New Organization Supports Green Mechanical Subcontractors

Hydronics engineer Tom Meyer has enough experience to know that what gets built is never exactly what is on the plans. He has also observed that most of the people who actually build green buildings are not well served by the education and training opportunities in today’s green building world. Those insights led him to create the Green Mechanical Council—GreenMech for short—to provide basic training for mechanical contractors and to seek more respect for their work within the broader green building world. “Installers and service technicians are the cutting edge of the whole industry. The rest of us have to start supporting them instead of sitting on them,” Meyer says.

Founded in August 2006, GreenMech has grown rapidly to more than 100 member organizations. These members include several major mechanical contractor trade associations, a large share of contracting firms, and some equipment manufacturers, among others. “Everybody is coming together for one thing,” Meyer says: “To improve mechanical systems in buildings.”