Join us for the Smart Buildings Exchange 2026!

Smart Buildings Center

Energy Efficiency Innovation Center, Tool Library & Data Visualization

Next Week is Net Zero Buildings Week!

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Did you know? Net Zero Buildings Week is the 12th through the 16th of June! There’s lots of ways to engage and share your ideas, stories, and experiences, let’s take a look at what you can expect this year and ways you can contribute.

Sign-up & Participate on Social Media

Net Zero Buildings Week is a social media campaign aimed to showcase and promote the benefits of net ​zero buildings for a clean energy future. ​​Our theme this year is Decarbonize For Good – to showcase how reducing emissions from the built environment can benefit people and communities as a whole. Use the hastag #Decarb4Good to share your stories with the community!

Wednesday is the Retrofit Ready Reality Check Webinar. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a featured part of this event! You can submit your content here.

A Full Week of Content!

Each day from the 12th through the 16th will have it’s own theme and events! We don’t want you to miss any of them so here’s a quick rundown of what to expect, you can find more details at the link above.

Who’s Participating?

You can find a complete list of partners and participants at the link above. Interested in adding your organization to the list? You can contact the organizers here. For more information be sure to follow the New Buildings Institue and our partners at SlipStream.

 

We hope to see lots of engagement on social media next week for this exciting weeklong event! Don’t forget to use the hasthag #Decarb4Good to tell your stories and join enlightening discussions during Net Zero Buildings Week!

SBX2023 Session Highlight: Indoor Environmental Quality

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Join us virtually for the Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2023 Indoor Environmental Quality session on August 16th from 1:30 – 3:00 pm PT. Christopher Meek with the University of Washington’s Integrated Design Lab will moderate the discussion between IEQ experts Seema Bhangar (US Green Building Council), Vivian Loftness (Carnegie Mellon University), and Stephanie Taylor (Building4Health). You don’t want to miss this session — register now!

Session description
While the Covid pandemic certainly shined a bright light on the importance of healthy indoor environments, creating and maintaining indoor environmental quality has a pre-Covid history and a post-Covid challenge. The ROI of health and comfort conditions is expressed in employee recruitment, retention, and productivity. This session will explore the lessons learned from this reinvigorated focus on healthy indoor air and technologies that were deployed during the pandemic and their measured or perceived benefits.

Register for free today!

 

SBX2023 Session Highlight: Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

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Join us virtually for the Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2023 Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs) session on August 15th from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm PT.

Session description
Continued progress toward the electrification of the built environment creates both a massive challenge and an opportunity for eliminating carbon emissions. The challenge of new loads from electrification on the utility system requires enhanced abilities for shifting, shedding, and modulating those loads to the mutual benefit of the building owner and serving utility. The effort to scale grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) is well underway. What are the risks to all parties in getting this wrong? This session will bring together voices from the nation’s leading national laboratory on GEBs with building owners and service providers who are deploying GEBs strategies in commercial and institutional buildings across the country.

Speakers
Tanya Barham, Community Energy Labs
Courtney Blodgett, Edo
Rich Brown, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Jingjing Liu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
David Logsdon, Seattle City Light (moderator)
Scott Spielman, Ecotope

Register for free today!

 

Webinar: HVAC Building Operations and IAQ at Pandemic’s “End”

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HVAC Building Operations and IAQ at Pandemic’s “End”

Unraveling pandemic, policy, and other guidelines to understandHVAC best practices and efficient building operations

WSU Energy Program is teaming up with the Smart Buildings Center to offer a no-cost webinar for Resource Conservation Managers, Energy Managers, Sustainability Managers, and others at public facilities in Washington State (others welcome to attend)

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

2:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific Time

via Zoom

Click here to register

How does the end of pandemic emergency rules affect HVAC building operations and indoor air quality (IAQ)? Can we have healthy IAQ while fulfilling Washington State Clean Building Standard requirements? Measures such as higher grade filters, flushing out buildings, and maximizing outdoor air intake helped mitigate infection risk, but also resulted in the increase of energy waste and reduced building energy efficiency.

Attend this webinar to hear how an eastern Washington K-12 RCM and King County Metro Transit facility energy manager navigate changes in HVAC operations due to the pandemic. Hear about IAQ guidelines from a state Department of Health specialist, and about the intersection of IAQ with energy efficiency from a state Department of Commerce building performance specialist.

When you register, you’ll have an opportunity to submit a question for the panelists. There will also be a Q&A session during the webinar.

Speakers:

  • Nancy Bernard, Washington State Department of Health
  • Travis Bown, Mead School District
  • Luke Howard, Washington State Department of Commerce
  • Nicole Laky, King County Metro Transit

Contact Karen Janowitz or Rebecca Sheppard for more information.

WA Department of Commerce: 5/9 Public Hearing & 5/18 Tier 2 Workshop

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Public hearing May 9

Emergency rules exemption timeline

Commerce filed an emergency rule to lengthen the window for building owners to apply for an exemption under the Clean Buildings Performance Standard. The public hearing date has changed from April 25 to May 9.

Public hearing: Tuesday, May 9, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. PT.

Please register in advance to receive a calendar reminder or save the meeting information below.

REGISTER

 

Rulemaking workshop May 18

Tier 2 Buildings: Customer Outreach, Technical Support & Energy Benchmarking

You’re invited to participate in the first rulemaking workshop for Tier 2 buildings on Thursday, May 18. This workshop will discuss customer outreach, technical support, and energy benchmarking.

The proposed draft rules for energy benchmarking will be available on May 11 on the Clean Buildings homepage to review before the workshop.

We hope you can join us to provide your perspective, expertise, and insight.

“Customer Outreach, Technical Support & Energy Benchmarking”

Thursday, May 18, 10:0 a.m. – 12 p.m. PT

Please register in advance to receive meeting information. More information is posted on the Clean Buildings homepage.

REGISTER

Sign up today for 5/16 – Regional Energy Listening Session: Sierra and Rural Forested Communities

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Please join us on Tuesday, May 16, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., via Zoom, for the “Regional Energy Listening Session: Sierra and Rural Forested Communities.” Click here to register!
The Listening Session will focus on the opportunities, barriers, and resources needed to make energy independence and reliability a reality in the Sierra and Rural forested communities. Discussion topics include forest biomass energy, integrating microgrid technologies, and the energy sector workforce pipeline.
We’ll be joined by experts:

Elizabeth Betancourt (Natural and Working Lands Policy Advisor, Department of Conservation);
Andrea Schumer (Resilience Coordinator for Microgrid Policy & Pricing Planning, PG&E);
and NEEC’s very own Melanie L. Danuser! (Director of Education & Training, Northwest Energy Efficiency Council).

Input gathered from this Listening Session will be used to inform statewide energy policy advocacy, building on California Forward’s (CA FWD) Energy Call to Action, which provides a framework for how stakeholders can break through silos and work across sectors to advance energy solutions.
This Listening Session is co-hosted by CA FWD and the Sierra Business Council, and in partnership with CivicWell; CSU Chico – North State Planning & Development Collective; High Sierra Energy Foundation; Sierra Nevada Alliance; and Sonoma County Water Agency.

Contact Us

Smart Buildings Center
Pacific Tower
1200 12th Ave. S., Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98144

206-538-0832

[email protected]

Smart Buildings Center is a project collaboration with Building Potential