RESNET/BPI Joint Comprehensive Home Energy Audit Standard on Hold

For the past three years, the Building Performance Institute (BPI) and RESNET have worked to develop a joint Comprehensive Home Energy Audit (CHEA) Standard. One of the goals of the effort was to require an individual to undergo a single training and testing to be able to perform a home energy rating and a BPI building analysis for a home performance contractor. A draft standard was developed and approved by both organization’s technical committees and board of directors. The draft standard underwent a public review and comment process and modified by a joint BPI/RESNET standards committee. The joint committee recommended that the BPI and RESNET Boards adopt the revised draft. The RESNET Board of Directors adopted the revised standard but the BPI Board voted to put the standard on hold.

In its communication to the RESNET Board, BPI gave the following reasons for tabling the adoption of the standard:

How the standard addresses work orders "is too prescriptive and onerous for home performance contractors to implement."
CHEA software should be a software tool that is approved for residential retrofit work under the DOE weatherization program, approved by DOE and/or EPA for similar existing home retrofit purposes or approved by a process established by DOE or DOE Lab/stakeholder process now underway called the "BEST TEST EX."

Since the CHEA standard was to be a joint BPI and RESNET standard, its adoption is on hold until the BPI issues can be resolved.

The RESNET Board voted to authorize RESNET Board President to send a response to BPI. The RESNET release can be downloaded by clicking on RESNET Response to BPI Tabling Joint Standard.