As natural gas and thus utility rates climb in the United States more and more homeowners and rental property owners are demanding energy efficiency of their home construction and appliances. The home energy inspection industry has become a booming industry - and highly competitive.

What this means is that there is no better time to consider becoming an energy assessor. Not only would you be in much demand but as competition drives up the need, it will also drive up the energy assessor (EA) wages as well.

Some private as well as government agencies now offer certification as an EA. With these organizations you can generally get training to qualify for certification. Many will teach you to conduct energy audits, which can only advance your value as an EA or even utility provider or repair person.

Certification as an EA gives you credibility. It indicates you have experience, you have expertise and you have satisfied customers. With this certification you distinguish yourself from your energy assessor peers, which can create a demand for your services and drive up your fee and / or your wages.

If your customers and your potential employers know that not only did you train as an energy assessor but that you went to the additional training and trouble to get yourself certified theyll know two things about you.

Theyll know that your value to them is high as compared with other energy assessors, and that your interest in helping homeowners become energy efficient surpasses those assessors not certified.

The EA certification training course provides each student with a comprehensive understanding of residential energy efficiency. The curriculum is two full days long and very hands on. Each EA will take away from the course a full understanding of how residential dwellings work as an energy unit.

Theyll learn the principles of heat transference and how that has an impact on the homes performance. Theyll learn the correct use of various state of the art equipment for diagnoses of energy efficiencies.

These include duct blasters and blower doors, for example. Theyll complete the energy assessor course ready to produce an entire analysis of a homes energy efficiency, including the use of software designed for energy field audits.

Theyll know how to sell their EA field services to real estate agents as well as residential clients. Theyll also learn about the various rebates provided by utility companies as well as energy improvement financing, incentives on taxes and other assistance in the payment of home energy improvements.

An EA who completes this home audit course can charge a higher per-inspection fee, and can increase the number of home inspections that she or he can complete in any given week thanks to the learned speed and software proficiency.

The graduating energy assessor can now market more effectively to real estate agents and brokers and can collaborate with energy efficiency organizations to grow their clientele.