Advocates say energy efficiency could sprout jobs in Louisiana

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jun 22, 2009 by Emilie Bahr

As an energy efficiency expert, Jeff Haag has spent the past eight years investigating New Orleans buildings for the culprits of waste: leaky windows, doors and ducts, outmoded lighting and cooling systems, and inadequate insulation.

These days, he often finds himself stretched to the point he's forced to turn down work. Haag is one of only a handful of certified energy raters operating in Louisiana. He expects his schedule to only become more hectic as the nation's energy landscape continues to evolve and more focus is put on renewable power and energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency "is here to stay," said Stephen Shelton, executive director of the Louisiana CleanTech Network, a nonprofit formed in 2007 to build the state's green energy and technology sector.

"It's never going to go away again. And it's not going to be a fledgling industry anymore. It's going to be a booming industry. And it's up to our state to embrace it at every level ... to help build this new booming industry in Louisiana."

Shelton said the energy efficiency industry could provide a significant source of jobs in Louisiana for decades.

"We don't just have a few buildings that need to be weatherized," he said. "We have thousands and thousands and thousands of buildings" in need of energy efficiency improvements. And that, he said, creates a need for a "full-time rater work force."

To that end, Louisiana CleanTech is joining forces with the state Department of Natural Resources to sponsor four rater-training programs in the state this summer and fall. The first begins July 6 in New Orleans.

Presently, there are just seven energy raters operating in Louisiana certified by the Residential Energy Services Network, or RESNET, the organization that sets the national standards for building energy efficiency rating systems.

Shelton said his organization hopes to train 100 RESNET- certified energy raters by year's end. Over the next few years, he said his group intends to train "thousands" more energy efficiency and renewable energy professionals, from solar panel installers to field inspectors tasked with gathering data on buildings' energy use.

"These are well-paying, above-average income careers," suited to people of all variety of educational backgrounds, said Shelton, calling the potential of the energy rating industry "very, very large."

As interest in energy conservation grows, however, so will opportunities for unskilled or unscrupulous advisers to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers, making an available pool of accredited energy assessment professionals all the more important, some observers say.

"There is a need for education and standardization," said Forrest Bradley-Wright, sustainable rebuild director for the New Orleans- based Alliance for Affordable Energy, which will host next months' RESNET training session.

Bradley-Wright said property owners now are often getting guidance on efficiency measures from consultants who may not be fully aware of the implications of certain choices or who are selling the very products they are recommending -- an arrangement rife with obvious conflicts.

"You're not really following on a hierarchy of cost-effective priorities because you're taking advice from someone who's selling the product," he said.

Shelton, too, said he worries about energy consultants operating without the proper credentials.

"We have people out there calling themselves home energy auditors and they're nowhere near the specifications they need to be," he said.

Haag, meantime, said he isn't concerned about potential competition from the new flock of energy raters that could soon be entering the market. There is more than enough work, he said, to go around.

"I think 100 people out of the entire state of Louisiana is just nothing," he said, referring to CleanTech's goal.

He points to money allocated in the federal stimulus bill to expand low-income weatherization programs and an anticipated expansion of the state's Home Energy Rebate Option, which offers a cash rebate to Louisiana residents who improve their home's energy efficiency by 30 percent or more.

Under that initiative, before making improvements, applicants are required to obtain a home energy rating from a certified contractor.

Also on the horizon is Energy Smart, New Orleans' new energy efficiency program. Details of the plan haven't been finalized, but some expect it to provide more work for energy raters who could be needed to provide a baseline of energy use to gauge improvements.

Haag's clients primarily are homeowners for whom his energy rating services are the necessary first step toward the state- issued rebate to help with energy-efficiency improvements. Others are interested in assistance in identifying ways they might whittle their energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Business has been on the upswing in the past few years, Haag said, stoked by rebuilding work necessary after Hurricane Katrina, which ushered in a new level of interest in green building, and a widening array of local, state and federal incentive programs.