CleanEdison

The housing market is not what it used to be. Nowadays fewer people are purchasing brand-new homes in favor of renovating their properties or renting due to the vast uncertainty surrounding housing trends. Renovation work can create a sustainable revenue stream for savvy building professionals, and so can energy auditing, a profession that is pretty easy to enter. Anyone can work as an energy auditor, whose job involves walking through properties, assessing building systems, rating their relative efficiency, and seeking ways to improve the building system to lower the cost of energy for the consumer.

Residential energy auditors can make a living by selling their skill set to neighbors who are looking for an affordable way to improve home energy efficiency. If you already work in the building industry as a contractor, HVAC specialist, or homebuilder, then you already possess a lot of the practical knowledge that energy auditors rely on when conducting audits. An energy auditor training course, such as a BPI Certification course, will build upon your knowledge of building systems and give you practice in doing walkthroughs and using auditing software and tools to measure building performance.

Green jobs are the way forward. As energy becomes more expensive, green building professionals will be able to leverage their skills to help people lower their utility bills and save money in the long run. Homeowners will more often look to green certified renovators and energy auditors for cost-effective ways to improve their home’s energy efficiency, such as retrofitting appliances and outlets to optimize energy use.

There is no time like the present to join the ever-growing green building industry, whether you enter the field as a solar professional, energy auditor, lead safe renovator, or building analyst. Find out how you can get a foothold in the sustainable building field. Your supplemental income is just a green job training course away.

Making a case for the benefits of sustainable jobs can get a little tiring. Skeptics abound, people cite the bandwagon effect, and the continued profitability of conventional resources such as petroleum all serve to undermine the case for green job training. However, the increasingly friendly climate for renewable energy due in part to more private investment and greater returns points to a paradigm shift in ecological values that will hopefully boost the clean energy field and create more jobs for green building professionals. As long as individuals continue to invest in green building projects and organizations improve their standards for sustainable design, green jobs will continue to materialize and provide fulfilling careers for people who sincerely care about minimizing their impact on the environment.

There are numerous ways that experiences building professionals such as architects and engineers can break into the increasingly popular fields of sustainable design and green building. For example, a carpenter who has performed numerous home renovations can enhance her credentials with an EPA certification in lead safe working practices. Lead certification courses teach builders how to minimize the health risks associated with lead poisoning by engaging in careful and diligent containment and cleanup procedures when working around lead paint. Lead safe working practices, as mandated by the EPA, can help impede the occurrences of lead poisoning in adults and children, who can experience sever developmental issues when exposed to lead based paint.

Green job training aims to increase the relative value of industries that do not negatively impact the environment while providing cost competitive benefits to conventional energy sources. If you already consider yourself a building professional, then adding lead certification, BPI certification, solar cell installer certification, or energy auditor certification is an affordable way to update your credentials in response to changing attitudes toward careers in sustainable building and renewable energy.

In the field of solar cell installation, NABCEP is the governing body for industry standards and also accredits solar cell certification training bodies. Solar professionals can stay abreast of developments in the industry by paying attention to NABCEP initiatives and changes to the organization. Now, in order to work as a certified solar PV installer, one must meet new solar PV training requirements before taking the certified PV installer exam administered by NABCEP.

Lucky for you, we are in the process of rolling out a new solar PV training course that meets the new NABCEP standards for the training required of individuals who take the solar panel installation certification exam. Whereas before the solar PV course comprised of about 40 hours of training in solar cell design, sales, installation, and mechanics, the changing NABCEP eligibility requirements now make 58 hours of solar PV training mandatory for anyone who wants to take the solar panel installer exam.

If you already took a solar PV training course but missed the deadline for the solar cell installer exam taking place in March, then you must sign up for a solar training course that meets the new NABCEP solar cell training requirement of 58 hours of PV-specific training. Solar panel installation requires a practical knowledge of how to handle solar systems as well as marketable skills required to thrive as a solar cell professional. A solar PV training course will prepare you to sell your skill set as a solar PV installer.

Solar cell training requirements have changed, and so now anyone interested in becoming a solar PV installer will need to take a 58-hour training course. Our solar cell training curriculum will meet the new NABCEP eligibility criteria so you can rest assured that your training will allow you to take the certified PV installer test.

If you have not sought certification as a building analyst or energy auditor, then now is the perfect time to enroll in an energy auditing course so you can get started working as a certified energy auditor. Even more reason to obtain your energy auditor or BPI certification is the passage of the North Carolina Energy Conservation Code, which sets regulations for minimum energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings. Now that North Carolina buildings have to meet these requirements, the demand for energy auditors who provide recommendations for building improvements should see an increase.

