 Building Performance Specialist Overview
Become a BPS/Verifier
 Quality Assurance
Sampling Protocol
Mandatory Reporting
Critical Details
 Return to Technical Information Center
The quality assurance (QA) component of the Northwest ENERGY STAR Homes program is implemented by the State Certification Organizations (SCO) for their respective states. QA testing is used to identify how well the homes compare to program specifications and to monitor builder and verifier performance. Regional organizations and utilities offering builder or homebuyer incentives for ENERGY STAR homes (or components within them) benefit from this information as well.
As part of the performance technician’s ongoing participation in a quality control program administered by a training and certification organization approved by a Regional Technical Forum (RTF), the data relating to the testing of the duct system is subject to an independent review by an RTF-approved organization. In addition to this third-party quality control, the SCOs conduct QA of the entire certification process, including independent performance testing of the systems.
In addition to the full QA plan, two supporting documents are available for utility partner reference. These documents are:
- The working draft of the home QA scorecard model that demonstrates how homes can earn their QA scores. This function is in place and operates behind the scenes. The model allows the user to place a checkmark in the boxes on the field QA checklist to see how the home score is generated.
- The working draft of the field testing protocols that are to be used throughout the region by the SCOs when performing QA tests. Note that not every test will be performed in every home, but when tests are performed the procedures outlined here describe how to perform them to obtain comparable information region-wide.
Click on the link below to view the plan and supporting documents.
 QA Plan [PDF]
QA Scorecard Working Draft [Excel]
QA Field Protocol Working Draft [PDF]
|
