Green Study Group

On Wednesday of this week I participated in the first of 12 weekly study group meetings that will focus on becoming a Green Certified Professional (GCP). You may be wondering what is a GCP. In the world of Green there are several official designations which relate to being recognized as practicing Green within a certain system of checks and balances. Most people in the home related industry have heard of LEED certified and there are several others although not as popular as LEED. You can see some of the others at this Design Green Construction website.

I think it mostly relates to being held accountable so that builders don't falsely claim to be performing green work. When a builder falsely claims to be doing green work or when a company represents its products as being green or eco-friendly when they really aren't, it is considered Green-Washing. Although having a GCP designation next to my name may not be as widely recognized as being a LEED-AP, the main benefit that I can see is that my knowledge will be verified by an independent organization ensuring that I have the knowledge needed for the job.
The study group will be hosted by the Sterritt Lumber company in Watertown and is facilitated by the local NARI chapter. Two certified contractors (Paul Morse and Daniel Glickman) will be leading the study group and I look forward to spending the next 11 weeks with some of my peers in the industry. At the end of the 12 week study group I will have the option to actually take the GCP exam which, if I pass, will mean that I am officially certified. Until then I guess I am just a wanna-be GCP, or just plain certifiable.

feel free to email me at davewest@mvconstruction.com