Blog - Page 3 of 52 - Smart Buildings Center

SBX Opening Plenary Session: Smarter Buildings & a Changing Utility – A Vision of the New World of Energy

June 22, 2021 By Britton Rife

The agenda for the free virtual Smart Buildings Exchange to be held August 24^th and 25^th is nearly finalized! The event will dive deep into the role of smarter buildings in a changing energy landscape through interactive conference sessions on grid-interactive efficient buildings, workforce development to meet the needs of the smart, clean and efficient buildings industry, and the business case for smart building investments.

Opening Plenary Session: Smarter Buildings and a Changing Utility – A Vision of the New World of Energy
The conference will kick-off on August 24^th with a moderated discussion featuring senior thought leaders in the technology and utility sectors. Panelists include Mary Kipp, CEO of Puget Sound Energy, Debra Smith, CEO of Seattle City Light, Ed Schlect, CSO of Avista Utilities, Stephanie Greene of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Emmanuel Daniel of Microsoft. Moderated by Ash Awad, President and Chief Markets Officer of McKinstry, this panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the energy industry and how that affects the built environment. A new, cleaner, and more flexible electrical grid is coming. These changes will be facilitated in part by smart building technologies and practices built on the fast-growing power of cloud computing and information technology services. This is sure to be an exciting and informative discussion which will frame issues getting discussed throughout the subsequent two days of the conference.

View speaker bios

View the full conference agenda and register for free today!

Check Out Our New Tool Library Video Tutorials – on the SBC YouTube Channel!

June 22, 2021 By Britton Rife

With support from Puget Sound Energy, Seattle City Light, and Washington State Department of Commerce, the Smart Buildings Center (SBC) has developed a new video training series demonstrating practical applications of some of the tools available in SBC’s Tool Lending Library for providing healthier air while maintaining energy-efficiency. These topics are especially relevant to occupying buildings during and post-pandemic. Videos in the series include:

Healthier Air in Buildings: Tools and Strategies
This video gives an overview of the tools available for testing air flow, pressure, and CO2 levels in relation to preventing the spread of airborne infectious disease, increasing occupant comfort, and maintaining energy-efficient HVAC systems.
Verifying Ventilation System Effectiveness Using a Flow Hood
This video demonstrates how to use a flow hood to test air velocity going through a grill to determine the ventilation system effectiveness, in this case for restroom exhaust. Calculating air changes per hour is also discussed.
Assessing Air Pressure in Buildings
This video demonstrates how to use a digital pressure gauge and/or air flow meter to determine zonal or building pressure relative to another zone or to the outdoors.
CO2 Measurement for Healthier Air in Buildings
In this video, we discuss the use of CO2 monitoring and data logging equipment to help approximate how well a space is being ventilated with fresh air over time, including a demonstration of graphed data analysis.

These tools and many more are available for short term rental – (for free!) at the Smart Buildings Center website. Follow us on our YouTube Channel for additional video tutorials and other smart buildings content!

Registration Open for Smart Buildings Exchange, Aug 24-25!

May 10, 2021 By Britton Rife

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Smart Buildings Exchange website sbxconference.org! The free two-day virtual event to be held August 24^th and 25^th will dive deep into the role of smarter buildings in a changing energy landscape through interactive conference sessions on grid-interactive efficient buildings, workforce development to meet the needs of the smart, clean and efficient buildings industry, and post-COVID building occupancy.

About the event
Throughout the built environment, new technologies are connecting building systems and occupants in ways that generate new and exciting opportunities. From enabling buildings to perform for occupants and owners in previously unimaginable ways, to leveraging buildings to accelerate smart cities and the clean energy transition for a cleaner and healthier planet, the opportunities are countless and inspiring. The Smart Buildings Exchange brings together the key audiences to challenge the hype, bear witness to the innovation, and explore the business case for accelerating the adoption and commercialization of smart buildings technologies and practices.

For more information about ways your organization or business can participate in the conference, please download our Sponsorship Prospectus or contact Brittany.Quigley@neec.net for customized sponsorship/partnership opportunities.

