Last night I arrived here in Raleigh, North Carolina for a two-day train-the-trainer session on the ENERGY STAR Version 3 guidelines for new homes. This is the third of four that the guys from EPA's ENERGY STAR new homes program…
Allison Bailes, Energy Vanguard's founder and president, will be giving two presentations at the 2011 RESNET conference in Orlando, Florida. One is titled "The Evolution of HERS Rater Training - Setting the Next Generation of HERS Raters on the Path…
Anyone who's been around me for a while knows that I love numbers. (If you need to know pi to 50 digits, just give me a call.) Well, this article is number 100 in the Energy Vanguard blog. Wow! Even…
I've been involved in the home energy rating field since 2003 and have witnessed a lot of growth. When I went through the HERS rater class, there were only a handful of HERS rater training providers and maybe a couple…
Yesterday, our first HERS rater class students had their first shot at the national HERS rater test. I'm happy to report that 100% passed the test, and the high score was 98%. Yesterday, our first HERS rater class students had…
The ENERGY STAR homes program has grown tremendously since it was introduced in the mid 1990s. In the initial program, version 1 of the guidelines, most homes were certified through a home energy rating and a single inspection that occurred…
Last night down at the Brick Store Pub, I ran into someone I know from the gym, and, as it turns out, he lives on Drexel Avenue. Naturally, I asked, 'Do you know Mike Barcik?' Of course, he did. Everyone,…
Yesterday I gave some general advice about how to choose a HERS rater training class, and one of suggestions I made was to contact former students of each HERS training provider you're considering. Testimonials in the trainer's marketing materials may…
In the past couple of years, the number of organizations offering some kind of training or certification for home energy auditors or home energy raters has grown rapidly. As I've discussed here before, some energy auditor certifications are scams, and…
Energy Vanguard Energy Ratings (EVER) has been a RESNET accredited Home Energy Rating Provider since April 2009. In that time, more than 3 dozen raters have signed up with us to get their certification. Currently, we have 21 certified home…