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Everything You Need to Know about the Business Energy Professional (BEP) Certification

We recently chatted with Mark R. Roche, Core Instructor and the Chairman of the BEP Certification Board to hear his thoughts on the Business Energy Professional (BEP) professional training program and the importance of being a certified professional. Mark also teaches the Certified Demand Side Manager (CDSM) و Certified Energy Manger (CEM) professional training programs.

What made you want to develop the Business Energy Professional course, and who is it primarily designed for?

The original idea for the BEP course came from several corporate energy manager jobs that I had applied for and the interviews I participated in back in 2003. During the interviews, the importance of the positions was all around keeping all of the different components of an energy management program aligned so that they all enhance each other to ensure the end-of-year goals and targets, year after year, are met. There was less emphasis on whether I could perform the technical portions of the positions. Through the years, I have also seen the absolute need for the BEP course in terms of how energy professionals approach and make decisions and, most recently, how energy professionals interpret information. The BEP course is designed for anyone involved in energy management. I have seen individuals use the course to get into the energy industry, and I have seen many seasoned energy professionals, many with the CEM certification, gain an increased understanding of the business side of energy that helps them become more effective at justifying projects and getting more approvals for projects from their organization or from the customers that are working for.

Would you elaborate more on how energy professionals interpret information?

Yes, I think we all would agree that the amount of readily available information is incredible today compared to two decades ago. When I started instructing the CEM in 2001, gaining information then was mostly in books or journals where you had to research the information from credible sources, or you took courses to gain that information from other energy professionals who had experienced it, or you received it from being involved with a professional organization like AEE. The nice part about instructor lead training is the ability to ask questions, discuss past and current projects, and learn about issues we face today. I give a lot of the credit for my ramp-up of my learning in energy management to many of the AEE Instructors that taught me: Al Thuman and Bill Younger (Energy Auditing), Barney Capehart (Certified Energy Manager), Shirley Hansen (Investment Grade Energy Auditing), and Barney Burroughs (Indoor Air Quality Professional). Getting back to the original question, with this availability of information and now with the creation of Artificial Intelligence, I’m seeing more articles that are less about educating energy professionals on the facts and merits of a project and more about trying to sway or sell an opinion. Here is a recent specific example:

I read a report titled something to the effect that the projects this entity was doing were overachieving the energy savings on their projects. The title grabbed my curiosity, so I read the report. The report further discussed how almost all facilities can achieve these savings. A little later in the report, they provided more details on how they chose this project and said they prioritized the selection of the facility, and this project was based on the facility’s electric bills. While I am summarizing this report in just a few sentences, I think you can already see that the project for this prioritized facility is probably a great project for that facility. However, I doubt this project will produce the same overachieving results for every facility. I have seen this behavior with several vendors throughout the years, even as far back as 1998, with a company that had an oil additive that they wanted to place into chiller systems. I refer to this behavior as cherry-picking projects, where the vendor will select a situation where the technology will work perfectly. After they install it in that situation, every brochure from the vendor will have documented savings on it, even though that overachieved savings will never be achieved by other, and certainly not all, installations.

This article is an example of where the BEP course can provide a lot of value to energy professionals. The course is mainly geared around making better decisions, so this example above would be something I would expect a BEP to read and come up with similar conclusions (i.e., the technology installed will work well in some situations but not in all, and knowing where technology won’t work well is almost as valuable as knowing where it will work).

What are the job titles of BEPs?

As mentioned above, I believe the BEP can benefit anyone in the energy industry, including those trying to enter the field. Here are the job titles we think would gain the most value from the course:

Electric and Gas Utility Account Representatives
Corporate Energy Managers
Sustainability Managers
Facility Energy Managers or General Managers
Commercial / Industrial Energy Managers
Commercial / Industrial Plant or Production Managers
School and Institutional Energy Managers
Energy Service Company Sales Representatives
Alternative Financing Experts

What is happening in the world that makes this certification relevant?

