By Michael Hartranft / Journal Staff Writer on Thu, Sep 29, 2011

/>class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-15711″ />Albuquerque Job Corps Center students rolled up their sleeves with Boeing Co. engineers and architectural experts from a green builder in Taos to launch construction of the center’s first totally off-grid structure Thursday.

The “earthship” will be made from recycled materials and equipped with solar panels for power and a catchment system to collect and recycle water. There will also be room on the property to grow food.

“We decided we were going to put together a green building on campus our students could learn from and be involved with, and at the same time, understand the hands-on building of it,” said Emily Salazar, business community liaison and advanced career training coordinator for the center.

A team of about a dozen Boeing executives, engineers and program managers from the Defense & Government Services operation in Washington, D.C., and Directed Energy Systems group in Albuquerque helped shovel and pack dirt into the old tires that will be the foundation for the walls of the building.

Boeing is starting a mentoring relationship with the center, which teaches carpentry, welding, plumbing, electrical and other skills to people ages 16 to 24. “These are the kinds of skills we can actually use in the government services we do for government clients,” said Joe Tedino of the Defense & Government Services. “The idea is to get to know these students a little bit and encourage them to perhaps think about a career in aerospace and defense when they graduate.”

Center director Stacey Cooley said the earthship will initially be about 600 square feet, and could be used for such purposes as a kitchen area for students to gather and make their own meals or a library computer lab.

Employees from Earthship Biotecture of Taos, which has been building off-grid buildings for 40 years, provided technical guidance.

“They contacted us about a year ago thinking about doing a potential project here,” said Kirsten Jacobsen of Earthship Biotecture, who gave a presentation on off-grid building systems.

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