Central Carolina Community College Program Profile

The Renewable Energy Program is based on the Chatham County Campus of Central Carolina Community College. The campus features a variety of features that contribute to instruction including:

• 18,000 square foot LEED Gold “Sustainable Technologies” classroom building
• Five acre Certified Organic farm on campus
• Over 10kw of student installed photovoltaics installed on campus
• 100kw rooftop photovoltaic array on roof of main administration building
• Two electric car charging stations
• On-site biofuels production and analytical laboratory
• Students build a 650 ft2 house during the academic year and auction the house to the public (funds generated by the auction are put back into the program for future student projects)
• 20,000-gallon rainwater catchment system for flushing toilets, cooling tower water, and landscape irrigation
• On-site “living machine” wastewater treatment facility

The most recent data we have is from the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Associate which releases an annual Clean Energy Industry Census. Results from the 2016 report show that North Carolina employs approx. 34,300 people in the clean energy sector (an increase of 31% from 2015). Geographic data shows that the Triangle region of North Carolina houses a large number of the 1660 clean energy businesses in the state.

Link to 2018 NCSEA Clean Energy Industry Census

• Instructors – We have a great group of instructors, most of whom have full time jobs in industry, and are able to bring their experiences to the classroom to share with our students.
• Administrative Support – The administration at CCCC has always been very supportive of our sustainability related programs.
• Reputation – CCCC has been involved with sustainability related education and training for over twenty years. In that time, we have gained significant local, regional, and national recognition for the work we do and the students who have come through our programs.
• Location – The town of Pittsboro, while itself quite small, is located near several large populations (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Sanford).

Our program has an advisory board comprised of approximately 10 renewable energy business owners.

Yes, our program requires students take an internship to complete the Associate Degree program. An internship is not required for the Certificate programs.