Energy Efficiency Innovation Center, Tool Library & Data Visualization
Join the Smart Buildings Center for a breakfast networking event that will feature a variety of resource tools available at SBC as well as a facilitated panel discussion that highlights smart building technologies and practices and how this region is taking a leadership position in bringing these ideas to market. Register Today!
Newer lighting practitioners, building owners, facility managers, electrical contractors, engineers, utility managers, architects, product reps, and design students are encouraged to enroll. Click here for the Fall 2017 Class Flyer.
Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment would like your help:
We’re embarking on an ambitious effort to build Seattle’s resilience and we need your help.
We’re creating a strategy that will help Seattle continue to thrive amidst ongoing urban challenges as well as prepare for sudden shocks and catastrophic events.
We have some pretty good ideas of where we need to focus our efforts, but need to validate this info with you, our residents and community leaders. To that end, we’ve developed a short survey that will help us focus our efforts on the most critical areas as identified by our community members. I have two requests:
1) Please take the survey. It should take less than 10 mins of your time.
2) Please distribute the survey to your peers, partners, and networks. Newsletters, social media, emails – whatever way works the best for you. It’s important to us that we hear from as many people as possible to ensure we are building our resilience strategy on the issues you care most about. So PLEASE spend just a few minutes responding to the survey and sharing it with your networks.
Thank you so much for all you do.
Leaves are changing color, evenings are getting cooler and fall is just around the corner. As we enter the building heating season, now is a good time to “tune-up” your fuel fired boilers to ensure they are operating at peak efficiency this winter. A boiler tune-up is the process of measuring the combustion efficiency of the boiler and if required, adjusting the fuel/air ratio to optimize efficiency. The instrument used to measure combustion efficiency is called a Combustion Analyzer. This diagnostic tool measures the chemical composition of the flue gases and calculates combustion efficiency based on the fuel type and the entering and leaving combustion air temperatures. Combustion efficiency readings are compared to manufacturer specifications and adjustments are made to the fuel/air ratio as required. It is important to measure combustion efficiency across the entire range of boiler operation. For example, if a boiler is over-sized and rarely operates at peak capacity then you would want to optimize combustion efficiency at part-load firing conditions. In addition to the boiler tune up, Fall is also a great time to complete your boiler preventative maintenance tasks before we get into the full heating season.
The Bacharach PCA3 is a commercial grade hand-held combustion and emmissions analyzer designed for on-dedmand sampling of light industrial, institutional commercial, and residential furnaces, appliances, and boilers. The PCA3 can
measure up to four gasses simultaneously so it is the perfect tool for building operators, boiler contractors and service technicians who need to determine combustion efficiency, excess air, stack gas O2 and CO levels, stack temperature, draft, and differential pressure. Combustion efficiency calculations can be conducted for a variety of fuel types.
Advanced data storage and communication features allow the operator to store up to 500 individual combustion test records which can later be recalled for viewing, printing, or download to a personal computer. The AC power adapter allows the analyzer to run for extended periods of time while data logging.
Over 85 different types of building diagnostic tools and meters are available for loan from the Tool Lending Library at the Smart Buildings Center located in Seattle, Washington. For more information visit our website at www.smartbuildingscenter.org
Maintaining a lighting system can be labor intensive, especially when it comes to spot re-lamping of failed fluorescent lamps. To help improve your next maintenance cycle, keep these best practices from the Northwest Lighting Network in mind so you can save energy and extend operational hours. Download the full pdf here: LowWatt T8 Best Practices One-Pager
Seattle Building Tune-Ups is a progressive energy efficiency policy that helps building owners identify smart, responsible ways to reduce energy and water costs. Like cars and bikes, all buildings need to be tuned regularly to keep them running as efficiently as possible. Through Tune-Ups, building owners find operational efficiencies and low- and no-cost fixes that improve building performance and on average reduce building energy use 10- 15%.
Building Tune-Ups are required every five years for buildings with 50,000 square feet or more of non-residential space (excluding parking). All work associated with a Building Tune-Up must be done by a qualified Tune-Up Specialist, experienced professionals who are responsible for conducting the building assessment, identifying required Tune-Up actions, performing those actions, verifying the work is done correctly, and submitting a report to the City.
As a certified Level II Building Operator (BOC), you’re well on your way to qualifying as a Tune-Up Specialist. Tune-Up Specialists must have least seven years of experience, including educational and/or professional experience, with commercial building operations and/or building energy management AND have one of the following certifications:
Although the City of Seattle cannot make any recommendations or referrals to a Tune-Up Specialist, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) has a directory of qualified Tune-Ups Specialists. If you meet the qualifications of a Tune-Up Specialist and would like to be a part of this list, please contact Brittany Quigley, Project Director at [email protected].
To learn more about Seattle Building Tune-Ups visit www.seattle.gov/buildingtuneups.
