Making American homes and buildings more energy efficient presents unprecedented opportunities for communities, building owners and the mechanical trades industries (HVACR, Plumbing, Electrical, etc.). The Federal Government utilizing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) authorized the creation of a new energy auditor training program. 

Energy auditing is part of the growing industry of green and sustainable technologies. There are currently 8.5 million U.S. jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. This is expected to grow to as many as 40 million by 2030. Energy efficiency has never been so closely tied to economic opportunity. However the National Renewable Energy Lab has identified a shortage of skilled and trained persons as a leading barrier to renewable energy and energy efficiency growth. 

Despite the economic and environmental benefits of improving home energy efficiency, a major barrier has prevented energy auditing on a national scale. The current workforce does not contain enough experienced professionals to take under their wings the numbers of new Energy Auditors that the marketplace is demanding. A nationally recognized worker training and certification standard for comprehensive energy auditing training needed to be created that provides evidence that a worker is well qualified to properly complete energy audits. Therefore, an 800-contact hour curriculum has been developed to produce professionals that are able to stand on their own upon graduation.