Voluntary certification may cover solar thermal in U.S.
MALTA, New York, US, May 11, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
Solar water and pool heating systems may become subject to voluntary installation guidelines in the United States.
The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners was created in
2001 to establish a national voluntary certification program for installers of
solar PV systems. A task analysis defines the general set of knowledge, skills
and abilities required of practitioners who install and maintain PV systems.
The ‘Solar PV Installer Certification’ program is the basis for a task
analysis for contractors who install solar DHW systems for heating water in
residential or commercial applications, as well as heating water for swimming
pools. Systems are also used for heating other fluids for various processes
including solar air conditioning, heating of oils, sewage and air.
The tasks are designed for the installation contractor, not the system designer,
and the purpose is to “determine what people do, under what working conditions
they do it, what they must know to do it, and the skills they must have to do
it,” the draft guidelines explain. It establishes the basis for training
curricula and defines the requirements for the assessment and credentialing of
practitioners.
To develop training and assessment mechanisms for certification, specific tasks
are classified as cognitive or psychomotor skills, and list the critical issues
which involve safety and other tasks that could lead to system failure or
destruction of components to which the system is attached. The tasks are based
on conventional designs, but “do not seek to limit or restrict innovative
equipment, designs or installation practice in any manner.”
NABCEP is polling the U.S. solar industry on whether a voluntary certification
program for solar water and pool heating system installers should be designed,
adding that the voluntary certification would not replace state licensing or
other requirements. Feedback from manufacturers and installers indicates the
desire for a national certification that will be “a necessary component in for
a rapid build up of our industry’s installation capacity.”
Water heaters consume 13% of all U.S. residential energy and 6% of all energy in
commercial buildings. Residential water heating consumes 100 billion kWh of
electricity per year, 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 900 million gallons
of fuel oil and 500 million gallons of LPG. In addition, “the energy used for
pool heating is enormous and the market in that sector of the solar industry is
robust.”
The solar roadmap developed by the U.S. Department of Energy set a goal of
reducing primary fossil fuel use for water heating by 25% by 2020 through solar
thermal and other technologies. Buildings consume one-third of total primary
energy in the U.S., of which water heating is a “significant share” at 3.8
quadrillion Btu each year, equal to 19% of natural gas production.
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