HVAC Is Back
Sophie Aguilar | September 30, 2025
The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Crew is back at Warren Wilson College (WWC). The 2025-26 school year is the first time since 2018 that WWC has had an HVAC Crew, previously known as the Mechanical Crew.
The HVAC Crew has returned because, in recent years, HVAC has been the highest expense when subcontracted out for the college. Kevin Hudson is working to solve that problem.
While Hudson, the supervisor of the HVAC Crew, is new to WWC, he is more than familiar with HVAC. Hudson has over a decade of experience in the field, including working as a technician and a stint in the U.S. Navy where he earned his 608 EPA certification.
While working on the HVAC Crew, students learn skills that can be applied to other professions, including environmental science and data science. Hudson pointed out that it would typically cost around $12,000-$13,000 to replace a home’s central air system. Each unit costs $5,000-$6,000, resulting in a profit of $6,000-$8,000 for the contractor. On the HVAC Crew, students will learn how they will be able to do this process themselves, saving thousands in subcontracting.
Because WWC has had to outsource HVAC work in recent years, most central heating and air conditioning systems are not universal within each building on campus. The crew is working to connect those systems to a timer schedule. In academic buildings, the air conditioning or heating will be turned on an hour before each class starts and turned off after classes are finished, conserving energy.
The HVAC Crew has many long-term plans for all buildings on campus, but in the short term, they are working on replacing the air filters in every air conditioning unit on campus. The crew has also had to spend time fixing up the HVAC building, since it has been unoccupied for seven years.
Hudson expressed that he would love to have students shadow him while working on any projects. Shadowing the crew would start with safety training before getting hands-on experience.
“If you want to shadow, just make sure your supervisor knows and let me know, I’m usually doing something all day, every day,” Hudson said. “There can be some boring work like changing filters, but [some crew members] seem to enjoy what I find boring. There is also a lot of diagnosing that if anyone wants to shadow, they’re more than welcome to.”
Freshman Olivia Over plans to major in environmental science. Although they had not originally planned on joining the HVAC Crew, they have come to realize how helpful it will be in relation to the field.
“Getting a general understanding of what these chemicals are and how they affect the environment and the ozone layer, I think, will definitely be helpful in the future,” Over said.
Over is passionate about working with mitigating the environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions. The HVAC Crew is working to convert the heated garden greenhouse on WWC’s campus from natural gas to solar power and will be partnering with a graduate student who will collect the data to measure if there is a drop in greenhouse gas emissions after the switch to a solar-powered heat pump.
“Coming in [to a career], my crew will get you a foot in the door,” Hudson said. “I’m working with [the crew members] to go through the 608 EPA certification, which really goes into detail about ozone depletion chemicals and global warming potentials.”
Similarly, Em Young, a freshman on the HVAC Crew, is planning to major in data science with a minor in chemistry. Prior to attending WWC, they worked as an engineering technician for two and a half years. They have found that there were many transferable skills from that job to the HVAC Crew, specifically mentioning diagnosing and problem-solving within machinery.
“I would be perfectly primed to run an AI data center and make it more ecologically efficient,” Young said.
Hudson also noted how the skills they are learning on the crew, combined with their academic pursuits, have helped to contribute to their practical career knowledge. They noted that the most important part of any data center is the cooling of the computers. In order for the computers to run properly to process and analyze data, they need chilling units that pull the heat out of the server rooms.
Young also feels that what they are being taught on the HVAC Crew, combined with their prior knowledge, has helped them to feel more comfortable going into a career in data science.
While the HVAC Crew has only been revived for a short period, they are working hard to reestablish themselves. They are in the process of working through the backed-up list of work orders before continuing to larger projects.