Resources Archives - Page 21 of 24 - Smart Buildings Center

Case Study – Sunfresh Foods Freezer Upgrade

October 22, 2020 By SBC staff

Sunfresh Foods Inc. is a small, locally owned company based in Seattle that has coined the term “Freezerves” to describe their signature freezer jam product.

The Sunfresh processing facility is an approx. 10,000 sq. ft. pre-fab concrete building built in the 1970s. Sunfresh wanted to reduce their high electricity bills and identified their extremely inefficient refrigeration systems as the biggest opportunity for improvement. Before beginning the project, they reached out to the Energy Conservation Program at Seattle City Light (the local utility) about possible incentives. City Light was able to provide a substantial rebate, making it cost effective for Sunfresh to upgrade to a new system. The new system achieves high energy efficiency while helping Sunfresh also attain the attendant social benefits of saving energy.

How did the Smart Buildings Center help?
City Light asked Bob Brennand of Energy Smart Industrial (ESI) to help with measurement and verification (M&V) of the actual energy savings to determine the amount of the incentive.

The ESI program, sponsored by Bonneville Power Authority (BPA), helps utility customers and their industrial end-users achieve cost-effective energy savings.

Bob borrowed the Dent ElitePro XC logging power meters from Smart Buildings Center’s Tool Lending Library to measure consumption data after the upgrade, and the results were very impressive.

To continue reading, please download the full case study.

Sunfresh Case Study (PDF)

Is the Workforce Ready for High Performance Buildings? Report Finds Major Skills Gaps

September 30, 2020 By SBC staff

Melanie Danuser and the Smart Buildings Center team contributed to the ACEEE report “Training the Workforce for High-Performance Buildings: Enhancing Skills for Operations and Maintenance.”

By Mariel Wolfson, Editor/Writer

We know that improving the energy efficiency of the U.S. building stock can reduce building-related carbon emissions by as much as 50%. High performance buildings, which are energy-efficient, durable, resilient, and offer excellent indoor air quality, will be critical for cutting emissions and meeting our climate goals. Yet these buildings also require highly specialized knowledge to optimize performance.

This specialized knowledge is the focus of a new ACEEE report released today. The report — based on an original survey and expert interviews with professionals who work with high performance buildings as owners, managers, and technicians — identifies the precise skills that education and training programs should prioritize to ensure that the workforce can meet current and future demands.

The vast majority of respondents — 92% — said that operations and maintenance (O&M) is the most critical skill area for the buildings workforce of the future…

Continue reading the blog post

Download the report

DOE Announces $80 Million 2020 BENEFIT Funding Opportunity

September 30, 2020 By SBC staff

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) 2020 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). This funding opportunity will provide up to $80 million for projects that enhance energy demand flexibility across buildings and the grid, enabling greater affordability, increased energy productivity, and improved occupant comfort.

The BENEFIT FOA has been issued by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Building Technologies Office since 2014. This year’s FOA broadens DOE’s investments in cutting-edge, energy-saving building technologies, systems, and practices that will impact various segments of the buildings industry.

The FOA includes topic areas on advanced building construction, workforce development, and a variety of building technologies, including advanced lighting, HVAC, and thermal energy storage, among others.

How to Apply

More information, submittal requirements, and instructions for applying to this FOA (DE-FOA-0002196) can be found on the EERE Exchange. To be eligible for consideration, a concept paper must be submitted no later than November 5, 2020 by 5:00 p.m. ET.

Questions about this FOA may be submitted to [email protected] no later than three business days before the application deadline. Please note, feedback on individual concepts will not be provided through Q&A.

Submission Deadlines

Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: November 5, 2020 by 5:00 p.m. ET
Submission Deadline for Full Applications: January 20, 2021 by 5:00 p.m. ET

To read more about this FOA, visit the EERE Exchange.

Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program – Final Technical Report Published

September 3, 2020 By SBC staff

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 SBC staff

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 SBC staff

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.