The Washington, D.C.-based National Institute of Building Sciences and U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, are working to develop voluntary national guidelines, known as the “Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines,” to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building energy-related workforce credentials. NIBS established the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council to lead development of the guidelines.
Improving the operational performance of commercial buildings requires highly skilled and qualified workers, particularly as building technologies become more advanced. Yet the lack of national guidelines for energy-related professional credentials represents a major barrier to the quality, consistency and scalability of this workforce. The “Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines” initially will address commercial-building workforce training and certification programs for five key energy-related jobs: energy auditor, commissioning professional, building/ stationary engineer, facility manager and energy manager.
The guidelines’ purpose is to reduce confusion and uncertainty around workforce credentialing; lower costs; and support better credentials, better workers and better buildings. The guidelines will set an industry-validated Job Task Analysis for each job title, as well as certification schemes (blueprints) and learning objectives for training programs.
To learn more or participate, visit www.nibs.org/?page=cwcc.