New Certified Energy Auditors In Fayette County, PA

The Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, Inc. is proud to announce that the first graduates of the Pathways Out of Poverty funded Building Performance Institute (BPI) Energy Auditor Training have become certified Energy Auditors. Several graduates of the program including Geno Gallo, Shirley Rosenberger, and Timothy Wargo have taken advantage of the grant money available through the Pathways Out Of Poverty and Fayette Energy grants for business start-up expenses and have partnered to form Fayette Energy Consultants.

Fayette Energy Consultants will provide Home Energy Audits to qualified homeowners.  Through their business ventures, these individuals will contribute to our nation’s efforts to reduce global energy consumption one home energy audit at a time and will ultimately reduce overall energy costs to consumers.

Spearheading the start-up efforts of Fayette Energy Consultants is Geno Gallo, a resident of Connellsville, PA and long-time business owner. Geno’s business endeavors have ranged from graphic and web design to campground ownership and he has been an active volunteer in many environmental issue groups.  After owning several businesses, Geno sought out to pair his business ownership experience with his environmental interests and took advantage of the free green training opportunities that the Pathways program provided.  Geno enrolled in the BPI Training Series which incorporated computer software training (provided by the Douglas Education Center), Sales, and Entrepreneurship Training (provided by the Education and Technology Institute) in addition to the BPI/Energy Auditor Training.

The above mentioned courses provide participants with the basic tools needed to start a business in the Energy Auditing field or for those who do not wish to become self-employed, BPI-certified Energy Auditors can seek employment within HVAC, Construction, and electric companies—to name a few.  Having been primarily self-employed for most of his working years, Geno decided to couple his newly acquired BPI Certification with his business ownership experience and became the lead applicant for business start-up funds through the Fayette Energy grant.

Partnering with Geno are Shirley Rosenberger, resident of Mill Run, PA and Timothy Wargo, resident of Daisytown, PA. Shirley has been with Pathways since its upstart in 2010 and has taken advantage of the many free training opportunities provided by Pathways including Energy Readiness, Solar, Wind, and Geothermal trainings (provided by the Education and Technology Institute); OSHA (provided by Three Rivers Health and Safety); Green Advantage and the Ontility: Solar Installation Course (provided by Penn State University). Shirley entered Pathways unemployed even though she had attained her Masters degree in Archaeology. Shirley met with a Pathways Case Management Specialist who provided her with information regarding the Green Workforce and green career paths. Eager to begin a rewarding career, Shirley jumped right into volunteering with the Habitat for Humanity and Mother Earth News where she subsequently held a temporary position with the organization. In addition to her volunteer work, Shirley enrolled in numerous trainings that were available to her through the Pathways program while maintaining part-time employment —one of which happened to be the BPI training for Energy Auditing. In this training, Shirley decided to collaborate with fellow trainees Geno Gallo and Timothy Wargo to set a business plan in motion.

With a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and an employment history which includes positions as an environmental technician, system support specialist, quality control inspector, and business ownership, Timothy Wargo identified the BPI Energy Auditor Training as a logical business move in a greening economy. Timothy had been laid off from his previous position with a local solar company and was collecting unemployment at the time he enrolled in Pathways. Timothy registered for the Solar Power Training and afterwards, the BPI Energy Auditor Training.

Green workforce training such as the BPI Energy Auditor training isn’t the only weapon in the federal government’s fight to reduce energy usage.  To assist the general public in efforts to reduce energy usage there are grant monies available to homeowners and landlords who wish to take advantage of home Energy Audit assessments, save money on energy costs, and contribute to the national goal of sustainability. To find out more information visit www.rafcpa.org

If you are interested in how you can obtain training or career placement in the green industry, contact Fame Frezzell 724-434-5627 ext. 143.