Energy advisors assess the energy performance of residential homes and provide advice on potential energy savings during the design, construction and renovation stages.
To become a registered energy advisor with Natural Resources Canada, prospective candidates must first pass the Foundation Level and Energy Advisor exams. After successfully passing these exams, you are required to complete probationary files with a licensed service organization and to maintain an association with at least one licensed service organization thereafter.
This interactive four-day course provides detailed understanding of the processes and steps required to do the work of a registered energy advisor. Participants gain in-depth knowledge of what information is required to be collected on existing homes or homes yet to be built. This involves knowing not only what to collect, but also why the information is required and how to apply it effectively. Having complete understanding of why the information is obtained and how it is used empowers energy advisors to provide effective, logical and customer-focused energy efficiency upgrade options.
Students obtain in-depth working knowledge of HOT2000 (NRCan’s energy-modelling software). This includes creating custom components and fuel-cost libraries, as well as a fully worked example of an energy model that includes upgrades and reports. By the end of the course, candidate energy advisors will have full working knowledge of all aspects regarding what it takes to be an effective energy advisor, how to interact with homeowners, what information is required, how to collect the correct information, how to interpret the information, how to create a customized energy efficiency road maps and how to model a file in HOT2000 and generate relevant outputs.
This is an exam-preparation course but it is far more than that; it also involves applying the learned principles. The objective of the course is to guide trainees in becoming not only well prepared for the exam as effective and knowledgeable candidate energy advisors, but also residential energy sector specialists after passing the exam.
After obtaining the energy advisor designation, new energy advisors affiliated with a licensed service organization will be able to conduct energy evaluations in accordance with NRCan’s EnerGuide Version 15 guidelines in Part 9 regarding residential buildings, excluding MURBs because these require an additional professional certification.
- EnerGuide Rating System
• General knowledge of EnerGuide Rating System, its communication tools and related services
• EnerGuide rating and its related terminology and calculations
• Basic service
• Data collection
• General requirements
• Requirements for building envelope components
• Requirements for mechanical systems
• Renovation upgrade service
• Construction blower door service
• Construction upgrade service for new homes
• Blower door tests
• Air leakage location identification procedure
• Exhaust devices depressurization test
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HOT2000 Modelling Version 11
• HOT2000 software and modelling
• General HOT2000 features
• Create new house file using the House wizard
• Model a house using the HOT2000 main interface
• Submit HOT2000 house files and generate reports and labels
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Administration and Delivery of EnerGuide Rating System Version 15
• Code of ethics, code of conduct and conflict of interest guidelines
• Roles and responsibilities of NRCan
• Roles and responsibilities of service organizations
• Roles and responsibilities of the service organization managers
• Roles and responsibilities of energy advisors
• Roles and responsibilities of builders
• Registration, designation and requalification process for service organizations, service providers and builders
• Suspension and delinquency/deregistration
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Quality Assurance of the EnerGuide Rating System Version 15
• General quality assurance knowledge
• Roles and responsibilities regarding quality assurance