by Brianna Crandall — September 30, 2013—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) announced on September 26 the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines project to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce training and certification programs for five key energy-related jobs: energy auditor, commissioning professional, building/stationary engineer, facilities manager, and energy manager.
These voluntary workforce guidelines will support the Better Buildings Initiative goal of making commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next 10 years, while helping businesses and communities save money by saving energy and creating new clean energy jobs across the country, says the DOE.
Improving the energy and operational performance of commercial buildings requires highly-skilled and qualified workers, particularly as building technologies become more advanced. The Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines will support the development of high-quality training and certification programs built upon a clear set of industry-developed guidelines—to the benefit of workers, employers, building owners, and policymakers.
The Energy Department is partnering with the nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to convene industry subject matter experts to develop the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines. NIBS will establish a Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council (CWCC) comprised of private and public sector industry stakeholders to support this effort moving forward.
The guidelines will include an industry-validated Job Task Analysis (JTA) for each occupation, certification schemes (blueprints), and learning objectives. The Energy Department and the General Services Administration (GSA) will recognize assessment-based certificate and competency-based certification programs that successfully implement the guidelines and achieve third-party accreditation.
The DOE is offering a Webinar on October 17 to explain more about the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines project. Registration is available on the DOE Web site.