Register for free today!

GiveBIG Today to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP)!

May 3, 2021 By Britton Rife

You can GiveBIG to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP) through tomorrow (May 5th) and together we can accelerate the adoption and commercialization of smart buildings technologies and practices through education and demonstration.

SBCEP is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that believes the smarter use of technology and practices in the built environment, particularly as they relate to building operations and management, will enable a cleaner, healthier and more productive future. We seek to establish thought leadership in the Pacific Northwest for smart technology within the commercial and residential building sectors, and pursue our objective through delivering training programs to educate the building workforce of the future; enabling industry leading demonstration projects; and connecting the industry through hosting and participating in smart buildings events.

Your support directly contributes toward shaping the program for the Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) Conference to be held virtually August 24-25, 2021, where interactive conference sessions will dive deep into the role of smarter buildings in a changing energy landscape, grid-interactive efficient buildings, workforce development to meet the needs of the smart, clean and efficient buildings industry, and post-COVID building occupancy. Stay tuned for the event website and registration launch coming soon!

We welcome your support to help us sustain our educational programs. You can make your one-time donation through Wednesday, May 5th. Click here to make your contribution to SBC EP through GiveBIG! Any and all levels of support are greatly appreciated and go a long way. Thank you!

Free BOMA Webinar: Seattle Building Code – Calculating the Occupant Load of Office Spaces

May 3, 2021 By Britton Rife

May 12, 2021 | 12pm – 1pm
Register

This free webinar will benefit: building managers, leasing professionals, project managers, space planners, and architects.

As tenants and property professionals prepare for increasing numbers of tenants returning to the office, many are considering alterations to tenant spaces. BOMA is offering this free webinar to members and non-members to clarify the design and configuration requirements of the current building code.

Among the topics covered will be calculating the occupant load of spaces. The building code requires all spaces to be loaded fully for the purpose of egress capacity and plumbing fixture requirements. These code requirements do not reflect the non-simultaneous manner that office spaces may be used where the occupants of conference rooms are drawn from surrounding open office area. The number of occupants per suite may require limitation in order to not overload the egress system or the plumbing fixture capacity of the story. Maximum occupant limitations for individual spaces and meeting the egress requirements per suite will be discussed.

Speakers:
Ardel Jala, PE, Building Official, City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections
Richard Pellinger, Building Plans Examiner Supervisor, City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections
Amie Joyce, IIDA, LEED, ID & C, Weaver Architects

Topics:

SDCI policies for designating a space as Assembly, Office Areas, or the non-simultaneous business use areas (new in 2018 SBC) and the resulting code impacts.
SDCI policies around non-simultaneous occupancy for the purpose of determining egress, plumbing fixtures or risk category designation.
Design and treatment of smaller tenant suites.
Egress design and review of multi-suite office floors and full floor tenant improvements. Including review of occupant loads from a single-tenant and the potential impact to other tenant spaces based on the existing egress capacity from the story.
Code compliant options to increase existing egress capacity – Sprinklers, Fire alarm, horizontal exits
What does post-pandemic return to work look like?

Webinar: Buildings, Health & Efficiency: How Lighting Controls Bring It All Together

May 3, 2021 By Britton Rife

Wednesday May 19^th10-11 a.m. PDT
Register

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness of the critical role that buildings play in our personal health, well-being and happiness. As we build back from the pandemic, the industry is rethinking how we approach health in commercial spaces. Luminaire Level Lighting Controls (LLLC) can achieve substantial energy savings (on average up to 63%) and represent the most intuitive, flexible lighting control systems on the market. Beyond these benefits, they can also influence how buildings impact our health. With sensors in every fixture, LLLC offers buildings a distributed mesh-network throughout a space. This has the potential to revolutionize how we monitor and respond to environmental factors that impact human health. Learn how LLLC could be used in countless ways to improve health and efficiency, including:

Space utilization and optimization
Asset tracking
Security and safety
Ventilation and thermal comfort
Visual comfort and circadian dosing

Register Now