There are some excellent examples of what is happening today and why this certification is even more relevant today. The first example would be the overall emphasis of countless organizations putting the stake in the ground for their carbon reduction or neutrality goals. Understanding the steps to cost-effectively reducing an organization’s carbon footprint is essential. In the latest revision to the BEP material, we made carbon accounting its own separate section that goes into great detail on these steps, including an emphasis on understanding the scope of emissions. I bring this topic up because depending on the carbon reduction goals, the areas of scope emissions will significantly impact the steps needed to meet the goals. This topic is global, not just a topic in the United States. I think the other very pertinent example is the amount of investment being made today in energy efficiency and renewable energy worldwide.

What is your perspective on Training and Certifications?

I think you can tell already that I’m a big supporter of training and certifications. Supporting training and certification goes back to my time in the U.S. Navy. I was a trained nuclear operator for the Navy, and during my two sea tours, I was a math instructor at the Naval Nuclear Power School. As I reflect on this, we did training all the time in the Navy. I don’t think there was a single week we weren’t involved in training. Obviously, in the Navy, the training was for readiness, which is not much different from being involved with energy management. We need to know how to make the best decisions possible when situations arise. As training applies to certifications, certifications are a great way to distinguish yourself that you have this knowledge. Certifications are also a great way to provide many employment and promotional opportunities. Many energy management positions posted on job boards require knowledge levels and certifications, and I have seen many companies use certifications as a requirement for progression promotions. I’ll summarize this question with something I share in the BEP class; I tell attendees, “If you want to be good in energy management – Starve for Information.” Following this advice, you’ll be amazed at what you can learn over a year.

How will becoming certified help their career?

I think becoming certified has helped my career in energy management in many ways. The certifications have helped me through the years and contributed to several promotions. It has helped me tangibly distinguish myself when applying for other positions. The other nice thing about certifications is that beyond helping us in the energy industry, they will often help us succeed in different areas of our lives: finance, purchasing, decision-making, home improvement, etc.

Can you describe how the BEP course and certification helps you in your current role?

I have recently transitioned to a new company, and before this transition, for the past 11 years, I was the Manager, Regulatory Rates for Tampa Electric Company. In this role, I led all of the company’s demand side management (DSM) activities and covered the company’s Storm Protection Cost Recovery Clause. Even in my new role, almost all of the topics within the course I use every week: how technology works, what are the technologies energy, power, and demand, when it peaks in demand, metering, performing measurement and verification, project justification and financial analysis, etc. Understanding how these different aspects of energy management relate and interact with each other enables me to make sound decisions for DSM and energy management much quicker. It also provides the knowledge to be able to explain things in a variety of ways to individuals with differing energy industry experience.

Do you recommend any other courses to your BEP attendees?

Before I recommend other courses, I usually ask, “What do you want to do next in your career?” I would recommend the مدير الطاقة المعتمد (CEM) course if they want to learn more technical skills. If they’re going to get more involved in energy procurement, I would recommend the الأخصائي المعتمد في مشتريات الطاقة (CEP). The attendees’ desired career path should dictate which path, training, and certifications to pursue.

My path of certifications in energy management involved taking the CEM course in 1998, followed by the Certified Indoor Air Quality Professional (CIAQP); then, I took the CEP course before being asked to become a CEM instructor in 2001.

Is there anything else you would like to share about the BEP certification or energy management in general?

First, working in the energy management field is an excellent field to work in, as I share in all of the courses I teach, it contains all positive aspects of the profession. You help customers save energy, saving them on costs – so they like it. It also reduces the impacts to the environment, so that’s a great thing, and it also helps the local community and nation in its cost competitiveness with products and services, so again – it’s a great field to work in.

Being in this field, knowing the business side of how energy management is performed is important, and I still see this need today, a professional in the energy industry today must be able to effectively convey and sell their ideas. I think the BEP course is valuable to those energy professionals who want to gain this knowledge, enhance their current knowledge, or distinguish themselves through accreditation.