Background/Objectives
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) provides weatherization services nationwide to approximately 35,000 low-income households per year in order to reduce their energy costs while improving residence health and safety. Since its inception in 1976, the program has served over 7 million homes, saving residents an average of $372 per year on energy costs. However, a report published in 2020 estimated that there were approximately 39.5 million U.S. households eligible for WAP services. This disparity highlights the current and future need for cost-effective retrofits that can improve passive resilience, reduce energy costs, and promote rapid scaling of energy justice for low-income households. The work of WAP is effective at improving passive resilience via insulation and air sealing, reduction in grid demands via decreased thermal loads, and improved social resilience through workforce development. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides support to WAP including efforts that improve low-income communities’ resilience through workforce development and credentialing and providing tools and technical assistance to speed the implementation of resilient technologies such as solar photovoltaic (PV) panels within low-income households.
Approach/Activities
A comprehensive framework for workforce and installation quality is essential for an equitable energy transition that delivers resilience benefits. NREL convenes industry experts to develop and maintain standardized job task analyses (JTAs) for weatherization workers through the Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals (GHEP). The JTAs are vetted through industry validation and serve as the basis for workforce credentials or training programs, and define the knowledge, skills, and abilities that weatherization practitioners must demonstrate to perform their work effectively, safely, and responsibly. These JTAs are used by a network of 24 accredited training centers to train and upskill the weatherization workforce. Further supporting work quality, NREL, with industry support, developed the Standard Work Specifications (SWS), an online database that defines weatherization task outcomes to ensure effectiveness, durability, and safety of retrofit measures installations. Leveraging the JTAs and SWS, NREL supported the development of 25 retrofit installer badges, each representing a discrete energy efficiency task and required outcomes. The badges are used to provide consistent on-the-job training materials that can be regionally adapted to train and upskill the weatherization workforce. As another example of applying workforce resources to improve resilience, NREL recently released draft specifications for the installation of solar in weatherization projects, along with supporting resources such as a solar photovoltaic (PV) cost-effectiveness calculator to help implementers quickly calculate the system payback both with and without accounting for the social cost of carbon (SCC).
Results/Lessons Learned
The GHEP credential framework has contributed to 1,865 individuals maintaining active certification as Energy Auditors in addition to 1,747 certified Quality Control Inspectors. Further, as of October 2023, 590 users have downloaded the installer badge toolkit from the online badging platform. Upon approval of solar PV in WAP, this credential framework also enabled the development of a new draft SWS for solar installations, while empowering more states to consider implementing solar for the new program year to reduce customer bills and improve household resilience. Finally, the easy-to-use solar cost-effectiveness calculator allows WAP implementers to assess if PV installation is viable based on their local electric rates, cost of installation, and modeled solar production.