BPI and Industry News
Building Performance News and Discussion
By Quinn Korzeniecki
BPI Client Relations and Operations Updates
- Resuming our quarterly Test Center & Proctor calls are important to us and we are asking for your input on the topics you would like discussed on these calls. Please reach out to TestCenter@bpi.org with any ideas you may have and we will do our best to incorporate them into our upcoming calls.
- Our first year of the Jon Siemen Scholarship was a success! The scholarship has been expanded to include all BPI certifications, as well as the Building Science Principles (BSP) certificate. Applications for 2018 will be accepted until November 30, 2017. Visit www.bpi.org/SiemenScholarship for more information. Weatherization professionals who apply and receive the scholarship are eligible to have their online and field exam costs covered.
- Certification Renewal Policy Update which goes into effect as of January 1, 2018: To be consistent with other BPI certification renewal policies, BPI will be incorporating the Infiltration & Duct Leakage (IDL) certification in BPI’s renewal policy. BPI’s renewal policy recognizes practitioners’, trainers’, and proctors’ relevant work experience, and will allow a candidate to bypass the IDL exam using work experience as part of the renewal process, effective January 1, 2018.
BPI’s renewal policy which will now include the IDL certification, will be updated on the BPI website as of January 1, 2018. Anyone whose IDL certification came due between September 11, 2017 through January 30, 2018, has been given a new IDL expiration date of January 31, 2018. As of January 1, 2018, these IDL Certified Professionals will have until January 31, 2018 (31 days) to renew their IDL certification, whether they choose to take the IDL field exam or submit a BPI renewal application with all the specific requirements, which will be outlined in the BPI Certification Renewal Policy.
The pricing structure for the IDL renewal will stay consistent with our other certifications. For example, if someone is renewing their IDL certification only, the cost will be $300. (Proctor reminder: Proctor renewal applications can be found in your proctor account).
- BPI GoldStar Policy Update: The BPI GoldStar Tier system has been eliminated. This system previously designated certain benefits as you rose through different GSC tiers. Now, all BPI Goldstar Contractors will receive a better benefits package.
BPI Company Updates
- BPI is partnering up with the Home Performance Coalition, Efficiency First, and Home Energy Magazine to bring you #HomePerformanceWeek, a week to discuss the home performance industry and how we all fit into the mix. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook next week (October 16-20) to join the conversation.
- Earn 2 BPI CEUs for contributing to the BPI homeowner blog and/or submitting a Stump the Chump segment for a future newsletter. Email qkorzeniecki@bpi.org if you are interested in writing on home performance topics for a homeowner audience or submitting a building science challenge for other contractors to solve.
Partner News
- Don't miss out on upcoming Home Performance Coalition (HPC) conferences in California and New York! Registration and agendas are available for HPC California in Long Beach, CA on November 14-15, 2017 and HPC New York in Saratoga Springs, NY on February 13-14, 2018.
Industry News
- American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 2017 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, with Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Oregon taking the top five positions for most efficient states. Click here to view the whole scorecard.
- After this year's highly successful Energy Efficiency Day, the U.S. Senate officially declared October 5th as Energy Efficiency Day. Over 500 Twitter users participated, with tweets reaching nearly 3 million people (both inside and outside of the industry).
About the Author
Quinn is the Senior Communications Associate for BPI. Would you like to write articles to engage homeowners about home performance? Contact Quinn to contribute to BPI's Homeowner Blog.
Marketing Corner
Is Your Logo Up-to-Date?
By Hannah C. Wood
In January 2017, BPI rebranded and developed our new logo versions, which are digitally-friendly and clearer.
There are updated logos for BPI Certified Professionals, Home Energy Professionals (HEP), Test Centers, BPI GoldStar Contractors, and CEU Providers to use in your marketing. Active BPI Stakeholders received the links to download these logo versions in February 2017.
Don’t have your new logo versions? Please contact Client Relations at recertification@bpi.org to get a link to download your respective logo version and the Policies and Procedures for BPI Logo Use.
All BPI stakeholders must use the new logo versions digitally and for print by January 1, 2018.
Please note: The standalone BPI logo (or seal) is not to be used for promotion. Only BPI can use that logo.
Cheers,
Hannah C. Wood
BPI Spotlight
BPI Building Analyst, Pete Carlson, Receives DOE Century Club Award
By BPI
This month, BPI features Pete Carlson, a BPI Building Analyst, Envelope Professional and Home Energy Score Assessor. Pete works for The Energy Store, a BPI Rater company.
This past summer, Pete was awarded with a Century Club Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He received the award for performing Home Energy Scores on more than 100 homes in 2016. When asked about the award, Pete said he feels “honored and humbled.”
How did he do it? The Energy Store made a business decision to score as many homes as possible in three months. As result, Pete was scoring between two to four homes per day across Connecticut. Thanks to the company’s effort, and subsequent award, they can now use a designated logo in their marketing.
Pete estimates that about 40-50% of customers needed, and went forward with, one or more energy improvements. Performing the initial score also enabled homeowners to springboard into the Connecticut Home Energy Solutions program (from EnergizeCT), when needed. Through that program, homeowners could access rebates and incentives for, most often, insulation and air sealing,
What’s next for Pete? He’s preparing for his Healthy Home Evaluator (HHE) exam. He’s also overseeing other Qualified Assessors; the Energy Store has 12-15 Assessors, of their 35 employees, scoring homes across Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Stump the Chump
Let's Play Stump the Chump!
By BPI
This month’s stumper comes from a homeowner with seemingly mysterious radon issues. He lives in a two-story home with a full basement, built in 2002. When he purchased the house, the home inspector ran a radon test in the basement and got a 1.2. Recently, he decided to check the level in a bedroom on the top level of the house. It came back at 6. He checked the basement again and it was now 2.3.
“I've checked a few different times since and each time the upper level is ~2x the basement level. I usually run the furnace fan constantly to balance the temperature in the house. I found the radon level would drop quite a bit if I kept the fan off.
I was planning to have the furnace and AC replaced, so I had several HVAC contractors over. One found a gap in the return in the basement utility room. The system was replaced earlier this week and they made sure to seal up this gap and caulked up the new work well. I ran a test a few days later and it's now at 5.2."
What’s causing higher radon levels in the second floor than in the basement? Send your solution to Quinn or reply to this email.
Send In a Stumper and Earn 2 BPI CEUs!
The Stump the Chump segment in BPI’s newsletter is the most popular part of the monthly publication.
To keep these challenges interesting and relevant for you, our stakeholders, we need your input!
You know – that problem house, symptom, or combination of issues that challenged your building science knowledge. Send along a description of the problem and the solution to us. If it's a genuine stumper, we’ll publish in our next newsletter, which goes out to nearly 20,000 industry stakeholders.
What you'll get: An opportunity to share your technical knowledge, free individual and company advertising with a link to your company website, and 2 BPI CEUs*!
Check out these links for an idea of stumpers we’ve featured in the past:
- http://www.bpi.org/newsletter/december-2016#stump-chump
- http://www.bpi.org/newsletter/march-2017#stump-chump
*BPI must accept and publish the stumper for the individual to receive the 2 CEUs. Individual must send the issue and how they solved it to marketing@bpi.org, and reply to all follow-up emails. Individual must hold an active BPI certification to receive CEUs. Stumpers must be: original content (not republished); include location, kind of house, a little about the residents, and a lot about the building science issue; grammatically correct; and on a relevant and applicable topic. Reference: CEU Policies and Procedures.