The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, has entered into a partnership with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) that is designed to help bolster the U.S. workforce for the growing number of clean energy jobs of the future.
Under a memorandum of understanding, ANSI and IREC will pursue an independent, joint accreditation program for credit and non-credit energy efficiency and renewable energy (excluding hyropower) related certificate programs offered in formal educational institutions and other legal entities. The initiative is being undertaken with advisory support from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Launched in 2009, ANSI's Certificate Accreditation Program accredits organizations that issue education and training certificates to the U.S. workforce. The joint ANSI-IREC accreditation services would assess whether a certificate program's curriculum, educational process and management system meet industry expectations, resulting in the issuance of a market-valued certificate.