MORTON GROVE, Ill. (Jan. 26, 2012) — Xylem Inc announces that its Bell & Gossett brand, a leader in systems application education for the HVAC and plumbing industries, has through its Little Red Schoolhouse® been approved by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) as a provider of continuing education for LEED professionals. Xylem made the announcement in conjunction with Bell & Gossett’s sponsorship of the ASHRAE (American Association of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Winter Technical Conference and AHR Expo in Chicago.
The Schoolhouse’s Large Chilled Water Design Seminar and Modern Hydronic System Design Basic Seminar are the pump industry’s first courses to be approved by GBCI to provide credit toward the credential maintenance requirements of the LEED Green Associate and LEED AP certifications. The content provided in the seminars meets GBCI’s goals of facilitating access to high-quality professional development for those in the green building industry. The courses focus on the application of pumps and related products to enable water and energy conservation and improve building system efficiency.
For nearly 70 years, Bell & Gossett has led the industry in providing high-quality continuing education programs focusing on HVAC and plumbing. Since 1954, more than 55,000 engineers, contractors and installers have been trained in the Little Red Schoolhouse’s fully equipped learning center in the Chicago suburb of Morton Grove, while another 150,000-plus professionals have received training through B&G’s ‘traveling classroom’ program. Graduates of the Little Red Schoolhouse can be found in every state in the U.S. as well as Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Australia.
“One of the primary reasons the Schoolhouse is the industry’s leader in training is that we continually offer opportunities for consulting engineers to strengthen their expertise in applications and system solutions,” said Mark Handzel, director of building services marketing for Xylem. “We’re delighted to extend our leadership by offering consulting engineers the ability to earn LEED continuing education credits through our Schoolhouse offering.”
Xylem is a global water technology provider, enabling customers to transport, treat, test and efficiently use water in public utility, residential and commercial building services, industrial and agricultural settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands, and its people bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on finding local solutions to the world’s most challenging water and wastewater problems. Launched in 2011 from the spinoff of the water-related businesses of ITT Corporation, Xylem is headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., with 2010 annual revenues of $3.2 billion and 12,000 employees worldwide.