men and women in the skills and theory necessary to retrofit existing buildings with solar domestic hot water systems. This Solar Technician Training Project (STTP) was the mechanism. The state's Office of Appropriate Technology (OAT) and the Office of the State Architect (OSA) played vital roles in the development and implementation of the project. OAT assisted OSA by writing the grant proposal, securing funds and hiring personnel to staff the project. OSA was responsible for overaH administration of the project. Funding for the , STTP came from Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) for training expenses and the State of California_ Department of General Services for materials. The program was directed by Jo Ann Trujillo; Ron Lipton ahd Dave Rozell were the training supervisors. During the 11 months the STTP was in operation, 18 men and women graduated from the two 22-week sessions. Training included solar energy theory and applications, domestic hot water plumbing and soldering, electrical skills in basic wiring and basic carpentry. Each training session was divided into two periods. The first period (10 weeks) was spent teaching the solar theory and applications and developing the necessary plumbing, electrical and carpentry skills needed for the second phase. The second phase (12 weeks) the training consisted of onthe-job training, which was actual design and construction of the solar retrofits. Seven systems were completed, including three apartment buildings, two small office buildings, the STTP workshop and a thermosyphon dem_onstrator located in a nearby community garden. During the year this program has been in operation many people have asked us what we've learned and how we would change it. Here are some of Dave Rozell's observations: The staff necessary to undertake such an ambitious training project should have been increased to one super\;isor/instructor for every five or six trainees. This added expense is justified because the trainees gain significantly more knowledge, and their skill proficiency increases rapidly through expanded personal contact. A second problem that arose was the realization that 22 weeks of training is not sufficient time to train a true Solar Technician. Part of the problem stems from a lack of defini-• tion for a Solar Technician. The definition I prefer (one that ERDA is currently bantying about) states that a "Solar Technician" is a paraprofessional capable of designing, constructing, testing, tro,ubleshooting and maintaining any solar heating or cooling system. This is distinct from a "Solar Mechanic," who is simply an installer of solar devices. Our allocation of 22 }1/eeks of training to turn out a paraprofessional was naive. The graduates turned out to be some-' where between solar mechanics and solar technicians. They possessed much more theoretical kndwledge than mechanics would need, but not nearly enough theory and troubleshooting experience to serve as solar technicians. A period of 10 to 14 months of concentrated training or, as an alternative, a two-year junior college program will be required to gradu.ate a true tech_nician. We learned another valuable lesson by restricting the size and scope of our projects. More benefit can be derived from designing and building several small solar systems than one or two large systems. ·Because solar retrofits are site specific, each is different and offers a new set of parameters for the trainee to design for and evaluate. The project did offer many rewards. First, 18 individuals learn«d the impact of energy consumption and produc-tion on their lives and ways they might regain control of this aspect of their lives. Secondly, the trainees had a strong desire to take th~ knowledge and skills they acquired and apply them to the benefit of low- and fixed-income communities. Thirdly, 10 of the 18 have already found employment as a direct result of having completed the STTP. We hope that the·lessons we have learned will help other ·groups to open job opportunities to people who historically have been left out of the mainstream of technological development. ' .- Daye Rozell 1i Left to right: OAT solar hot water heaters installed on state o(fice building, state-owned apartments and Governor Brown's apartment.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz