ASHRAE High-Performance Building Design Professional Certification Now Available

March 10, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

According to Kent Peterson, ASHRAE president, the new certification program will allow practitioners to demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of how heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) design is integrated into high-performing buildings to achieve the overall goal of sustainable practice used in green buildings.

"The program combines the criteria of ASHRAE standards 90.1 (energy efficiency), [ASHRAE] 62.1 (ventilation) and [ASHRAE] 55 (thermal comfort) with the innovative approaches included in the advanced energy design guide series in an integrated design approach that strives to achieve practical, cost-effective high-performance building designs," Peterson said.

The content of the exam includes sustainability concepts, HVAC and sustainable processes and environmental improvement programs and rating systems, energy analysis, indoor environment, controls and monitoring, benchmarking with performance metrics, water conservation, commissioning in sustainable construction and operation and maintenance of high-performance buildings.

The certification is renewable every three years, and those certified must earn 45 professional development hours during that time.

"This program has been designed so that it is inclusive of global design approaches and tools," Peterson said.

The first exam will take place June 25 at the ASHRAE 2008 annual meeting, June 21 to 25 in Salt Lake City. Exams at testing centers around the world will become available in the fall, ASHRAE said.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.ashrae.org/certification.

Source: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc. (ASHRAE).