The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) are pleased to announce the members of the decision- and policy-making body for the ANSI-IREC accreditation program for training/education programs within the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, or AIPAC. AIPAC is responsible for the operational aspects of the joint ANSI-IREC program. The pilot program recently awarded its first accreditations to three certificate-awarding entities this past summer and will be open for general applications in early 2013.
The members of the accreditation committee represent a broad array of sectors and bring with them a depth of knowledge from their respective spheres. Robert Mahlman, director of The Ohio State University's Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE), has agreed to serve as AIPAC's first chairman. ANSI and IREC are proud to welcome the following esteemed members of the committee:
"With their rich expertise and dedication to quality, the caliber of this AIPAC team lends itself to thoughtfulness in creating policy, and will ensure integrity in the accreditation process," Mr. Mahlman said.
The ANSI-IREC Program follows the evaluation process outlined in the international standard ISO/IEC 17011, General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies. Under this process, the program uses trained assessors to review documents submitted by applicants, conduct on-site assessments, and make recommendations to AIPAC. Accreditation under the program demonstrates to employers, funders, policymakers, and students that certificate-awarding programs have met all requirements in the IREC Standard 14732:2012, General Requirements for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Certificate Programs, for issuing a market-valued certificate.
For more information about the Program, contact ANSI's Diana Singhavong ([email protected]) or IREC's Pat Fox ([email protected]).
About IREC
IREC has worked aggressively to break down barriers to renewable energy use since 1982. Throughout its history, the organization has been instrumental in rulemaking for connecting distributed power to the utility grid, quality assessment, workforce development, consumer protection and stakeholder coordination. Since 2005, IREC has been the North American Licensee for the IREC ISPQ International Standard 01022. Today, there are over 115 credentials awarded to training programs and instructors. For more information, visit http://www.irecusa.org.