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Welcome to the future technologies and innovations that sculpt our industry.

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This episode brought to you by the BEST Center.

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Learn more about the high performance building operations, professional certification and

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exam at hpbop.org.

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Okay, welcome everyone.

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We're hanging out with Larry Chang from the BEST Center.

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Larry, how are you today?

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I'm very well.

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Thanks for having me today.

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So what has led up to this discussion is conversations about the increase of opportunities for technicians

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to become certified as professional building specialists.

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And out of that came a new certification from the BEST Center that is the high performance

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building operations, professional certification and exam.

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So let's talk a little bit about how this happened and where that all began and tell

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us a little bit about the BEST Center and what you do at the BEST Center.

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Sure.

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I'm director currently of BEST Center, which has been around since 2012.

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Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education

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Program and that program briefly is meant to boost the technician workforce across multiple

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industry sectors such as cybersecurity, biotech.

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We are the only center focused on building sciences and operations.

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And currently we're based at the University of California, Berkeley.

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But since our inception, we have been helping community college programs and commercial

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HVAC, energy management and building automation systems, both with curriculum as well as faculty

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professional development.

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To that end, we run workshops every year for faculty.

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Over the past few years, we've been doing an online institute, which has been a conference,

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which has also allowed us to showcase the cutting edge work with the Lawrence Berkeley

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National Lab, which is one of our partners.

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And we also provide technical assistance for colleges, especially those looking to modify

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their instructional labs.

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Right.

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Because certainly there's a ton of work that goes into that.

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Oh boy, absolutely.

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To accommodate newer curriculum.

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And then also we provide help with reviewing grant proposals from colleges who specifically

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want to apply for this ATE grant funded program.

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Okay.

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So I didn't realize that.

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I mean, I guess we talked about it a little bit.

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We sat down and had some conversation at our national HVACR education conference in March

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and you'd mentioned that and it really didn't sink in.

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More than just curriculum, you're also helping with our programs to look at resources, which

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that's a huge thing when you're trying to run a program that's probably on a limited

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budget.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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We've also provided discounts with a number of national distributors and manufacturers

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around HVAC equipment and controls.

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We also highlight open source software.

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Oh wow.

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Especially those that are used for control sequences.

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So that way colleges don't have to spend a lot of time and money on getting licensed

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sure.

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Yeah, the proprietary licenses are not cheap.

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They are not.

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They are not.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So let's talk about this certification.

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Where did it all come from?

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I mean, we know that buildings are getting smarter.

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Technology is getting more advanced and the commercial industrial sector has always been

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ahead of the residential.

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I myself, I spent a lot of time in building automations, mainly in grocery store, refrigeration,

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HVAC, electrical automations, a lot of like Emerson E2 and remote operations of systems.

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And then I had an interest in getting into the residential side because we started seeing

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more technology in the residential sector.

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But that doesn't say that the commercial and industrial sector hasn't been escalating even

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faster in these last few years.

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And I think that's kind of what we see is that technology is really in a boom for the

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commercial building management sector.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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And in terms of where this kind of mission for best center came from, right?

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I mean, even before there was a best center, the environmental control technology department

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at Laney College in Oakland had successfully received a number of these grants from the

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National Science Foundation around curriculum development.

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But along with that also came the opportunity to, again, kind of look at the industry as

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a whole.

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Right.

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Take a big picture.

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And we're going to put our finger on kind of the one, well, one of the critical missing

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elements in the world of operations.

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And that is acknowledgement of the very, very vital work that's done by our building technicians.

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Right.

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Because so often, right, and I can say this because I'm an architect, right, designers

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and engineers get a lot of attention.

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Right.

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And then there's the big ribbon cutting ceremony.

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And then what happens after that?

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Yeah.

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And actually, it is the life cycle portion in operations that forms the bulk of a building's

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life.

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Right.

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And so kind of knowing that, again, energy usage, indoor environmental quality, health

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and safety, those are all such critical factors that have to be optimized ideally during a

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lifetime of a building.

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We saw the need then to create a certification which recognizes, again, that very, very highly

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skilled workforce that's needed to support high performance buildings.

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You know, we talk about our programs in ways that we can improve our programs and some

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of the options to offer our students as they are coming through our program.

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You know, unfortunately, there's that misperception from the, I would say from the civilian side

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of HVAC that, you know, HVAC is just residential furnaces and air conditioners.

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And then you've got commercial stuff and it's a whole different world.

