ASHRAE Announces Revised Energy Auditor Certification Requirements

ASHRAE has announced revised requirements for its energy auditor certification, Building Energy Assessment Professional (BEAP). The revised requirements provide earners with recognition by United States government agencies for contracts requiring energy audit services.

“This update not only helps ensure the continued validity and relevance of ASHRAE’s energy auditor certification but also adds value,” says ASHRAE President Tim Wentz, who holds an ASHRAE high-performance building design certification. “DOE recognition of ASHRAE’s Building Energy Assessment Professional (BEAP) certification will help ensure quality services are provided by these professionals as well as increase consumer confidence in the service provided and ultimately ensure the quality and performance of buildings.”

ASHRAE’s revised energy auditor certification program will validate competency against the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines scheme requirements for the Building Energy Auditor set forth by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council (CWCC). The goal of this adjustment is to achieve U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognition by the summer of 2017 of services provided by these certificants.

Current ASHRAE BEAP certifications will renew against these new scheme requirements beginning in 2018.

ASHRAE had a role in developing the Guidelines through its participation on the Board of Advisors for the NIBS’ CWCC. The CWCC works to establish voluntary national guidelines to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce credentials.

The purpose of the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines is to reduce the confusion around workforce credentialing and lower costs as well as supporting better credentials, workers and buildings. The guidelines set an industry-validated Job Task Analysis (JTA) for each of four, energy-related jobs, building energy auditor, building commissioning professional, building operations professional and energy manager, as certification schemes and learning objectives for training programs.