Hopefully this North Carolina law will help change the climate for green building practices. For North Carolina energy consumers, the law will reduce their energy costs considerably, while the energy auditors who will be more appealing to hire for energy improvement projects will see an influx of new customers, with the commercial building customers providing a large share of profits for building improvements. If you work in renovation or provide building retrofits, then you should certainly pursue an energy auditor certificate or BPI certification so you can work as a building analyst.

The energy conservation code is just one example of a state government interceding in building practices to make commercial and residential properties less expensive to operate and to set standards for energy efficiency in buildings. Building professionals with BPI certification and certified energy auditors position themselves well to take on more customers thanks to the eco-friendly climate created by legislation such as the energy conservation code.

BPI certification paves the way toward large-scale building improvement projects that promise higher returns on investment than private home energy improvement projects. The way to become BPI certified is to take an energy auditor training course so you can take and pass the BPI exam for building analysts.

A friendly reminder from CleanEdison that in order to comply with ANSI Accreditation, the Building Performance Institute is raising exam prices and tightening its administrative procedures. This will go into effect on February 1st, 2012, so now is the perfect time to get trained before the prices go up.

What ANSI Accreditation Means For BPI Certification

Your BPI certification will be recognized by ANSI, which sets national standards in an effort to make the United States economy more competitive globally. When you obtain your BPI certification, you will be recognized by ANSI as a member of a select group of building professionals who are working toward making the sustainable building industry more influential across the world. BPI certification courses will prepare you to take the BPI exam. The sooner you enroll in a BPI training course, the better, because ANSI accreditation will likely up the fees for BPI courses. Enrolling in a BPI training course will keep you up to speed in the standards of sustainable building and sustainable design.

The climate for green building has changed considerably, especially since green building has proven more cost-effective and energy efficient than ever before. Whether you are a seasoned building professional or you have just entered the field, you should make every effort to stay up-to-date with industry standards for building design, safety, and environmental impact. By continuing your professional education, you can make yourself a more attractive candidate for green jobs, which represent an ever-growing sector of the job market.

Now that ANSI has lent its authority to the Building Performance Institute, which administers the BPI exam and various BPI certification levels, students of a BPI course can expect to pay more for training, both online and in the field. If you are still waiting to sign up for a BPI certification course, then think about the potential earnings you could make as a BPI certified professional whose credentials are backed by the American National Standards Institute. ANSI accreditation means BPI certification is more legitimate, so if you are looking for a way to attest to your skills as a green building professional, then register for a BPI training course as soon as you can.

IRS Publication 970 is a document that the IRS published to announce which educational pursuits qualify as tax-deductible business expenses. If you are taking courses that exceed the minimum educational requirement for your current job, then you might be able to write those off as tax deductions. For example, an energy auditor who enrolls in a Commercial Energy Auditing course or a BPI Building Analyst course can write off the fee as a tax deduction because the course helps him improve his skills as an energy retrofit professional. If the courses relate to your job and the courses help you stay abreast of changes in your industry, then you can likely write them off as tax deductions for qualifying work-related education.

Professional training seminars and conferences can qualify as tax-deductible business expenses. That means the four days you spend attending a solar energy conference can count doubly as continuing education and a business expense as long as it relates to your profession. Conferences and seminars for green professionals abound, and in addition to increasing your exposure to others working in your field and fostering community among industry players, you can view professional conferences as opportunities to write-off expenses such as start-up costs for market research. The better you understand the IRS regulations surrounding tax write-offs for work-related education, including travel, meetings, and other unpaid time, the more you can capitalize on tax deductions.

As the year rolls to a close, think about registering for CleanEdison’s many BPI Certification classes, especially in light of the impending increase in pricing for the exams. In the eyes of the IRS, the training course or seminar could be considered a work-related educational expense, meaning you could write off the fee for the course and associated costs as tax-deductible business expenses and put some cash back into your pocket.

Seth Harkness is a building manager in Biddeford, Maine who has realized both dollar and energy savings through his participation in commercial energy audits, commercial retrofit and lead abatement programs as well as lead RRP renovation training.

