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Early Bird Registration for SBX 2026 Ends in 2 Weeks!
The early-bird registration deadline is August 15th. Register now to join us at the event on November 9th & 10th and save!
Smart Buildings Exchange 2026 is fast approaching! You won’t want to miss our 2-day in-person event. Right now, you can save big on registration by taking advantage of the early-bird rate, but only if you register by August 15th. At the event, you can expect inspiring keynotes, collaborative workshops, and thought-provoking panel discussions and debates featuring regional leaders and industry professionals, as well as networking opportunities and happy hours. For more details check out the schedule: https://www.sbxconference.org/fall-conference/ and stay tuned for upcoming speaker announcements!
You also won’t want to miss SBX Plus, a virtual webinar series held from February-October. Sessions from February-May are recorded and available to view now with two more sessions to come in September and October. You can select SBX Plus with your registration and get instant access.
Happening This Week: Meet Rebecca Sheppard, Senior Project Manager
Meet Rebecca Sheppard, Senior Project Manager at Building Potential and the Smart Buildings Center. Rebecca is on the front lines of one of the most significant shifts in commercial building policy in the Pacific Northwest ā helping building owners, managers, and operators navigate Building Performance Standards in the Northwest.
The Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS) is a Washington State law designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency across the state’s commercial building stock. All commercial buildings 20,000 square feet and larger are required to comply, and for many building professionals, figuring out where to start can feel overwhelming. That’s where Rebecca comes in. Through the Smart Buildings Center’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard Helpdesk ā sponsored by the Washington State Department of Commerce and participating utilities ā Rebecca provides one-on-one technical assistance, benchmarking support, resources, and trainings to help buildings get on the path to compliance.
Oregon has also implemented a Building Performance Standard, and Rebecca is expanding her work to support building professionals there as well. In partnership with ClearlyEnergy and the Oregon Department of Energy, Rebecca will be leading helpdesk services for Oregon, bringing the same hands-on technical assistance to building owners, managers, and operators as they work toward compliance with Oregon’s standard.
Rebecca’s work doesn’t stop at her desk. She regularly attends industry conferences to speak about Building Performance Standards compliance and to train building professionals on what they need to know. Whether she’s leading a workshop, presenting to a room full of facility managers, or walking a building owner through their first benchmarking submission, Rebecca brings both deep technical knowledge and a genuine commitment to making clean building operations accessible to everyone she works with.
Last Call for SBX 2026 Speakers! Deadline is Friday 7/17
Interested in speaking or have speaker suggestions? We want to hear from you!
Ready to share your expertise or know great speakers who should be considered? Complete our speaker suggestion form to tell us about yourself or the suggested speaker(s), areas of expertise, and which topics would be a good fit. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and our programming team will be in touch with those whose experience aligns with our conference themes.
Submit Speaker Suggestion Form by July 17th!
Original post continues below, check it out for more SBX 2026 News!
Weāre excited to announce our SBX Day 2 Lunch Keynote āSmart Buildings in a Chaotic World.ā
Joseph Aamidor, an experienced product leader and expert in smart buildings, real estate decarbonization, and facility operations, will deliver a keynote on the forces reshaping the built environment centered on questions like āwhatās next for smart buildings?ā and āwhere is this industry headed and what will it take to lead it?ā Joseph provides product and market strategy guidance to building owners/operators, established building management firms, technology providers, investors, and early-stage innovators. Previously, he served as Director of Product at Lucid Design Group and was a product manager at Johnson Controls. Stay tuned for more exciting speaker announcements soon!
The early-bird registration deadline is August 15th. Register now to join us at the event on November 9th & 10th and save!
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SBX 2026 is where the Pacific Northwestās smart buildings community comes together to do the hard work of figuring out whatās next. Whether you join us as an attendee, a speaker, or a sponsor, we hope to see you there.
Questions? Reach us atĀ [email protected]
More information:Ā www.sbxconference.org
WA Commerce: District energy campus upgrades committee update
During the 2026 Legislative Session, the supplemental capital budget (SSB 6003) was passed, with Section 1024 directing the Washington State Department of Commerce to convene a District Energy Campus Upgrades Committee.
The committee helps drive data-informed decisions about cost-effective investments that reduce emissions, improve the energy efficiency of state buildings, and identify opportunities for state agencies to support decarbonization projects within available budgets.