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And it's not, you know, there's opportunities to evolve throughout the entire industry.

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And you may start in one portion or one piece of HVAC or refrigeration, but you can go anywhere

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you want.

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And so showing these opportunities and showing these advanced skill sets that are available

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out there is very important, especially with generations that have grown up with technology,

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because we're really talking about understanding the technology that keeps a building operating

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and thriving at its peak efficiencies.

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Yeah, back to that question of technology, right?

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I mean, controls have been around for quite some time, originally kind of pneumatic, and

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many of the buildings still use pneumatics.

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And then over time, certain buildings have had direct digital controls overlaid on top

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of those kind of further complicating integration, what have you.

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And analogs.

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Yeah.

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And then, of course, you know, the new buildings, right?

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I mean, they'll have a full on building automation and their energy management system, you know,

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they're from the get go.

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And it has made the work of the technician kind of more involved, more hybridized, having

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to tap into multiple skill areas.

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And you know, I think that for me, that's always been one of the most fascinating things,

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I think, about building operations is that it is becoming that kind of hybrid workforce.

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And I hope that certainly it will speak to the younger or any generation that is comfortable

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with technology.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And I think about technicians that are already out in the field and may have potentially

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hit that plateau.

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I know myself, there were a few different plateaus in my career.

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I would get to a level and go, OK, I'm really good at what I'm doing here.

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And do I want to stay here the rest of my life?

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Or do I want to push myself to a better opportunity, a more challenging place within my industry?

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And then I realized that, wow, it just keeps going on and on and on.

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I've not found an end to our industry because it has so many different fingers.

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You know, Jason Objute has this really good analogy of our industry.

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We're like this living tree.

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And as the tree is growing, it's still continuing to grow new branches all the time.

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So even if we passed one branch along our way, we may look back and go, oh, wow, there's

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something new on that branch that I didn't realize.

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Right.

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So we have these new ventures, these new opportunities, and for those that enjoy technology,

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it is a great blend of kind of like different skill sets.

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I mean, you have to be a mechanic, but you also have to know the digital, maybe even

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the IT side of things and blending them together.

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And boy, now you have something that's very unique and in high demand.

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Yeah.

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And there are multiple starting points, as you mentioned, right?

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You know, technician may go through a community college program in HVAC.

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You know, others may start off in IT.

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Right.

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And then say, hey, you know, I'm working on cars.

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I like cars.

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I like buildings.

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Right.

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And yeah.

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So how do I take my skills in that direction?

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Absolutely.

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Yeah.

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Taking those mechanical aptitudes that somebody has and maybe they didn't hone in on them

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because, you know, so many of us, especially in the Gen X range, you know, we're pushed

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to college and, you know, find your path, find your path, find your path and let's get

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educated.

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And maybe some of those things that you enjoy doing got set to the wayside.

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And then as we mature in our career and in our field, maybe we have opportunity to look

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back and go, you know what, I really enjoyed doing this.

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I wonder if I can add this on to my skill set and become an even more valuable employee.

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And that's really what we're talking about is opening up your horizons to new opportunities.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Also, again, wage earning prospects too.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And travel.

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You know, some of that as well.

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All right.

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All but the digital world helps to kind of offset some of that too.

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Yeah.

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Travel in different ways.

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Yeah, when you learn to function in a digital world, you can expand your capabilities and

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your horizons so much.

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You know, I could, when I was on call, I can sit and look at a couple hundred different

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stores of multiple states and I could look at live inputs and outputs for each one.

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Those usually a couple thousand inputs and outputs for each location.

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And it felt like I was inside of that environment.

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I could be talking to someone, you know, hundreds of miles away and they go, oh, you know what,

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hold on, let me turn this on.

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Did you hear that?

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Oh yeah, yeah, I heard that turn on.

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And just understanding that it's a living, breathing, mechanical world that is tied to

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a IT envelope as well.

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And that in itself is fascinating.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It's an important thing to keep in the front of our minds that ultimately at the end of

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the day, I mean, the building is very much like any other kind of living creature, in

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my humble opinion, right?

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There for sure.

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Brain systems, you know, components, right?

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And it really does take an understanding again of those physical elements and systems, right?

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Kind of tied in again with digital knowledge too.

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Yes.

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Kind of make for that complete building.

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You know, I keep preaching this about artificial intelligence and how it's affecting, everyone

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has seen some type of AI in the last year or so, whether it's through writing skills

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or whether it's through video skills or photography skills.

