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[Federal Register: November 9, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 216)]
[Notices]               
[Page 68781-68782]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09no10-52]                         

[[Page 68781]]

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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.

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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.
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    \1\ http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/Recovery_Through_Retrofit_Final_Report.pdf (last visited Oct. 7, 2010).
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    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
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