Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 216 / Tuesday, November 9, 2010 / Notices 68781 

1http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ 

Recovery_Through_Retrofit_Final_Report.pdf (last 

visited Oct. 7, 2010). 

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: 

retrofit.guidelines@nrel.gov. 

• 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: 

retrofit.guidelines@nrel.gov. 

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: 

kavita.patel@hq.doe.gov. 

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. 

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 highquality 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 


wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with NOTICES_PART 1
68782 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 216 / Tuesday, November 9, 2010 / Notices 

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 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2007–0563; FRL- 9224–1; 

EPA ICR No. 1764.04; OMB Control No. 

2060–0348] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Submission to OMB for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; National Volatile Organic 

Compound Emission Standards for 

Consumer Products (Renewal) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)(44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document 

announces that EPA is planning to 

submit a request to renew an existing 

approved Information Collection 

Request (ICR) to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB). This is 

a request to renew an existing approved 

collection. This ICR is scheduled to 


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