You hit that right on the head Kevin. Currently HERS, and I doubt this would ever change, is the biggest standard. HERS is the EnergyStar standard and the one, if I were a contractor, would focus on.
LEEDS has the largest “member” base currently. LEEDs is more about what the building is made up of. To get different ratings (Silver, Gold, Platinum) the building not only has to be sustainable, but also made from certain percentage of post consumer or recycled products.
It would be very tough to do, but technically you could build (retrofit) a building to become an EnergyStar structure that is more efficient than some LEEDs structures, and still not gain enough LEEDs points to get a rating.
Another one, that I have been reading up on is the NAHB standard. This one recently just received an ANSI certification. Which so much of the whole green movement being on the residential side, this one could potentially get larger and maybe even over take LEEDs.
HERS is taught by both BPI and Resnet. LEEDs is administrated by the USGBC. We just set up a training program for our customers for both a HERS and LEEDs training and certification on Friday. I will post more details on it, as we develop it a little more.
As far as the free energy audits. Scott you are partially correct. What isn’t noted here is the fact that the people doing the free audits, are being reimbursed through some program. These programs are either administered by your city, county, state, federal, power companies, or a combination of any or all. So yes it is Free to the consumer, the energy auditor gets paid through other resources. That is why you see that many of the energy auditing companys are non profit. I would highly recommend if you want to pursue that path, to have the main officer of the non profit as a minority. Sometimes this is not possible, but it is a huge benefit.
Stick with HERS, LEEDs, and maybe the NAHB one, for now. Everything else is just something else that people are just trying to make money off this movement, and just something you can hang on your sign.
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