Four-hundred-billion dollars (that's $400 billion!) spent on energy in U.S. buildings per year. Two years of work. Fifty-four organizations. One-hundred-twenty-five recommendations. These numbers only tell part of the story.

Oh no, another roadmap! Sometimes dubbed business or strategic plans, they come with different personalities and effectiveness. Many end up sitting on the proverbial “shelf,” but I’m writing about one that won’t collect dust.

The Standardization Roadmap: Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment, developed by ANSI’s Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative (EESCC), includes 125 recommendations to advance energy efficiency in the built environment.

A new national standard for the accreditation of clean energy education/training certificate programs, developed by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), has received final approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an American National Standard. IREC is an accredited American National Standards Developer, leading the nation in clean energy education/training credentials and standards.

As an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer and national leader in training credentials, IREC's Standard 14732:201X General Requirements for the Accreditation of Clean Energy Certificate Programs is out for public comment. Deadline to submit is 4/14.

When you start a presentation or a report with terms that mean different things to different people, chances are you're not going to be successful in getting your point across. While making sure we use clearly defined and understandable terms seems intuitive, it doesn't always happen. The clean energy community has a ways to go to make sure we're all talking the same language. But, there are good moves on the horizon.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative (EESCC) has released its Standardization Roadmap 1.0 with 116 action-oriented recommendations to advance energy efficiency in the built environment through standards and conformance activities.