Events
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Visits Wake Tech
RALEIGH, NC (September 5, 2024) – Sustainability was in the spotlight as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Wake Tech East in Wendell.
Yellen arrived at the campus' award-winning Central Energy plant with Gov. Roy Cooper to hear about Wake Tech's commitment to environmentally friendly building and maintenance practices, as well as how the college is incorporating sustainability instruction in several of its programs.
The first stop was the Central Energy Plant, the first facility in North Carolina to earn the highest Four Green Globes certification for sustainability. With rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency lighting and hundreds of geothermal wells for heating and cooling the campus, it was also named the 2023 Green Globes Project of the Year by the Green Building Initiative.
"This campus is entirely heated and cooled by 297 geothermal wells and has solar photovoltaic panels on all of our buildings, which reduces our electrical costs by 15%," Wake Tech President Dr. Scott Ralls told Yellen. "And it's not just the sustainability features in our buildings. Wake Tech is a leader in higher education and training by embedding energy efficiency instruction into all our technical programs."
Yellen and Cooper heard directly from students and faculty about how the college is doing that:
- In Architectural Technology, students are taught about renewable energy, green building design, indoor environmental quality, sustainable building materials and sustainable building rating systems.
- In Electrical Systems Technology, students learn about renewable energy, photovoltaic systems and design and electric vehicle charging station technology.
- In Building Automation Technology, North Carolina's first associate degree of its kind, students study air conditioning, heating and refrigeration with advanced training in logic and programming, networking, integration and controls.
- In Automotive Systems Technology, students are learning the very latest in electrical vehicle technology, as well as EV charging station maintenance and repair.
After taking a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E on a test drive with Cooper in the front passenger seat, Yellen made remarks to a packed auditorium in the Education and Innovation Center, the main academic building on campus.
"Wake Tech is a leader by using federal funds to launch new training for jobs in the electric vehicle industry and in advanced building technologies," she said.
She also highlighted clean energy tax credits that can be used for building projects, like the Central Energy Plant.
"It's so impressive. It's acclaimed for its use of thermal and solar energy to heat, cool and power the campus," she said. "What's happening here is part of a broader transformation we're seeing across the United States."
Cooper praised the work of Wake Tech and all of North Carolina's community colleges.
"North Carolina is leading the nation in innovative workforce solutions," he said. "All you have to do is talk to some of the students on this campus. They will tell you about the life-changing courses that they are taking and the certificates that they are earning to be able to make a living for themselves and their families."
Wake Tech is North Carolina's largest community college, serving more than 70,000 students each year.
