Frequently Asked Questions
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GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE
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Living green means taking the environmental perspective into account in as many personal, residential, transportation, and workplace decisions as possible. An Eco Consultant is a professional who is trained to conduct comprehensive "Green Home Surveys" or "Green Business Surveys" in order to identify and catalog each potential energy and water savings and make recommendations to implement them. The goal is saving the homeowner or business owner money as well as benefiting the environment. It's a process that the Eco Institution encapsulates in the phrase: "Saving Green by Living Green." In many ways, an Eco Consultant becomes his or her client's "Personal Green Lifestyle Coach."
Can my company, school, or organization purchase the course for student or staff completion?
Yes. The Eco Institution can private-label the course so that schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations can offer a custom-branded version of the course to their students, staff, clients, and the like. Additionally, the course can be offered as a curriculum addition in schools, colleges, or universities. Discounts are available for high-volume orders.
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ECO CONSULTING: THE COURSE
What will I learn from the Eco Institution's course?
The Eco Institution's Professional Eco Consulting Course provides all of the foundational information that future Eco Consultants will need to know in order to enter and to begin succeeding in this new and exciting profession. Among the topics covered in the course are:
-The importance of environmentally sound living in all phases of everyday life and business—and how these steps and behaviors can result in reduced energy and water usage and costs.
-The construction, electrical, plumbing, and engineering concepts that underlie energy and water use in the home and workplace.
-The principles and practices required in order to reduce energy and water use in the home and workplace.
-Effective ways by which a Green Home Inspector may inspect homes and small businesses in order to identify and catalog opportunities for saving energy and water.
-The architectural, design, appliance, fixture, and product changes that can be made in a home or workplace in order to reduce energy and water consumption.
-The attitudes and behaviors that homeowners and employees need to adopt in order to consistently reduce energy and water use over time.Can I take longer than the recommended 3-6 weeks to complete the course?
Yes. The Course is designed to be self-paced. Most students complete the course in 3 - 6 weeks, however you have as much as 3 months from the initiation of the course in order to complete it and pass the course's final exam.
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The "Professional Eco Consulting Course" has been designed primarily for graduates of high school or the equivalent, or anyone who has been serving in a related professional capacity for at least one year, regardless of educational attainment. Some of the course concepts and materials are challenging, and students will be expected to carry out extensive reading of additional materials on their own.
How do I communicate with my Tutor?
The Eco Institution operates on an "anonymous tutoring" basis. Your tutor's primary role is to view and evaluate your assignments and progress and to provide you with personalized feedback. The Eco Institution maintains a Student Support Department, which you can email at any time if you have questions, are experiencing problems, or require assistance in any way. The Student Support Department can forward any course-related emails and assignments onto your Tutor on your behalf and send you any Tutor responses as required.
Do I have to attend any classes?
The assignments are open-ended and of varying lengths, and are submitted on your own schedule to the Eco Institution through the Secure Student Center. The final exam is a two-hour, online examination and may be taken only after all of the course modules are completed.
Do I have to have a background in any specific field in order to take this course?
There are neither formal requirements nor pre-requisites for training to take the course. Eco Consultants come from all walks of life—business professionals, employees, entrepreneurs, and even homemakers and college students. These individuals and many others have the capability of becoming Eco Consultants if they apply the necessary effort and acquire the skills and knowledge essential to the discipline.
Do I need to have computer skills?
Only basic computer skills are required in order to complete the online course. You need to have a dedicated Internet connection and, while not required, we recommend a high-speed (broadband) connection, as it will speed any downloads. As you progress into the profession itself, you will find that it is helpful to be able to have access to Microsoft Word® and Microsoft Excel® in order to prepare reports and to carry out certain calculations.
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Because the course is delivered online, you can live anywhere in order to take the course, sit for the exam, and become as a professional Eco Consultant. The course materials are currently available only in English, and the course is focused on English-speaking, industrialized nations, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. However, the course materials are suitable for most industrial nations and Eco Consultants are welcome to provide their services in any other country as well.
Can I take longer than the recommended 3 - 6 weeks to complete the course?
Yes. The Course is designed to be self-paced.
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ECO CONSULTING: THE PROFESSION
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How much can I expect to earn as an Eco Constulant?
Becoming a professional Eco Consultant can serve as a platform for a wide variety of income-earning opportunities—from part-time assignments that supplement your main income stream to an eventual full-time profession. As Green / Eco Consultants are relatively new professions, there is little concrete data that documents earning patterns from these pursuits over time. However, field surveys suggest that Green / Eco Consultants can make anywhere from around US$75 to US$250 per Green Home Survey or Green Workplace Survey, or from a few to several hundred dollars per day depending upon the number of clients and jobs that they have. General introductory consulting session charges are between US$40-$75 per hour. These numbers can increase substantially for Eco Consultants who train and hire employees, and who build a multi-employee green survey firm. That said, earning capacity and actual earnings will be based on a number of individual- and situation-specific factors, including:
-Commitment, passion, and work effort
-Knowledge, experience, and skills
-Demographic and economic profile of the client base
-Ability to persuasively communicate with both potential and existing clients
-Retention of existing clients and to sell additional services to them.
-Ability to market and promote his or her services and to generate positive word of mouth
-Economic conditions, technological developments, local competition, and other associated contextual parameters -
Once I earn my certificate of completion, how can I generate business?
The Online Course includes a range of professionally designed, high-quality materials that acquaint future Eco Consultants with techniques for marketing, promoting, and selling their services to potential clients—as well as tools that can be used in order to directly market, promote, and publicize their services to their target audiences. The goal of this suite of tools is to enable Eco Consultants to "hit the ground running" in their new business, and to effectively and cost-effectively promote their services both via traditional media and channels as well as online in order to "get their phone ringing" and clients coming through their doors. Included among this suite of tools are following:
-Detailed lessons the provide the necessary training for undertaking traditional and online marketing, promotional, and sales campaigns.
-Sample green survey guides and green inspection forms.
-Summary tip booklets that can be private-labeled with the Eco Consultant's name and contact information for distribution to clients.
-Marketing, promotional, and publicity templates that can be used to market and promote services.
-Sample speeches and presentations for presenting to individual clients or groups.
-A customizable, professionally designed Eco Consulting web site.
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