An advanced workforce is needed to design and install the highly efficient technologies and solutions that can save 20-30% of energy consumption in existing buildings – and that workforce is growing. In just two years, the number of workers who spend at least half their time on energy efficiency-related work increased by almost 30%. But as this workforce evolves, so too does the diversity of its professions, skills, and expertise, which can foster confusion in employers and employees about the credentials they need to hire or acquire. A professional certification, though, can crystallize and standardize the skills and competencies employers can expect from the workers they hire to get the job done right.

Today, the Building Technologies Office (BTO) is excited to recognize an organization that works to ensure a consistent, skilled set of workers is available to support energy-efficiency projects. The National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB) has aligned its Commissioning Process Professional (CxPP) certification with the BTO’s Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines (BBWGs), which is a program BTO and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) developed with and for industry stakeholders to help them improve the quality, consistency, and scalability of their certification programs in several key, energy-focused careers like CxPP.

CxPPs lead, plan, coordinate and manage commissioning processes in new and existing buildings. CxPP recipients must meet a stringent combination of education and experience requirements and demonstrate their knowledge of process commissioning by passing the CxPP examination. "The formation of [our] CxPP certification was a pivotal moment for [NEBBs],” said Rick Farrington, NEBB Certification Board chairperson. “By following the ANSI standards and best practices, it has made our other certifications stronger, more defensible, and in alignment with elevating the level of professionalism expected of NEBB certificants. We're extremely proud of this achievement.”

NEBB also recently earned an accreditation from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for meeting the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) principles and requirements for organizations that certify people according to specific requirements outlined in the ISO/IEC 17024 standard, which was another point of credibility that earned BTO’s recognition. To date, NEBBs has certified over 700 firms and more than 1,000 professionals who deliver high-performance building systems for building owners and tenants who want to test, balance, and/or commission their environmental systems.

To receive DOE’s BBWG recognition, a certification program must be accredited by a third party to ISO/IEC 17024, and certificate programs must be accredited to IREC 14732. To find out more about the BBWG recognition program, visit the website.