The following text is an excerpt from the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment.  The full blog post can be found here.

Seattle’s progressive energy efficiency policies like the City’s Building Tune-Ups Ordinance and a strong local market favoring energy efficient buildings requires a specialized workforce to tune-up buildings and keep them operating their best. Seattle Colleges is growing this workforce through its Sustainable Building Science and Technology (SBST) degree program at South Seattle College and participation in the Office of Sustainability & Environment’s (OSE) Tune-Up Accelerator Program.

With eleven Seattle Colleges buildings enrolled in the Tune-Up Accelerator, SBST students had opportunities to grow their skills beyond the classroom by supporting the tune-up process. Student teams scouted three buildings for operations and maintenance efficiency opportunities, reviewed operations and energy data, and collected details on each building’s equipment for the tune-up assessment and US Department of Energy Asset Score. Students worked under the guidance of SBST faculty Steve Abercrombie, and in coordination with Sustainability Coordinator Adam Maurer, Campus Facilities staff, and energy service provider, McKinstry.

The City of Seattle and NEEC will be offering Tune-Up Specialist training sessions at the Smart Buildings Center. Choose from either Wednesday November 28th or Wednesday December 5th from 8:00 AM-12:30 PM. Please note, this training is tailored to those who have NOT attended a Tune-Up Accelerator training session.

Topics that will be covered include:

• General Building Tune-Ups program overview
• Alternative Compliance pathways
• Building Tune-Ups requirements
• Required vs. Voluntary Corrective Actions
• Tools/resources available
• How to submit a Building Tune-Up

Please register for the 11/28 event or the 12/5 event.

Seattle Public Schools is hiring a Resource Conservation Specialist.  The position has leadership responsibility for the District’s conservation program and the coordination, facilitation, communication, data analysis and documentation of program components.  Duties include leading strategic conservation initiatives and serving as a technical resource.  Researches, develops, plans, and implements projects associated with the conservation program.  Under the general supervision of the Facilities Operations Program Manager, the responsibility of this position include electricity, natural gas, water, sewer and irrigation, waste management, recycling, composting, storm water conservation at all District schools and facilities, and across all departments in the District.

If you are interested in applying for this position, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to –  www.seattleschools.org
2. Click  – Jobs
3. Click -Jobs Available for External Applicants
4. Type –  Resource Conservation Specialist (Operating Engineers Local 609) 1.0 FTE in Search box
5. Click on APPLY (green box far right hand corner)

Pacific Tower has been granted LEED for Existing Buildings 2009 Silver certification.  LEED certification identifies the Pacific Tower as a showcase example of sustainability and demonstrates leadership in transforming the building industry.

As a tenant in the Pacific Tower, the Smart Buildings Center has played a role in reducing the overall energy usage in the building through a tenant improvement program.  The program provides training and education events for tips on using less energy, and  contests to spur healthy competition among tenants.  With help from the Tool Lending Library, the team was also able to loan out data loggers and other measurement tools to track the usage on various equipment in several spaces within the building.

Congratulations to the entire team at the Pacific Tower  for this achievement, and thank you for your commitment to building a healthy, sustainable future.