More building owners are asking for geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) and other efficient heating-and-cooling alternatives, boosting demand for skilled workers who know how to assemble all the hydronic components. A union in Chicago has just begun to teach its workers formally on the ups and downs of GHPs.
“As the consumers and the industry go toward geothermal, we are bringing our journeymen up to knowledge so they know how to install it properly,” says Paul Chapello, an instructor at pipefitters’ union Local 597. Earlier this year, the local’s training facility in Mokena, Ill., installed a three-ton geothermal system, the guts of which are on display for night classes that started this fall.