[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 216 (Tuesday, November 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68781-68782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28289]
[[Page 68781]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S.
Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE) announces the availability of a set of Standard
Work Specifications (SWSs), Job Task Analyses (JTAs) and essential
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) applicable to energy efficiency
retrofits of single family homes which together constitute the
Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades (``Workforce
Guidelines''). These Workforce Guidelines are intended for voluntary
adoption by the Weatherization Assistance Program, EPA Home Performance
with Energy Star program partners, State, municipal and utility
ratepayer-funded energy efficiency retrofit programs, and private
sector home performance contractors, as well as any other organization,
company, or individual involved in energy efficiency retrofits of
residential homes. Through this notice, DOE also requests public
comments on the Workforce Guidelines.
DATES: Comments on the Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades
must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, January 7, 2011.
ADDRESSES: A draft of the Workforce Guidelines is available for review
and public comment online at: http://www.weatherization.energy.gov/retrofit_guidelines.
You may also submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Via Internet: http://www.weatherization.energy.gov/retrofit_guidelines.
By e-mail: [email protected].
By mail: Retrofit Guidelines, National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3305.
For further information on how to submit comments, please see the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Benjamin Goldstein, Weatherization and
Intergovernmental Programs, Mailstop EE-2K, Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585. Phone number: (202) 287-1553. E-mail:
[email protected].
Kavita M. Patel, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General
Counsel, Forrestal Building, GC-71, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585. Phone number: (202) 586-0669. E-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EERE has tasked the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory with developing a suite of voluntary national
guidelines for the work and workforce involved in home energy upgrades.
The Workforce Guidelines build upon the considerable body of material
already in circulation and the cumulative knowledge gathered throughout
the 30-year history of the energy efficiency retrofit industry.
The effort to develop the Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy
Upgrades has its origins in and is supported by the Weatherization
Assistance Program (WAP) Training and Technical Assistance Plan (T&TA).
The T&TA plan seeks to ensure that Recovery Act investments help lay a
permanent foundation for a stronger WAP. This foundation could also
provide WAP workers hired to support Recovery Act implementation with
future employment opportunities in the rapidly expanding home
performance industry.
Concurrently, in May 2009, the Vice President's Middle Class Task
Force asked the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to
develop recommendations for Federal action to lay the architecture for
a self-sustaining home energy efficiency retrofit industry. In
response, CEQ facilitated a broad interagency process that resulted in
the development of six recommendations described in detail in a report
titled Recovery Through Retrofit.\1\ These recommendations were
carefully crafted to stimulate the growth of a vibrant, private sector-
led market for residential energy efficiency retrofits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/Recovery_Through_Retrofit_Final_Report.pdf (last visited Oct. 7, 2010).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Recovery Through Retrofit Workforce Working Group--which
includes DOE, the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Department of Education, the Small Business
Administration, and other agencies--identified the lack of a skilled
and credentialed workforce as a key barrier to scaling up the
residential energy efficiency retrofit market. The report recommended
establishing a set of national guidelines to promote high-quality
energy efficiency retrofit work. DOE developed the Workforce Guidelines
in response to this recommendation.
The process of developing the Workforce Guidelines has involved a
historic collaboration between WAP practitioners and trainers, home
performance contractors, building scientists, organized labor, healthy
homes and worker safety experts, and other professionals in the
building trades and throughout the retrofit industry.
The first iteration of the development process involved 60
technical experts and resulted in a first draft of 270 pages of SWSs. A
second group of 80 technical experts thoroughly reviewed and edited the
draft SWSs, including a WAP programmatic review, 6 climate-specific
reviews, a healthy homes review coordinated by the EPA, and a worker
health and safety review coordinated by Department of Labor. While
development of the SWSs was moving forward, 50 retrofit technicians and
trainers from around the country conducted a professionally-facilitated
workshop to develop the Job Task Analyses and Essential KSAs for the
four most common home energy retrofit job classifications: Energy
Auditor, Installer/Technician, Crew Chief, and Quality Assurance
Professional/Inspector.
The Workforce Guidelines consist of four components:
Standard Work Specifications, a Technical Standards Reference Guide,
Job Task Analyses and Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.
Standard Work Specifications define the minimum
requirements for high quality energy efficiency retrofit work and the
conditions necessary to achieve the desired outcomes of a given
retrofit measure.
Technical Standards are standards, regulations and codes
developed by government, industry or third-party standards development
organizations-- such as OSHA, EPA, the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), ASTM
International, and the Building Performance Institute--that define the
safety, materials, installation, and application standards relevant to
residential building energy efficiency retrofits.
