December 20, 2009, Seattle, WA - Oak Ridge National Laboratory has awarded a $300,000 contract to a team consisting of Building Media Inc. (BMI) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to design and deliver a web-based Weatherization Assistant training program for the industry.

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) designated $5 billion for the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). DOE's funding presented great opportunities and great challenges in terms of training the weatherization experts needed.

Currently, WAP weatherizes 150,000 homes per year. With this new funding, WAP must increase the number of homes weatherized to 1,000,000 per year within two years. This nearly seven-fold increase in homes weatherized promised to make a huge impact on jobs created and energy saved. However, it also requires a workforce capacity that currently does not exist. The need to quickly and effectively train a large qualified workforce was therefore critical to achieving ARRA's ambitious goals.

Historically, WAP conducted training on how to use the Weatherization Assistant programs (NEAT and MHEA) through in-person workshops several times a year at venues across the country. To meet the increased demand for training, the Oak Ridge Laboratory decided to develop online versions of the classroom training.

The BMI/NJIT team is currently working to transform the current in-person training curriculum into a robust, multi-media online resource. The new program will be accessed free of charge, 24/7 by state and local agency personnel across the U.S.

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