Going green pays off for Job Corps

PALMER — Congratulations to the students at staff at the Alaska Job Corps Center who last week became the first center in the nation to achieve “green” certification, which was recommended by a review panel of architects, engineers and sustainability.

The Palmer center was one of four sites chosen nationally to begin the process last year.

The push is an outgrowth of Executive Order 13514, which requires federal agencies to meet certain standards at 15 percent or more of its buildings by 2015. Four more centers nationwide are undergoing similar transformations, and dozens of others across the country are moving in greener directions.

At a June 2012 community relations luncheon, center director Malyn Smith said the project was a huge months-long undertaking that included energy reduction, green cleaning, recycling, bio-based products, green training in all trades and green center-wide culture and practices.