Texas Bill Regulating Energy Auditing Work Public comments accepted until March 26 hearing held in Austin   Texas, March 21, 2013 - Texas Senate's Committee on Business and Commerce held a hearing on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 on legislation that would regulate and narrowly restrict the definition of Energy Efficiency Professionals. Texas Senate Bill 617 and companion House Bill 1522 would require that energy auditors be licensed as HVAC contractors if they include HVAC equipment in their audit inspections, recommendations and reports.  The sponsoring Senator's office indicates virtually no objections have been raised to this legislation.  Minutes from yesterday's meeting may be found at the website for Senate Committee Meetings for Business and Commerce. Under the proposed legislation, state-licensed Energy Efficiency Professionals would be required to "obtain a certification through an applicable training and certification program accredited by a state or national regulating body". BPI certifications would not be recognized as an applicable HVAC certification program under the current wording of the legislation, effectively barring BPI certified professionals from conducting energy audits and developing scopes of work for energy upgrades that include HVAC measures, unless also licensed as an HVAC contractor. These bills have been developed with assistance by Texas HERO and ACCA Texas. To read the two bills, click on the hyperlinks below. Senate Bill SB 617 Sponsored by Senator John J. Carona: District 16 http://www.carona.senate.state.tx.us/ House Bill HB 1522 Sponsored by Representative Ryan Guillen (D) http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/?district=31 If you have comments or suggested language changes you would like to submit to this open, consensus-based process, the committee requests you submit them by CLOSE OF BUSINESS, Thursday, March 21, 2013 to: Kelsey Erickson: Kelsey.Erickson_SC@senate.state.tx.us or  Katy Johnson: Katy.Johnson@house.state.tx.us  The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce will hold its next meeting next week to hear stakeholders express their views.  BPI certified professionals or others who may wish to educate bill sponsors about or encourage bill sponsors to accept verifiable skills associated with national standards and professional personnel certifications relying on rigorous written and practical field exams may wish to attend.  Texan BPI certified professionals may also wish to immediately contact their local House and Senate Bill sponsors (see links below) as well as their federal representatives to express their views. Senator Carona acknowledges "that language of the file version of the bill needs a little work, (and is) asking all stakeholders to work with committee staff in the coming week, that is week singular, to reserve any outstanding issues so that we can lay out a committee substitute for the next meeting". Public Hearing: Texas SB617 Senate Committee on Business and Commerce Tuesday, March 26 - 8:00 AM Central Texas Senate Capitol Extension  201 E. 14th St. Room E1.016 (Hearing Room) Austin, TX    Find your Texas House Representative Find your Texas State Senator Find your federal Texas Congress People Senators Representatives Members of the Committee on Business and Commerce (CBC Webpage) include: Sen. John Carona Sen. Larry Taylor Sen. Kevin Eltife Sen. Craig Estes Sen. Kelly Hancock Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte Sen. Kirk Watson Sen. John Whitmire    Sincerely,   Larry Zarker Chief Executive Officer Building Performance Institute, Inc. 107 Hermes Road, Suite 110 Malta, NY 12020 Phone: (877) 274-1274 Fax: (866) 777-1274 lzarker@bpi.org www.bpi.org    You are encouraged to:

BPI Introduces New Renewal Policy for Certified Home Performance Professionals 

Malta, NY, March 4, 2013 - Today BPI announced a new certification renewal policy that recognizes the work experience of BPI certified professionals. The new policy eliminates field exam requirements in certain circumstances according to verified work experience. This change will benefit those professionals who maintain continuous certification and remain active in home performance roles.

   

The renewal policy outlined below applies only to those certified professionals who maintain continuous certification. However, BPI is allowing a one-time exception for those individuals whose certifications have expired no more than six months before this policy is enacted (that is, going back to August 28, 2012). All eligible individuals whose certification expires after August 28, 2012 and before April 15, 2013 have until April 15, 2013 to apply for certification renewal under these new rules. (If exams are required based on the new policy, they must be taken by June 15, 2013.) After April 15, 2013, all individuals who wish to renew under this policy must do so before their certification expires; otherwise, they must retake the relevant written and field exams for each certification they wish to renew. 

Tell Your Customers: Consumer Tax Credit Extended

Malta, NY, January 9, 2013 -  We know home performance can be a tough sell. But thanks to Congress' last-minute deal to avert the "fiscal cliff," a $500 tax credit for your customers will make it just a bit easier for you to make your own deal. Take a moment to educate your customers on the importance of these upgrades, and the limited time in which they have to redeem the tax credit. This is an opportunity for you to grow your relationship with your customers, and for your customers to save money on improvements that will make their homes safer and more comfortable places to live.  

 

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 passed by Congress on January 3, 2013, provides extensions of energy tax credit provisions that benefit homeowners seeking energy-efficiency improvements. Under section 25C, homeowners can claim a $500 maximum tax credit to cover material costs of energy-efficient upgrades to existing homes for all taxable years. The credit is only redeemable if the upgrades are in place by the end of 2013.  

 

If a taxpayer has claimed $500 or more of this tax credit in any year prior to 2013, they may not claim any additional credit. For those that remain eligible, the tax credit can be applied to any of the following upgrades:

• Insulation - Additional insulation to walls, ceilings, or other part of the building envelope that meets the 2009 IECC (& supplements) specifications.
• Windows - 10% of material cost, up to $200 for replacement windows and skylights, and exterior doors that meet EnergyStar requirements.
• Windows must be equal to or below a 0.30 U factor and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.30. Storm windows that meet the IECC in combination with their paired external window are eligible (taking into account the applicable climate zone). Storm doors paired with U-factor rated wood doors are eligible provided they do not exceed the default U-factor requirement for the combination. See the 2009 IECC for details.
• Window Films -The product must meet the requirements of a "qualifying insulation system" and be manufacturer certified.
• Home Sealing - Sealing cracks in the building shell and ducts to reduce infiltration and heat loss in a manner consistent with the 2009 IECC.
• Electric Heat Pump - Must yield an energy factor of at least 2.0 in the standard Department of Energy test procedure,
• Natural Gas & Propane Furnaces - Credit of up to $150 for furnaces that meet an Annual Fuel Use Efficiency (AFUE) 95 or higher. Oil furnaces and gas, oil and propane boilers must meet an AFUE of 90 or better.
• Central air Conditioning Units and Air-Source Heat Pumps - Credit of up to $300 for units that meet the highest tier standards set by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) as of February 17, 2009, which in most cases requires a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) of 16.
• Natural Gas, Propane, or Oil Water Heaters - Must have an energy factor of at least 0.82 or thermal efficiency of at least 90 percent.
• Biomass Fuel Property - A stove that burns biomass fuel to heat a dwelling unit located in the United States and used as a principal residence by the taxpayer; or to heat water for said dwelling unit, and must have a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75 percent.

Happy New Year

Well now that 2012 is behind us and 2013 has officially begun, the official changes to ASHRAE 62-10-2010 have been delayed and the new changes for ASHRAE 62-10-2013 are waiting for release. Have a great year everyone...