Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan Elected to BPI Board of Directors

Malta, NY - October 2, 2006 -Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to Save Energy, the world’s premier non-profit organization advocating on behalf of energy efficiency, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Building Performance Institute, Inc.

In making this announcement BPI Chairman, Laverne Dalgleish, said, “Kateri Callahan brings a wealth of experience to the BPI Board in public policy advocacy on behalf of energy conservation and efficiency. She will help the organization immensely in promoting the need for a strong building performance contractor credentialing program as a mechanism for improving the energy efficiency, health, safety, and long term durability of our homes.”

BPI Chief Executive Officer, William J. Parlapiano III, CIAQ added, “with the increased growth BPI is experiencing and the new partnerships emerging across the continent, the addition of Kateri Callahan to the board is going to further strengthen the organization. The staff and I look forward to working with her to improve the position of BPI as the internationally recognized building performance industry authority for credentialing, quality assurance and national standards.”

Since assuming the Alliance presidency, Callahan has spearheaded development of an ambitious five-year strategic plan, Vision 2010, which addresses increased energy efficiency in the transportation, buildings, industrial, and power supply sectors. The plan promotes energy-efficiency policies that could reduce the predicted increase in U.S. energy demand by about 10 percent by 2010 and about 15 percent by 2025.

Callahan oversees the Alliance’s key mission of promoting energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security. She leads a staff of more than 50 and oversees an annual budget of $10 million that supports energy-efficiency projects, research, educational programs, policy advocacy, and communications and marketing; promotes technology development and deployment; and builds public- private partnerships.

According to Callahan, “There are almost 120 million existing homes in this country and the residential sector consumes over 15 percent of the nation’s energy primarily for space heating and cooling. By focusing on the improvement in the energy performance of our nation’s existing housing stock, we take great strides in reducing environmental pollution and improving our nation’s energy security.”

“We are seeing an enormous amount of interest at the state and local level in bringing substantial improvements to the performance of our nation’s existing homes,” says Dalgleish. “It is appropriate at this time,” he added, “for BPI and the Alliance to Save Energy to join forces through President Callahan’s leadership to address how contractor credentialing can make a significant improvement in the delivery of cost-effective home performance improvements.”

 

About the Building Performance Institute, Inc.

The Building Performance Institute, Inc., (BPI) is the nation’s premier building performance credentialing, quality assurance and national standards setting organization. BPI supports the development of a highly professional building performance industry through individual and organizational credentialing and a rigorous quality assurance program. BPI offers the following:

 

certification of individuals in evaluation, mechanical, envelope, and multi-family designations

accreditation of organizations committed to using a quality management system

quality assurance to verify conformance and provide feedback

affiliation of organizations capable of providing localized delivery of BPI services

open, transparent, consensus developed national technical standards based on sound building science

 

BPI, in cooperation with the building performance industry stakeholders, establishes a professional performance bar at a level appropriate to ensuring the consistent delivery of exceptional building performance services for those entrusting the BPI brand. The BPI national expansion is supported by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as various regional, state, and local programs.