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Artificial intelligence is just a vocabulary of information in a digital format.

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And so it's really just a very short matter of time before we start using AI technology

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integrated into our building automations.

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But you still have to be able to interpret the data.

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You have to interpret the outputs and be able to mechanically work on things.

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So even though it broadens our horizon with capabilities, it still will never eliminate

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that physical presence of somebody actually working on something.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I just say it's another tool.

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It is.

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That's all that it is.

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I use it all the time.

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I'll probably do a recap of description for this podcast with chat GPT or something similar

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to that.

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You know, just it is, it's just a tool.

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And for those who understand how to use their tools properly, it's like everything else.

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A tool is an assistant for the things that we are capable of doing.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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And you know, in terms of, again, the certification.

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Yes.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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Let's talk about that.

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You know, I would first of all like to refer everyone out there to HPBOP.org.

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And that is the website where you'll find the information as well as the application

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process to start the credential.

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And then once you're approved to take the exam, right, once you've met the eligibility

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requirements, requirements, education, and also work experience, right, then you can

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sit for the exam and of course passing the exam is the final hurdle towards earning that

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certification.

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Sure.

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So if we think about that, that HPBOP, that is high performance building operations professionals,

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that's who we want to be if we're not already there.

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Let's think about the people who this would apply towards, because it really is a pretty

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bit, it's a bit of a spectrum.

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There are people who might not even realize that this is an option for them.

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Right.

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Well, certainly for the technicians and facility staff who do the day in and day out, right,

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the daily rounds or what have you.

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Yeah.

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Also for the instructors or trainers at our community colleges.

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Somebody has to teach this stuff.

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Yes, absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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They are eligible to take it.

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We certainly welcome architects and engineers, although they may be a bit removed from the

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daily operation.

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Right, from the physical application.

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But one thing again I will say is that designers and engineers need to have a better handle

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on operations, right, because I know that again from my own personal professional education,

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you know, we kind of did just a kind of almost a token amount of learning around that.

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Right.

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And that's what being part of the best centers taught me.

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It's like, wow, it's really kind of filled in the gaps.

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Sure.

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Bringing a full circle.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And I really encourage this for technicians, especially young technicians.

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If you're coming out of a program and you're getting into the industry and you think, you

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know what, I would really like to move on to some other things and you want to learn

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a lot more about sustainability and efficiency and creating an environmental impact on structures

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that you work on and work with, this is right for you.

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And yeah, a lot of opportunity.

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Yeah, I hope that this certification will kind of hit on a number of levers.

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Number one, you know, first of all, for technicians to receive that overdue recognition, professional

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recognition for the vital element they play in the course of a building's lifetime.

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I think that the certification, of course, it becomes a way to set yourself apart from

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the rest of the crowd.

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I mean, hopefully that crowd of high performance technicians will grow.

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Yes, we need them.

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Right.

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And there is, you know, that level of distinction.

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And then certainly we want employers to feel that, hey, they have now another way in which

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they can develop a qualified staff to support their high performance building.

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You betcha.

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I love it.

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And for a limited time, this is actually even a free written exam.

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Is that correct?

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That's correct.

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That's correct.

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So we have the pilot exam phase.

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This certification has been in development since 2016, since we first pulled our group

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together to look at the key duties and tasks for the HPBOP technician.

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And since then, right, we along the lines of that certification development, right,

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we do have to conduct a pilot exam.

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Right.

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And it is part of the requirements that will lead to ISO accreditation for this certification,

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which is where we want to be.

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Yeah, for sure.

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And we do need a lot of exam takers.

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So it is free, you know, for the duration of this phase later, of course, like many other

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certifications, you may have to apply for that as well as pay an exam fee.

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Exactly.

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That's right.

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Love it.

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All right.

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Well, cool, Larry, thank you so much.

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And once again, that is HPBOP.org.

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Larry, we appreciate your time today and look forward to the next conversation.

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Well, thank you so much, Cliff, and I really enjoyed our discussion.

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Also want to mention that Best Center's website is at VESTCTR.org.

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And we want to do a big shout out to all of the industry and academic professionals that

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spent their time to help us develop the certification, which is also endorsed by the National Institute

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of Building Sciences.

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Fantastic.

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All right, everyone have a wonderful day and we'll catch you on the next round.

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Yeah, thank you.

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See you in Vegas next year.

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That's right.

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Okay.

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Very breaking news.