Students hovered around two furnaces inside a classroom in north Minneapolis on a recent morning, measuring the composition of gases in the machines and how efficiently the machines were functioning.
The group is part of a cohort in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) class at the Renewable Energy Partners’ Regional Apprenticeship Training Center on Plymouth Avenue between Girard and Fremont avenues north. It’s one of several training courses designed to equip future workers in Minnesota’s clean energy sector.
“This class, this career, it opens up a lot of different options,” said instructor Jimmy Manteuffel.
While other courses at the building focus on solar training, HVAC is a major part of the clean energy economy. Roughly 40% of all energy in the United States powers buildings, and those buildings account for about 35% of the carbon emissions fueling climate change, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a research wing of the U.S. Department of Energy.
That’s a point Manteuffel underscores for his students. The HVAC course teaches students everything they need to know to be a qualified technician, and includes instruction on how to run their own business. Branding that business as green is good business, Manteuffel said, and accurately depicts the importance of making homes and buildings as energy efficient as possible.
The training center was founded by Renewable Energy Partners CEO Jamez Staples. The north Minneapolis native and solar entrepreneur noticed a lack of people who looked like him or came from neighborhoods like his in the clean energy field. Staples, who is Black, bought the Plymouth Avenue building in 2017 with the hopes of creating a training center where people could easily access the skills needed to power Minnesota’s clean energy transition.
“Our objective is to be a steady place where people know they can get training,” said Staples.
‘Hands-on stuff’
The HVAC course is a collaboration between Renewable Energy Partners, Avivo and CenterPoint Energy. It’s free to students, who are paid $10 hourly to attend and are also offered compensation for transportation.
Each cohort in the HVAC course attends classes two-and-half-hours a day for eight months. The classes include lectures, instructional videos and hands-on work on furnaces and air conditioners in a lab.
On a recent Tuesday morning in August, the class conducted flue gas tests, which analyze the gases being produced by a boiler or furnace, to measure the machines’ safety and efficiency.
“When you’re doing this stuff, you have to have 100% concentration,” Manteuffel told the group. “Listen to the machine; it speaks to you.”
The group took notes on the carbon monoxide level, the efficiency of the machine and the heat being generated as it operated. A high-efficiency furnace monitored by three students measured about 104 degrees in its exhaust stack as it ran, while a lower efficiency model’s stack hit 445 degrees. The difference in energy used and money spent to operate the two models is significant.
Kossivi Agbenohevi, an electrical engineer by trade, is a student in the class. He came to the United States from Togo in West Africa in 2001, and studied engineering at the University of Nebraska. He moved to Minnesota four years ago and became interested in the science of buildings, which led him to pursue HVAC. Adding those skills to his current resume will give him a leg up, he believes.
“My goal is to open my own company,” Agbenohevi said.
His favorite part of the class so far has been disassembling a furnace and putting it back together, which allowed him to see all of the components and understand how they connect and function.
“I like the hands-on stuff,” Agbenohevi said.
Agbenohevi is part of the third group to take the 8-month HVAC technician class. Word-of-mouth is helping to promote the course, Manteuffel said, and now there’s a 150-person waiting list.
Some students are fresh out of high school or in their early twenties, others are experienced professionals like Agbenohevi looking for additive skills or an entirely new career path. Manteuffel has had students who were pharmacists, veterinarians and chiropractors. Manteuffel himself came to the trades later in life and started as an apprentice pipefitter at 50.
A casual and charismatic teacher, Manteuffel cracked jokes, offered insights and asked questions as students filled out a sample Minneapolis inspection form. The students were focused, and sought feedback and tips about how to test the furnaces and communicate with future clients.
“You just constantly learn new things every day, and then you get to put it into use,” said student Chee Lee.
In-demand work
The energy efficiency sector represents 71% of Minnesota’s clean energy jobs, according to Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, a nonprofit that tracks workforce development in the state. More than 44,500 Minnesotans worked in energy efficiency in 2023, and most of those jobs are in HVAC.
“Realistically, energy efficiency, including these HVAC jobs, are one of our best bets for efficiency and energy reduction goals in Minnesota,” said Cathy Liebowitz, senior manager of membership engagement at Clean Energy Economy Minnesota.
Minnesota is seeing growth in most clean energy fields, including renewable energy generation. But energy efficiency jobs make up the lion’s share of the sector. It’s a field that can provide steady employment at salaries that can support a family, Leibowitz said, and one where employers need more qualified candidates.
“The pathways aren’t totally set in stone, so people coming in can create the path they want,” Liebowitz said.
The training center’s HVAC class came together out of an industry demand for more workers, Staples said. A CenterPoint Energy executive told him the company needed more technicians, and recommended a partnership with Avivo’s workforce development program.
The class tries to train students to think like business owners. After a few years in the field, most will be able to operate independently if they want, Manteuffel said. The skills students learn in class can also serve as a fallback plan if they pursue another venture, he added.
A vision come to life
For years, Staples heard comments from local governments and large corporations about the need to diversify the clean energy workforce. When he set out to build a center to do that, he wasn’t sure how it would come together. In 2021, the project was awarded $2.5 million from the Minnesota Legislature.
Now, the building has several renters and offers courses from multiple organizations, including Avivo, the nonprofit Minneapolis Climate Action, the city of Minneapolis, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa.
Classes are available for electrical and solar training, with new offerings on the horizon for weatherization, electric vehicles and hempcrete — a highly energy efficient building method that uses hemp as construction material.
Staples was aware of the need for a trades training ground closer to the core of the Twin Cities that was accessible by public transportation.
“Our intention from the beginning was to make sure people can get there and participate,” he said. “Get the skills, get the training and go to work.”
The building is powered by a solar array on the roof, complete with on-site battery storage through a collaboration with the University of Minnesota. It also runs a geothermal system for heating and cooling, making it hyper efficient.
“It’s a living laboratory for sustainability and the programming we offer at the facility,” Staples said.
This week, Staples’ company, Renewable Energy Partners, is beginning work on a 350-kilowatt solar array on top of the Northpoint Health and Wellness Center down the road on Plymouth Avenue. His crew will include four graduates of the solar program at the apprenticeship training center, one of whom was already a certified electrician. That graduate is serving as the master electrician for the Northpoint project, seizing the type of opportunity Staples had in mind when he bought the building eight years ago.
