NIBS and DOE have collaborated with industry stakeholders to develop voluntary guidelines to improve commercial building workforce credentials.
February 18, 2016
minute read time
By Monica Kanojia
As a means to successfully achieve the Better Buildings Initiative’s goal of making commercial and industrial buildings 20% more energy efficient over the next 10 years, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and the Energy Department (DOE) have collaborated with industry stakeholders to develop voluntary national guidelines aimed at improving the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce credentials for key energy-related jobs. NIBS established the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council (CWCC) to lead the development of guidelines, through which four Better Buildings Workforce (BBW) job task analyses and credentialing schemes were released in 2015. The Building Commissioning Professional, Building Energy Auditor, Building Operations Professional and Energy Manager schemes were submitted to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for review and approval.
The comprehensive review, and subsequent approval, of the four BBW job schemes was conducted by ANSI’s Personnel Certification Accreditation Committee (PCAC) to ensure compliance with clause 8 of ISO 17024. Clause 8 specifies requirements related to bodies operating certification of individuals, as well as the development and maintenance of the certification scheme(s) being implemented. Now, credentialing bodies can use the common schemes instead of doing their own job analysis, thereby saving significant cost and time. The approval of each of the BBW schemes under clause 8 of the ANSI standard was an imperative step in increasing the number DOE-recognized credentialing programs and accreditation options available to both practitioners and employers.
Each scheme was developed by the CWCC in collaboration with DOE with the aim of decreasing pressure on credentialing bodies to create, implement, and manage various schemes for energy-related job types. The ANSI approved and DOE-recognized accreditations provided by third-party training and certification programs not only help employees stand out in the job market to potential employers, but also ensure that the clean energy workforce is occupied by individuals with appropriate skillsets and competencies to successfully work toward DOE’s ultimate goal of improving energy efficiency.
The Better Buildings Workforce initiative works toward alleviating the confusion and uncertainty in the market by providing a clear set of industry guidelines for credentialing programs to be built upon. Clarity provided through the initiative also allows new and experienced professionals to better understand their training and certification options, as well as learn of opportunities to improve their technical skills. Improving the operational performance of the nation’s offices, schools, hospitals, and other commercial buildings will lead to substantial energy savings. As technology in the buildings sector becomes progressively advanced, it will be imperative that a highly skilled and qualified workforce exists in order to properly apply it to efforts related to improving energy efficiency.