“Created for the real estate sales process, BPI-2101 is designed to promote accurate valuation of energy efficiency by standardizing the way energy efficiency improvements are represented,” said Robin LeBaron, managing director of the National Home Performance Council and co-chair of the BPI working group that developed the standard.

BPI-2101 identifies a standard set of data elements for certificates that document the completion of a whole-house energy upgrade (HEU) or individual energy conservation measures (ECMs) in existing homes. A certificate that complies with the requirements of this standard can be issued to homeowners by home energy upgrade programs or by entities implementing nationally recognized third-party quality assurance programs for inclusion in multiple listing service (MLS) databases during the home re-sale process.

“Most of the data required for a more transparent transaction is already being captured by energy efficiency programs,” said Anne Evens, CEO of CNT Energy, an organization instrumental in garnering stakeholder involvement for the development of the standard. “Standardizing and communicating this information makes upgrades visible and accessible at the time of a home sale, and encourages homeowners to invest in energy efficiency improvements. This helps efficiency programs meet goals, and benefits the real estate industry, homebuyers and sellers, and the environment.”

The data elements in BPI-2101 are aligned with four other standards to promote consistency and transparency in the real estate, appraisal, and energy efficiency program industries: BPI-2200-S-2013 (Standard for Home-Performance-Related Data Collection), which serves as a data dictionary for the home performance industry; BPI-2100-S-2013 (Standard for Home Performance-Related Data Transfer), which defines a common standard for transferring energy efficient data; the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS), which defines a common standard for transferring real estate-related data; and the Appraisal Institute's Residential Green and Energy Efficiency Addendum, which provides appraisers with a standard template for collecting data about a home’s energy efficient and other green features.

BPI-2101 was developed by a working group created by BPI’s Standards Technical Committee (STC) and comprised of subject matter experts representing a variety of interest categories and geographical locations.

BPI-2101 is also currently in process to become an American National Standard. Once approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), it will be republished as an ANSI/BPI standard.