Creating Unusual Synergy to Achieve Common Goals

July 10, 2000

Working with Carolina Power and Light and North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, Advanced Energy has arranged a summer and fall training series geared toward the builders, HVAC contractors, and other building industry professionals operating in the neighboring geographic regions they serve. Bridging the gap between investor-owned utility and electric cooperative, Advanced Energy has helped create a situation mutually beneficial to both.

Both NCEMC and Progress Energy are interested in enhancing the skills and knowledge of the building professionals out in the field in their regions. By providing this high level training in the areas of building science and HVAC diagnostics and repair, they seek to promote building and HVAC practices that will improve the energy efficiency of their clients' homes and businesses, ultimately contributing to greater customer satisfaction for all.

Acting as a conduit between NCEMC and Progress Energy, Advanced Energy has developed a training series that covers the state and features workshops co-sponsored by the two organizations. For a nominal registration fee, local builders and contractors are being given a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hone and refine their skills, adding value for the consumers that both they and the electric service providers involved serve.

"Advanced Energy has been a catalyst for this cooperative effort," says Dan McFarland, senior building science specialist for Advanced Energy. "Realizing that these two very different clients of ours had the same sort of objective in mind, we saw a way for them to combine their resources and stretch them further, achieving an end result beneficial to both. We assisted them in sorting through co-funding issues, developed the courses, helped plan training locations and the schedule of courses, and took care of the marketing. And, of course, we'll be there to provide the kind of state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line training that makes us such a valuable state and national resource."

For more information on this training series, please consult our training calendar .