WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.—Pennsylvania College of Technology unveiled its expanded Weatherization Training Center recently, showcasing the college's enhanced facility that now has the opportunity to educate more people on the installation of green technology.

The site's location at 2245 Reach Road is one of the first such training facilities nationwide to expand its operations in response to a growing demand fueled by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act support, college officials said.

Since 1985, the Weatherization Training Center at the college has provided technical education and training to professionals who implement programs helping low-income households reduce their energy consumption and costs, according to the college.

Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour, college president, said the facility's growth speaks to the college's own growth and maturity as an institution over the last 20 years.

With the help of federal funds along with the training center's expansion, the capacity to educate more students in energy-saving technologies has increased during a time when there is an anticipated rise in demand for such technologies.

In response, the Weatherization Training Center doubled its size since work began on the facility in the spring, according to college officials, with a new footprint of about 16,000 square feet.

Construction took about five months and cost more than $100,000, which will be paid for by federal funds administered

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through the state, according to officials.

The facility now has two dedicated, multimedia-equipped classrooms; two similarly-equipped classrooms that can be used for training purposes; a weatherization tactics lab; a weatherization diagnostics and energy conservation lab; and office space for instructors and support staff.

Before the expansion, the center trained 250 to 350 people per year, and now it is expected to exceed 1,000 men and women in the coming year, college officials said.

"The (federal) funding boosted expenditures in Pennsylvania over the next three years to weatherize a projected 29,700 more housing units," Gilmour said, "reducing energy usage in the state by the equivalent of 155,000 barrels of oil a year."

According to college documents, that funding boost is expected to provide 940 jobs in the state.

"As the primary training resource for the state's Weatherization Assistance Program," Gilmour added, "we provide a full range of competency-based training courses on site and on location for employees or contractors of community-based organizations who administer mechanical and building-shell retrofits under the assistance program."

At a point when green technologies are projected to be in high demand in the coming years, it becomes important to institutionalize training to certify individuals, said Fred Detrick, deputy secretary of work force development with the state Department of Labor and Industry.

That training will help to guarantee quality work in the long run, he said.

E. Craig Heim, executive director of the Office of Energy Conservation and Weatherization, described the next few years as "standing on the precipice of a revolution" in the "green movement."

"It's an outstanding facility," said John Manz, director of the facility. "It's arguably the best in the U.S."

Allison Dillon, a training coordinator at the site, said the expansion of the building allows for good opportunities for those who come to learn to get hands-on experiences.

Jerry Welshans, an instructor specialist, said the increased space has provided for more modules and enhanced instruction at the weatherization tactics lab, as more students can use them for training purposes.