Promoting energy conservation through occupational licensure: a feasibility study

Abstract

To achieve energy conservation measures in buildings' power and lighting systems, landscaped spaces, parks, freeways, building sites, etc., the responsible engineers and tradespeople will have to be educated in ways to conserve energy. This report analyzes a key way of intervening in such education and training to promote energy conservation through the State licensing process. This study rests on the assumption that if candidates for State licenses were tested on their knowledge of energy conservation, each licensee would know how to conserve energy through his or her chosen profession. The study also assumes that, once licensing examinations include questions on energy conservation, the ways in which people are trained for occupations that affect energy use would change rapidly+. It was assumed that if candidates were tested on their knowledge of energy conservation, training institutions (colleges and universities) and publishers would institutionalize energy conservation in their curricula and publications to prepare candidates for the examinations, which would achieve a long-term structural change. The objectives of this study are: to identify approximately five licensed occupations, which because of their size or function, can promote energy conservation; to assess the extent to which energy conservation is already part of the licensing process; tomore » assess the feasibility of amending the licensing procedure in those occupations to highlight energy conservation; and to recommend strategies to bring energy conservation into the licensing process. Seventeen boards were initially identified to have an impact on energy conservation, but were narrowed to these five areas: architecture, engineers, contractors, landscape architecture, and accounting. Specific data for California were used for the study. (MCW)« less

Keywords

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