FEA has launched an all-new podcast series, you can listen to the first episode, Introducing My Facility Plan now.

Original post from FEA LinkedIn:

Introducing FEA’s My Facility Podcast!  Welcome to our inaugural episode, where we explore the latest innovations, trends, and solutions in facilities planning and management. Join us for expert conversations that help you navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and build excellence in the places we live, work, and play. Tune in now! ▶️ https://hubs.la/Q03bnCt20

First episode featuring Maureen Roskoski and Ryan Small, FMVA, FMP
Subscribe https://hubs.la/Q03bntvp0
Follow MFP My Facility Plan

The WBDG portal, where FEMP hosts its trainings, underwent mandatory maintenance in October 2024 and has been restored with enhanced functionality and a new hosting environment.

To stay up to date on the latest training offerings, bookmark the FEMP Training Catalog! This is the most accurate source of information on available FEMP trainings and will lead you to the correct WBDG registration and course pages.

Rising temperatures pose a threat to Washington’s water supplies, coastlines, communities, and economy. Ironically, a significant portion of the greenhouse gases that are driving that warming comes from chemicals used as refrigerants. They’re in everything from car air conditioning to the industrial-scale systems used in food storage and processing.

Compared to other greenhouse gases, these refrigerants make up a tiny portion of Washington’s emissions. But when they leak into the atmosphere, they can pack a climate change punch hundreds or even thousands of times that of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. The good news is that refrigerant systems are intended to operate as closed loops — nothing has to get in or out as long as the equipment is properly maintained.

In order to contain these super-pollutants, the Washington Legislature passed a law requiring businesses with large refrigeration systems to take steps to prevent leaks. The same law directed Ecology to set up the Refrigerant Management Program to help companies safely monitor and manage refrigerants.

If you own, operate or service this type of equipment, keep reading here at the WA DOE website! We’re digging into the who, what, when, where, and why of this program, including how it benefits businesses.

Our friends at BetterBricks recently did a case study on Fluke Corporation, who recently used Luminaire Level Lighting Controls to wrangle their energy use. It’s worth a read and provides some excellent insights in the benefits of LLLC’s. Read on over at BetterBricks!

About Fluke

Founded in 1948, Fluke Corporation is the world leader in compact, professional electronic test tools and software for measuring and condition monitoring. Fluke customers are technicians, engineers, electricians, maintenance managers, and metrologists who install, troubleshoot, and maintain industrial, electrical, and electronic equipment and calibration processes. FLUKE is a registered trademark of Fluke Corporation. For more information, visit the Fluke website.

About BetterBricks

A commercial resource of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, BetterBricks helps Northwest building professionals gain a competitive edge in the market. Whether you design, build, manage, and operate commercial buildings, BetterBricks partners with Northwest utilities to provide the resources and tools you need to incorporate energy efficiency, and its many benefits, into your buildings and business practices.

It’s 7am Monday morning. Coffee in hand, you’ve settled into your daily routine and just sat down at your desk to review alarm logs and respond to emails that came in over the weekend. Much to your confusion and shock, the screen that usually lights up to prompt you to login for the day now shows only a glaring red image with a menacing message at the top announcing your entire system has been locked, directing you to transfer $10 million in Bitcoin to a lengthy address.

So, what do you do?

If you can’t immediately think of an answer, take this as a sign to build a “cybersecurity incident response” into your safety plan. That’s right – you should start treating cybersecurity as a safety issue.

Check out the full story at IFMA: 3 Steps Facility Managers Can Take to Prevent Cyber Attacks on OT Systems

Energy efficiency employs nearly 2.3 million Americans! With the release of E4 The Future’s eighth annual Energy Efficiency Jobs in America report – produced with the Building Performance Association — you can get details on EE workers, trends, and more.

The 2024 National Summary provides big-picture infographics highlighting top states for job growth, demographics, small business impacts, and focused policy recommendations.
A high-level analysis of the report revealed some interesting findings, for example:

• Nearly 2.3 Million Americans work in energy efficiency
• 99.9% of counties have energy efficiency workers
• 2 in every 5 jobs in the energy sector are in energy efficiency

Fact sheets for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia include analysis to help leaders understand the breadth and depth of the EE workforce landscape, and to make informed decisions about program development and investments. Each includes:

• Total jobs per state
• Comparison with other in-state energy sectors
• Business sizes and total number of EE businesses
• Percentage of construction workers & veterans
• Breakouts by type of work
• Demographic data
• Number of EE jobs by county

Check out the full report here at E4TheFuture.org

SBC and Building Potential found the information about Oregon and Washington particularly interesting, as our member states. You can find those reports extracted below!

Oregon EE-Statesheet

Washington EE-Statesheet