Job Task Analyses identify and catalog all of the tasks a
given worker typically performs when completing a suite of energy
efficiency improvements in a home.
Essential KSAs identify the minimum knowledge, skills, and
abilities that a skilled worker should
[[Page 68782]]
possess to perform high quality energy efficiency retrofit work for the
given occupation or job level.
The Standard Work Specifications are organized by section,
corresponding to the different systems found in residential buildings.
Within each section are subtopics and details that contain the critical
specification that must be achieved to ensure quality work. Throughout
the Standard Work Specifications document are footnotes referring to
the relevant Technical Standards, which are then summarized in Appendix
D.
The Job Task Analyses and Essential Knowledge Skills and Abilities
are made up of ``Content Outlines'' for the four common energy
efficiency retrofit job classifications. They were developed by
professional psychometricians working with experienced technicians from
WAP, the residential energy efficiency retrofit contractor community,
and organized labor. The Content Outlines provide a detailed inventory
of the minimum knowledge, skills and abilities (both cognitive and
psychomotor) that a worker should possess to perform high quality
energy efficiency retrofit work.
Once finalized, the Workforce Guidelines will:
1. Enable State and local WAP officials and other residential
retrofit program administrators to strengthen their field guides and
other work manuals by incorporating the high quality SWSs contained in
the Workforce Guidelines.
2. Assist training providers in developing course content and
curricula consistent with an industry-recognized suite of Job Task
Analyses.
3. Increase workforce mobility up career ladders and across career
lattices by establishing a clear set of essential KSAs upon which
worker credentials should be based.
4. Build confidence among consumers and the energy efficiency
finance community that retrofit work will be completed in a quality
manner and produce the expected energy savings and health benefits.
5. Lay the foundation for a more robust worker certification and
training program accreditation architecture.
In coordination with the DOE-led effort, the EPA has developed a
keystone document pertaining to health considerations in residential
energy efficiency upgrades. These EPA Healthy Indoor Environment
Protocols for Home Energy Upgrades and the DOE Workforce Guidelines
were developed in conjunction with one another and are complementary.
Both are intended to provide a set of voluntary measures that the WAP
and other energy efficiency retrofit efforts can adopt to increase the
quality of the retrofit work performed while maintaining or improving
the health and safety of the occupant(s).
Together, the DOE and EPA documents will: provide a robust and
practical set of resources for retrofit contractors, trainers, and
program administrators; help improve the quality of the work performed
in this expanding industry; promote occupant health and safety; and
drive consumer demand for energy efficiency retrofit services. DOE
encourages reviewers of the Workforce Guidelines with a specific
interest in healthy indoor environments to also review and comment on
the EPA document, available at: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/homes/retrofits.html.
Issues on Which DOE Seeks Comment
DOE is particularly interested in receiving comments and views of
interested parties on the following issues:
The appropriateness of each of the Standard Work
Specifications, both at the chapter level and at the individual task
level.
The citations of technical standards referenced in the
Standard Work Specifications.
The tasks, knowledge skills and abilities identified for
the four (4) job descriptions.
Submission of Comments
DOE will accept comments, data, and information regarding the
proposed guidelines no later than January 7, 2011. If submitting
comments via the DOE Web page, please follow all instructions on the
Web page: http://www.weatherization.energy.gov/retrofit_guidelines.
This Web site is specifically designed for ease of use to facilitate
the public comment process. DOE will transfer comments received on our
Web site to Regulations.gov for public review.
Comments, data, and information uploaded to Regulations.gov, or
submitted via DOE's e-mail address or regular mail should be provided
in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, PDF, or text (ASCII) file format.
Interested parties should avoid the use of special characters or any
form of encryption, and wherever possible, comments should include the
electronic signature of the author. Comments, data, and information
submitted to DOE via regular mail may include one signed paper
original.
According to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that
he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public
disclosure should submit two copies: One copy of the document including
all the information believed to be confidential, and one copy of the
document that does not include the information believed to be
confidential. DOE will make its own determination as to the
confidential status of the information and treat it according to its
determination.
Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat
submitted information as confidential include:
(1) A description of the items;
(2) Whether and why such items are customarily treated as
confidential within the industry;
(3) Whether the information is generally known by or available from
other sources;
(4) Whether the information has previously been made available to
others without obligation concerning its confidentiality;
(5) An explanation of the competitive injury to the submitting
person which would result from public disclosure;
(6) A date upon which such information might lose its confidential
nature due to the passage of time; and
(7) Why disclosure of the information would be contrary to the
public interest.
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 4, 2010.
Cathy Zoi,
Acting Under Secretary of Energy, Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2010-28289 Filed 11-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P