On July 6, an RFP was launched to hire a contractor to lead the Committee, produce a report with a prioritized list of recommended capital projects for state campuses, and develop an analysis of barriers to state agencies using energy-as-a-service and participating in public-private partnerships. If you have Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) account, you can log into WEBS to access the RFP. You can also find information on the Clean Buildings website.
Commerce is hosting a pre-proposal conference on Monday July 13 at 1 p.m., where you can learn more and ask questions about the RPF.
Join the July 13 pre-proposal conference
Please note, under the legislative proviso, only nonprofit entities are eligible to apply.
Commerce also launched an application to serve on the committee on July 6. Eight voting members will serve on the Committee from September 2026-June 2027, and Committee members will play a key role in reviewing decarbonization plans and developing a system to prioritize proposed decarbonization projects. To review the full committee membersā responsibilities, review the Section 1024 of SSB 6003Ā and the committee application.
Commerce will provide regular updates in the Clean Buildings Bulletin. A new section dedicated to the District Energy Campus Upgrades Committee will be launched on Commerceās Clean Buildings webpage soon. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
Smart Buildings Center Q2 Quarterly Recap
SBX ā26
SBX Registration is OPEN – Smart Buildings Exchange Nov 9-10 2026 register today and use this link to direct your colleagues to the registration site. Early Bird registration is open through 8/15, donāt miss the discounted rate!
SBX+, our webinar series leading up to the 2 day in-person event, will be happening virtually from February to October. You can get access to both the webinar series and the in-person event for a bundled rate. Recordings are available.
Next up: Sept. 16 – Retrocommissioning as a Tool for Compliance with Building Performance Standards
Building Operator Certification – Fall Courses
Registration is now open for our Fall BOC courses. Building Operator CertificationĀ® (BOC) is the leading training and credentialing program for Operations & Maintenance and energy management professionals looking to make their buildings more comfortable, efficient and environmentally friendly, all while reducing energy bill costs. Find training here. Or grab a seat at our informational webcast on August 5th to see what BOC training can do for you (and your building)! Come with questions, leave with answers. Save your spot here.
Building Operator Certification Releases Revised Skills Standards and Curriculum Assessment
The Building Operator Certification program has published a revised Skills Standard and Curriculum Assessment, reflecting the latest critical work functions; knowledge, skills, and abilities; and workforce needsāan essential step in ensuring that the program continues to equip our students with the competencies required to manage increasingly complex, high-performance facilities.
Read more about the Skills Standard and Curriculum Assessment on the announcement blog post here.
Benchmarking Helpdesk
Congratulations to the more than 88 percent of covered buildings that have achieved compliance under Seattleās Energy Benchmarking law for the 2025 data year! Owners of buildings that remain noncompliant should see the Penalties page for more information.
To support the transition to the new Seattle Building & Energy Portal, the Benchmarking Help Desk will be suspended from June 18 through July 16. During this time, OSE customer support via phone, email, 1-1 scheduling, and weekly office hours is unavailable. However, customers are still able to work directly with utilities to obtain data and complete self-guided updates in ENERGY STARĀ® Portfolio ManagerĀ®.
Help Desk services will resume on July 16, alongside the launch of the new Seattle Building & Energy Portal. Stay tuned to seattle.gov/energybenchmarking in the coming weeks for more information on how the Help Desk experience will change moving forward.
Tool Lending Library
The TLL continues to offer a wide array of tools to service professionals in Washington and Oregon. You can always find an updated list of tools here along with instructions on how to request a tool and videos and guides for tool use and care.
A New Event Calendar and Call for Shared Content
Smart Buildings Center and Building Potential now have a syncād calendar for events, trainings, conferences and more! Click the links above to be taken to their respective pages. You can scroll the existing content, add the calendar to your own calendar app, and adjust the settings or print for a physical copy.
This resource is intended to be a shared hub for information and one that you can contribute to. With that in mind weāve created a simple Google form you can fill out to send in your suggestions for content. You can find a link to the form at the bottom of each page or simply click here.
And with the same spirit of collaboration in mind, we are always looking for new posts, listings, news and content to share on our blogs and newsletters. Please reach out to us using this form with any content you would like to see shared on TheBOC.info, SmartBuildingsCenter.org, or BuildingPotential.org. Weād love to hear from you and help get the word out!
