A Certification That Addresses The Urgent Need For Credentialed High-Performance Building Operations Technical Professionals

Several dozen technical professionals–including building operating engineers, stationary engineers, mechanical engineers, energy managers, and facilities managers–collaborated to develop the HPBOP DACUM and Job Task Analysis. Dozens more technical building professionals from across the country rated and validated the findings of the HPBOP DACUM which maps out the Duties and Tasks and knowledge and skills required to meet the standard for the HPBOP. The development of the HPBOP standard has been facilitated by The Ohio State University’s Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE).

Led by the BEST Center, many organizations have contributed to the development of the HPBOP standard: first and foremost, the National Science Foundation ATE Program as well as other entities including the California Community Colleges State Chancellor’s Office, the Building Intelligence Group, the California Department of General Services, Southern California Edison, and PG&E. Technical professionals who contributed to HPBOP standard development represented a wide range of organizations including the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, the Union of Stationary Engineers Local 39 and Local 501, faculty at Laney College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, and College of DuPage, the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA), Able Engineering, the Association of Facilities Engineers, ABM, major property management organizations including CBRE, JLL, and Cushman & Wakefield, UC Berkeley, New York University, Schneider Electric, and the U.S. General Services Administration.

The arc of HPBOP standard development began more than a decade ago with onsite, case study research into best practices for the operation of several high-performance buildings including the Smithsonian Institution, a data center, a research hospital, and a high-tech corporate campus in Silicon Valley. This early research was supported by the National Science Foundation ATE Program and led by Paul Ehrlich, Angela Lewis, and others at the Building Intelligence Group on behalf of an NSF project at Laney College directed by the BEST Center PI. The U.S. Department of Energy contributed extensive background research on the foundational knowledge and skills for building operations in a series of mapping projects. ASHRAE Guideline 32-2012 Sustainable, High-Performance Operations and Maintenance and updated in 2018 is also a seminal piece in informing the development of the HPBOP standard.