On Commercial Energy Audits and Retrofits
CleanEdison (CE): What drove you to invest in commercial energy audits and retrofits for your buildings?
Seth Harkness (SH): Well, I buy apartment buildings in Biddeford, Maine. Maine has some of the oldest building stock in the country, and most of the buildings here are heated by oil. In 2008, oil prices went way up and so utility and rent prices went up too. A lot of people (building managers, owners) had to walk away from their properties because they were unable to heat them. Energy consumption is the greatest variable cost that I can control. Since there were state grants available at the time, I decided to invest in energy audits.
CE: What sort of savings did you expect and receive from your audits and retrofits? What is your estimated pay back cycle?
SH: Well, I qualified for grant assistance from Efficiency Maine and the US stimulus package. I don’t think they have grants available anymore, but they still have a loan program which helps you if you want to do a commercial energy audit and building retrofit. I’m expecting about an 8-year pay back cycle for my investment.
CE: Do you have an idea what your dollar and energy savings look like?
SH: Well, it’s hard to tell, because I did the audit and retrofit right after buying the building. When I purchased the building, I knew it was energy inefficient, but the previous owner didn’t have records. But, I’d estimate that for one building, I saved about 40 – 50% in annual heating bills.
CE: So what does that come out to in dollar savings?
SH: Well, that’s about 1,600 gallons of heating oil. And figure heating oil is about $3.50/gallon right now…
CE: That’s a lot of money (about $5,600 in savings).
SH: Yeah it is. It made sense for me, especially considering the grant money. Doing these upgrades allowed me to actually lower rent prices when other building managers were raising them to keep up with the rising cost of oil. And you know, with the economy being weak, a lot of people don’t have the same sort of money to spend on housing.
CE: So did you learn new energy saving techniques from the energy audit that you wouldn’t have otherwise known about?
SH: Absolutely. These guys are the experts. They told me about air infiltration, like from leakages around porches and chimneys, and I learned that I can save a lot of energy by spray foaming my basement, and using dense packing cellulose in the walls. They told me to install boiler sensors that automatically adjust according to outside temperature, that sort of thing.
CE: Basically they helped you identify high-savings, low cost upgrades.
SH: Right, it let me focus on the best measures for my buildings.
CE: How did you go about finding an energy auditor?
SH: I found a certified guy through a friend’s referral. I’ve continued working with the same guy for all of my buildings, since we work well together. He has really helped me through the entire process. He’s in the industry, so he knows how the market is changing, what new grants and audit techniques are coming out, and when all the deadlines are. Last year for instance, he made sure I made a deadline before the New Year by getting our work done by December 30th.
CE: Do you expect to have your auditor check up on your buildings?
SH: I haven’t really thought about it. I mean the work is done, and hopefully it was done well so it shouldn’t have to be fixed. Though, immediately after the retrofit work was completed, my contractor did come back with an infrared camera to check the air sealing work, and found some weak areas to fix before I paid the contractors.

On Lead Abatement and Lead RRP Renovation Training
CleanEdison (CE): Why did you choose to abate lead in your buildings?
Seth Harkness (SH): Well, since I am purchasing older buildings, many of them have lead paint issues that require or could use lead abatement. With my four buildings, I took advantage of a Maine State program, Maine Housing Lead Hazard Control Program, which helped me fund my lead abatement projects. In one case I had to do the abatement because I purchased a 6-unit apartment building which had a unit closed off by the EPA because a child living there was found with high levels of lead in his blood.
CE: Was it a long project?
SH: It took, let’s see August, September, October…it was about a three-month-long project.
CE: How many people were on the job?
SH: About 4 – 5 guys. It was a lot of work; they had to handle 74 windows, 36 doors, staircases, risers…
CE: And they were all Lead RRP Certified?
SH: They were all Lead Abatement certified – they had to be. And there’s not too many of those guys.
CE: So did you have to wait awhile until you could get certified contractors?
SH: Yeah, it was a long process. There are only maybe 6 certified abatement workers in Maine, so it took a long time to get the initial inspection done, and then get the project started.
CE: Do you need to get lead abatement guys every time you have a lead paint issue?
SH: Well, I’m a building manager so I like to perform a lot of the basic renovation work myself. If the lead paint is located in a low friction area, you can just paint over it with special sealants; you don’t necessarily have to rip it out. I didn’t want to have to call up these Lead Abatement guys every time there was a little lead paint, so I got licensed as an 8-hour Lead RRP renovator so I can do basic repair work myself.
CE: And so you can avoid the EPA fines…
SH: Yeah, the EPA can really get you – fines are huge ($37,500). At the time when I got my license, there was a lot of publicity for Lead RRP training, and a lot of other building managers in the area were getting licensed. I didn’t want to risk getting fined, and the class is inexpensive and only takes one day.

The Building Performance Institute (BPI) has set forth a series of changes to its standards in order to comply with the American National Standards Institute accreditation process. This ANSI accreditation is the foremost designation for standards developers, and it underscores the reliability, integrity and widespread acceptance of BPI’s energy auditing standards.

“This is a natural step in BPI’s growth toward becoming the national source for technical standards underpinning the residential energy efficiency retrofit community,” said Larry Zarker, CEO of BPI. “ANSI accreditation is an important formal approval and third-party verification of the fairness, openness and balance BPI has offered all the stakeholders in residential energy efficiency retrofit work. We look forward to meeting these ANSI obligations with our standards initiatives and to contributing to the overarching ANSI governance programs as a member of the standards community,” he said.

