BEM Education Strategic Plan Development
Client: IBPSA-USA
Program: Codes & Standards / Education
Building Use: Non-Residential New/Existing (Education & Workforce Dev.)
Year Completed: 2025
Goals: LMS Platform Selection, BEM Workforce Development, Sustainable Education Business Model
Category: Codes & Standards, Efficiency Program Support, Technology Research
Project Overview
IBPSA-USA engaged A2 Efficiency to transform a draft education roadmap into a robust, actionable multi-year strategic plan for expanding building energy modeling (BEM) education. The project built on existing DOE-funded seminar materials and the organization's Introduction to BEM Workshop and BEMP Exam Preparation courses to define a scalable, financially sustainable education platform.
The work encompassed market sizing, peer organization benchmarking, learning management system (LMS) evaluation, content structure development, business model design, and a sequenced 0–10 year project roadmap, developed in close collaboration with the IBPSA-USA Education Committee and through interviews with practicing BEM professionals across design, utility, policy, research, and software development.
Our Role
Estimated the U.S. BEM workforce size and annual new-entrant training demand to establish a market basis for platform and content investment decisions.
Benchmarked IBPSA-USA against peer organizations to contextualize appropriate content scope and platform ambition.
Evaluated and scored multiple LMS platforms across cost, usability, user experience, integration, and branding - delivering a clear platform recommendation.
Developed a content organizational framework and mapped existing IBPSA-USA assets to a scalable four-category structure.
Defined a phased 0–10 year project roadmap with near-, mid-, and long-term priorities and outlined sustainable funding models to support ongoing platform development.
Project Highlights
Identified a workforce pipeline risk where retirements may outpace new entrants, strengthening the case for foundational BEM education infrastructure.
Content framework positions IBPSA-USA to serve both core modelers and adjacent professionals: architects, project managers, code reviewers, and utility staff, expanding reach beyond current membership.
Near-term roadmap prioritizes LMS launch and publication of BEM Fundamentals and BEMP Certification courses, with a partner pre-sales funding strategy to reduce upfront risk.