6.4.8 Energy Professionals Qualifications

A. Energy professionals must be persons with not less than three years work experience evaluating utility consumption in multifamily buildings and employing energy modeling and benchmarking software, including specifically EPA’s Portfolio Manager and related ENERGY STAR® resources and products. Energy professionals must have professional certifications or credentials appropriate for analyzing multifamily properties and must remain current with new energy monitoring, measurement methods, and technologies.

1. Expected Tasks for Energy Professionals. The energy professional’s primary tasks include: a) benchmarking existing buildings including obtaining and/or reviewing and consolidating raw consumption data (monthly bills, utility-provider supplied data); b) managing use of EPA Portfolio Manager software and assuring correct data entry; c) conducting site inspections and energy audits per ASHRAE Level II or III standards and conducting field tests, e.g., blower door tests for detecting air infiltration and air handling leaks; d) selecting appropriate energy modeling software and e) correctly modeling various design assumptions, e.g., a building built to current code, the same building with energy conservation features that exceed the current code; f) advising the Project Architect of building components most likely to improve performance; g) preparing the Borrower’s data collection plan; h) reviewing and entering data to Portfolio Manager and verifying resulting Statements of Energy Performance to support Borrower’s annual demonstration of continuing performance; and i) estimating the local utility providers average price per unit of use for each utility at a site (see Section 6.9.3 for obstacles to estimating utility price per unit of use).

2. Specialization of Energy Professional’s Experience and Qualifications. The qualifications and experience of the energy professional(s) on a green MIP application must be appropriate to the subject building types.

RESNET Home Energy Raters, utilizing the software and products for RESNET Home Energy Ratings, are acceptable for single homes, townhouses and or multi-unit structures up to three stories with no common space (assuming site energy is included). These building types (buildings up to three stories), as described at Section 6.1.1, must comply with the International Energy Conservation Code.

Generally, software and products used by RESNET Home Energy Raters do not accommodate appropriate analysis of the most common multifamily building types, as the appropriate methods and software used to analyze energy use in houses, townhouses, and small buildings differ substantially from those necessary for larger buildings. Further, buildings of four or more stories must comply with ASHRAE Standard 90.1, and RESNET Home Energy Raters generally do not work with ASHRAE 90.1. Therefore, RESNET Home Energy Ratings are not acceptable for the more common building and property types found in multifamily mortgage applications, where larger buildings including common spaces and all site improvements must be considered.

3. Professional Certifications Required for Energy Professionals. Registered Architects or licensed professional engineers (PE) may serve as energy professionals provided that they have demonstrated the requisite experience. Other professional certifications for qualified energy professionals include one or more of the following: a) American Energy Engineers Association’s Certified Energy Manager (CEM) or Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) designations; b) American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) High Performance Building Design Professional (HPBDP) designation; c) Building Performance Institute (BPI) Multifamily Building Analyst (MFBA)

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designation; or d) for townhouses and buildings up to three stories with no common space, a Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Rater. When building energy modeling is employed the lead modeler or energy professional must hold a professional certification specific to simulation modeling: ASHRAE Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP) or Association of Energy Engineers Building Energy Simulation Analyst (BESA).