Rex Boynton, president of NATE, noted, "We have been studying the market and listening to the industry. Our first new certification release will be the Energy Efficiency Technician Test and thereafter four Hydronics tests. These will be available over the next 18-24 months. Since our inception, we have planned other tests. We first focused on residential and light commercial applications but the Technical Committee also has on its agenda: Commercial and industrial HVAC and refrigeration; Master (Senior) certification; water-source and geothermal heat, pumps, boilers, hydronic heat etc. Now that the NATE program is growing, we are going to revisit our testing agenda.

The Energy Efficiency test for technicians will be more encompassing than the energy efficiency sections of the current ten NATE specialty service and installation tests. For a technician to take this certification, there may be some NATE certification testing prerequisites. The Hydronics tests include: Hot Water For Oil Service; Hot Water For Oil Installation; Hot Water For Gas Service; and Hot Water For Gas Installation specialty tests. As with other NATE tests, NATE will administer the tests and our coalition partners will provide the training."

NATE Subject Matter Experts are working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) SME’s to define and develop a practices analysis for the technicians’ energy-efficiency certification. From that, the NATE Energy Efficiency test will be created which will certify technicians by testing their knowledge of industry-determined, approved skills and standards for energy efficiency. Technicians thus certified will be able to determine if a structure and its heating/cooling units are energy efficient.

Good practice dictates that a certification practices analysis be conducted as an integral part of validating the tests. NATE ‘s Technical Committee Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) are working with those from the Hydronics Institute (HI) of the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA) to create the test of knowledge of skills and standards for gas or oil hydronics technicians. Initially there will be four tests but other tests are being considered.

Valid tests result from a close analysis of the tasks that HVAC/R professionals perform. These tasks are broken down into the specific knowledge of skills, and the abilities required for the competent practice of these tasks and transformed into a survey format. The survey will ensure that these tests accurately reflect the tasks which those technicians taking specific certification tests perform. More specifically, the goal of NATE is to have the certification tests reflect the tasks, knowledge and skills that 80% of technicians have an 80% likelihood of encountering at least once yearly.

NATE is a coalition of many partners:

• Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA);
• Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Institute (ARI);
• American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE);
• Building Performance Institute (BPI);
• Edison Electric Institute (EEI);
• Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI);
• Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA);
• Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI);
• National Energy Management Institute (NEMI);
• Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors - National Association (PHCC-NA);
• Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES);
• Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (SMACNA);
• Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA);
• U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

NATE is the only nationally recognized HVACR test supported by the entire industry including the Environmental Protection Agency and endorsed by the Department Of Energy. NATE tests are approved for reimbursement under the Montgomery GI Bill.

For further information on NATE or the NATE Air Conditioning Excellence exams, call 1-(877)-420-NATE (6263), or visit Ante’s web site, www.natex.org.