In order to abide by ANSI’s regulations, BPI will require:

• Increased BPI Certification fees for every exam
• All written and field exams must be videotaped for quality control

These changes will take effect February 1st, 2012.

What does this mean for you? Well, despite the price increase, your BPI Certification is now worth more than ever. With the move towards ANSI, BPI is making a strong commitment to its energy auditing standards. The increased requirements of quality control will ensure the legitimacy of BPI as a nationally-recognized certification for years to come.

CleanEdison will increase the price of our BPI courses in order to accommodate the new testing fees and quality control costs. However, if you act before the end of the year, you can still take advantage of our current price. There is no reason to hesitate any longer – BPI Certification is an investment that will become only more valuable over time.

Price Changes
Building Analyst Course: Now $1595 — after February 1, $1895
Building Analyst and Envelope and Shell Course: Now $2395 — after February 1, $2795
Envelope and Shell Course: Now $1295 — after February 1, $1495
AC/Heat Pump Course: Now $1295 — after February 1, $1695
Heating Specialist Course: Now $1795 — after February 1, $2145

Last Friday, President Obama unveiled a $4 billion plan to upgrade the energy systems of public and private buildings across the country. By covering the cost of the plan through private-sector investment and future realized energy savings, this initiative seeks to save money and create thousands of jobs all at no upfront cost to the taxpayer.

President Obama has pledged at least $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrade spending for all Federal agencies over the next two months. Additionally, 60 private companies, educational institutions, labor leaders, and local governments have collectively committed another $2 billion in energy efficiency improvements to 1.6 billion square feet of property. This comes as part of the administration’s Better Building Initiative, which seeks to upgrade energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2020.

“Upgrading the energy efficiency of America’s buildings is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to save money, cut down on harmful pollution, and create good jobs right now,” said President Obama. “America is taking another big step towards the competitive, clean energy economy it will take to win the future.” Friday’s plan is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs, and the contractors will be paid through future savings from the retrofit work. The Better Building Initiative as a whole has the potential to create 114,000 jobs while reducing energy bills for businesses by $40 billion per year.

There has never been a better time to get trained as a Commercial Energy Auditor. There are over five million commercial buildings in the United States, and they account for roughly 20 percent of all the energy used by the U.S. economy. With the private sector becoming increasingly cognizant of the benefits of energy efficiency, and with the Federal government continuing to pledge its support, the industry is looking ever brighter. Check out CleanEdison’s comprehensive Commercial Energy Auditing curriculum, and get your start in this exciting and lucrative field.

Cheap electricity actually exists! Solar industry experts are championing Solar PV as a cheaper way to generate electricity and governments, private companies, and non-profits are all jumping on-board with this cost effective energy source.

Solar PV uses solar cells, which are components of a solar panel, to convert sunlight into usable electricity. Solar PV systems, due to their renewable energy source, allow us to produce large amounts of electricity, cheaply and sustainably.

Solar technology is rapidly growing in the United States because it saves energy costs. Edwards Air Force Base in California is building three solar farms on base, a project that will save the military base hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Additionally, states and the federal government are investing in Solar because the industry is creating jobs and boosting U.S. competitiveness in alternative energy markets. In October 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $60 million investment for scientific research to advance cutting-edge solar technologies. This program, through the Department’s SunShot Initiative, is an effort to encourage widespread adoption of solar to help reduce the cost of solar energy systems by 75% and in-turn increase U.S. competitiveness in the global market for solar technologies. Furthermore, in November 2011 the U.S. Department of Energy reported a 6.8% growth rate in the solar industry and that over 100,000 workers are employed in the U.S. solar industry. Even better news is that these numbers are continuing to rise!

Don’t be dissuaded by the recent negative press surrounding the solar industry. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman reports that Solyndra’s failure ‘was actually caused by technological success.’ As the price of solar panels continued decrease, consumer demand increased, and Solyndra could not keep up with the competition. Similarly, Florida had to delay administering its solar energy rebates to its residents who purchased and installed solar energy technologies for their homes and businesses because public demand exceeded available state dollars. Launched in 2006, the program’s funding was depleted by 2009, due to widespread popularity. Residents and business owners are all looking to implement cost effective measures and are turning to solar to save money while helping our environment at the same time.

Coinciding with this latest solar buzz, CleanEdison is offering our Solar Series courses! Our Solar PV Bootcamp and Solar Thermal Bootcamp are a blended hands-on and classroom instruction courses covering Fundamentals, Sales & Marketing, Design and Installation. These are perfect courses for any solar professional, or soon to be solar professional, looking to start or expand their current business. At the end of this course, students will be eligible to take the exam to earn their NABCEP entry level certificate. Visit our website, www.cleanedison.com or call 646.723.4050 to find out more!