ANSI EESCC Issues General Call for Input on Energy Efficiency Standards and Conformance Activities

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative (EESCC) has issued a general call for input regarding current or forthcoming standards, codes, guidelines, and conformance programs related to energy efficiency standardization in the built environment, as well as perceived gaps in the current energy efficiency standardization landscape. The EESCC is reaching out to individuals and groups in the larger standardization community and beyond, as well as to current EESCC members and organizations in the ANSI federation, to solicit input that will inform the development of a standardization roadmap advancing energy efficiency in the built environment.

The EESCC is a cross-sector initiative dedicated to increasing awareness, adoption, and implementation of standards, codes, and conformance activities among policy makers and the market through the creation of the roadmap.

The EESCC is looking to obtain as much information as possible in its EESCC Inventory Database by Monday, April 1. The database is intended to capture critical information that the EESCC and its five working groups will consider in developing the standardization roadmap. All stakeholders are encouraged to provide information on relevant documents, conformance programs, and gaps in advance of this date. The EESCC Inventory and its three online entry forms are available on the EESCC website at www.ansi.org/eescc.

• Online entry form for documents (standards, codes, guidelines, and regulations)  
• Online entry form for conformance programs (certificate and training programs, personnel certification programs, accreditation programs, rating and labeling systems)  
• Online entry form for potential gaps in the standardization landscape

The EESCC roadmap will articulate the value of standardization programs related to energy efficiency in the built environment, and will help the private-sector standardization community and federal agencies focus their efforts on any identified gaps in this area. More than 50 member organizations involving over 130 experts from industry, standards and code developing organizations, energy efficiency focused organizations, educational institutions, and other groups are currently involved in the effort.

Note: the EESCC Inventory is not collecting the standards or documents themselves, but rather relevant information regarding such documents that will assist in the development of the roadmap. Individual product and appliance standards are out of scope; however systems-related standards covering communications between appliances and equipment are within scope.

The roadmap will focus on five identified areas of need, addressed by a working group (WG) for each area:

• WG1: Building energy and water assessment and performance standards   (including diagnostic test procedures and health and safety testing)  
• WG2: Systems integration and systems communications   (encompassing communications between building automation/operation systems and equipment/appliances, both within single buildings and across facilities)  
• WG3: Building energy modeling, rating, and labeling   (includes whole building modeling, and rating and labeling for energy performance)  
• WG4: Evaluation, measurement, and verification   (encompassing EM&V; energy performance metrics; and standardized and portable data collection and reporting)  
• WG5: Workforce credentialing   (including standards for workforce training and certification programs, and workforce skills standards) The EESCC working groups were formed in November 2012 and have been meeting regularly since December to begin the standards needs assessment and lay the strategic groundwork for their portion of the roadmap [see related article].

The EESCC encourages interested parties to become more directly involved in its work by becoming a member of the Collaborative. Broad and varied participation is essential to ensuring that important decisions on the future of energy efficiency are made through consensus and collaboration. EESCC members have the opportunity to:

• Influence the standardization strategies that impact emerging energy efficiency services and technologies  
• Demonstrate their commitment to U.S. energy independence and economic growth  
• Help promote the adoption of energy efficiency solutions through standardization  
• Take part in crafting input to policymakers on the use of voluntary consensus standards for energy efficiency needs  
• Access early information on key energy efficiency initiatives and technologies  To learn more about the benefits of joining the collaborative, as well as other important information, please visit www.ansi.org/eescc.