Resources Archives - Smart Buildings Center

Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program – Final Technical Report Published

September 3, 2020 By Britton Rife

In 2016, as part of its Climate Action Plan, the City of Seattle passed a mandatory Building Tune-Ups requirement (SBTU) for commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet gross floor area, with a focus on optimizing energy and water performance by identifying low or no cost solutions related to building operations and maintenance.

The Tune-Up Accelerator (TUA) Program was an opportunity for building owners to meet the requirements early and receive incentives from the utilities for the corrective actions implemented to optimize building performance. 102 buildings completed the TUA program representing 6.9 million SF total and about 18% of the target market buildings with 50,000-100,000 SF. The final technical report for TUA program is published on the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) website.

The Smart Buildings Center (SBC) was a program partner and served as a primary provider of training & curricula, Tool Lending Library (TLL) support, project tracking and help desk support for the Tune-Up Accelerator (TUA) Program.

SBC along with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and OSE led the development of the curriculum, which was centered around a customization of PNNL’s Building Re-tuning training for SBTU requirements. To track deliverables required by each participant and evaluate savings resulting from corrective actions taken by buildings, a robust custom database was created by SBC.

SBC also conducted Measurement & Verification (M&V) services on 10% of the participating building population which included onsite verification and data analysis. The aim of M&V was to evaluate the energy and cost savings resulting from energy measure implemented by the buildings.

Read more about the findings of the Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program in the final technical report here!

To Learn more about our Tool Lending Library, click here!

Proposed King County 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan Announced

September 3, 2020 By Britton Rife

The executive-proposed 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP) was transmitted by King County Executive Dow Constantine to the King County Council on August 27, 2020. The County Council will review and schedule public hearings to consider adoption of the SCAP this fall and winter. Read the full news release of the 2020 SCAP.

The SCAP is a five-year blueprint for County climate action, integrating climate change into all areas of County operations and work with King County cities, partners, communities, and residents. The SCAP outlines King County’s priorities and commitments for climate action for decision-makers, employees, partners, and the public.

The full proposed 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan is available to download. The three main sections are described here and each is available for individual download below.

Download the 2020 SCAP

Register Now for Virtual Seattle Energy Benchmarking 101 Training on 9/1

August 17, 2020 By Britton Rife

The City of Seattle is offering a free online Energy Benchmarking 101 training for participants that are new to the benchmarking process, need a refresher, or need assistance with bringing their building into compliance.

When: September 1, 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM

The training is an opportunity for owners and mangers to learn the basics of how to accurately benchmark a building from start to finish and meet City of Seattle compliance requirements. This training is beneficial for those who have not yet submitted an annual benchmark report for this year, and those less familiar with benchmarking in Portfolio Manager, as it will give participants grounding in the benchmarking and reporting process, i.e. the multiple steps, the common pitfalls, as well as ways to confirm compliance and access technical help and resources.

Register Here!

Seattle Career Connected Learning RFP Released, Applications due Aug 30th

August 11, 2020 By Britton Rife

This RFP is intended to provide Career Connected Learning opportunities to low-income youth who have historically had limited access due to systemic racial, ethnic and economic segregation. We are interested in funding systemic strategies to support and empower youth from Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) communities to connect to key sectors in the economy. Activities should be aligned to build talent pipelines to the Seattle Office of Economic Development’s key industries: IT, Creative, Maritime, Manufacturing and Clean Technology, all of which provide access to middle wage jobs and career progression. Applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to support youth and young adults move away from jobs at risk of being eliminated either due to COVID-19 or advancing technology, toward the emerging economy of the future.

You can learn more about the RFP and download the application HERE. Applications are due to sasha.gourevitch@seattle.gov at midnight on August 30^th, 2020.

EFX20 Summer Webinar Series – Washington’s New Clean Buildings Law: Challenges and Opportunities

August 11, 2020 By Britton Rife

Washington State’s Clean Building Law, HB 1257, will create a performance-based energy standard based on ASHRAE Standard 100 for commercial buildings larger than 50,000 sq. ft. This new law represents compliance challenges and opportunities for utilities. In addition to penalties for building owners that do not meet the standard, the law also requires utilities to provide building owners energy data and administrative support on payments for an early adopter incentive program. Hear from utilities and state agencies about compliance implications for utilities and how the law provides an opportunity for increased conservation program participation.

Moderator: Bryan Russo, Tacoma Power

Panelists:

Chuck Murray, WA Department of Commerce
Tom Lienhard, Avista
Joseph Fernandi, Seattle City Light
Beth Robinweiler, Puget Sound Energy

Access the webinar recording HERE.

HVAC Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR) Roll-Out & Advanced Training

June 28, 2020 By Britton Rife

*NOTE: The 2018 Code Effective Date has been extended to February 1, 2021. For more information, please visit: https://sbcc.wa.gov/news/2018-code-effective-date-extended-february-1-2021

On February 1, 2021, the HVAC Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR) goes into effect in the 2018 Washington State Energy Code (WSEC). This code update will save energy by requiring building designers to use more efficient HVAC systems evaluated on whole-system performance.

By accounting for full-system HVAC efficiency, TSPR levels the playing field for efficient technologies and promotes more efficient design approaches in the process. This is an improvement on prior Washington code, which disincentivized energy-efficient HVAC system types and designs by treating high- and low-performing HVAC systems equally.

HOW TSPR WORKS
TSPR is a performance-based compliance path for HVAC systems. It is defined as the ratio of the sum of a building’s annual heating and cooling load compared to the sum of the annual carbon emissions from energy consumption of the building’s HVAC systems.

To comply with the WSEC, the proposed system’s TSPR must be greater than or equal to the baseline system TSPR, and meet all other prescriptive code requirements.

Calculating TSPR does not require complex energy modeling. Engineers will have the option to input the characteristics of the building and its mechanical systems into a software tool, developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, as a module within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Asset Scoring Tool.

GETTING READY FOR ROLL-OUT
There will be a series of TSPR trainings offered prior to the February code changes. To learn more and sign up for these live webinar trainings, visit: waenergycodes.com/compliance_training

Download TSPR one-pager