Energy Efficiency Innovation Center, Tool Library & Data Visualization
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:
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:
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!
Brought to you by AESP and the U.S. Department of Energy, Demand flexibility is the heartbeat of our future grid. It is the coordinated manipulation of energy consumption and production across grid devices on a massive scale while maintaining livability and comfort standards. AESP is now offering free, online courses that are convenient, and designed for tomorrow’s energy efficiency leaders.
Elevate your expertise with FLEX’s accredited online courses! Dive into demand flexibility, exploring water heaters, lighting, HVAC systems, and cutting-edge distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar, battery storage, and EVSE. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, FLEX FLEX’s 3-course series offers flexible learning modules, and equips tomorrow’s workforce with skills for grid-interactive energy technologies. Whether designing customer offerings or engaging with these resources as grid assets, FLEX is your gateway to mastering the future of energy. Ideal for Energy Efficiency and DER Professionals, Electric Utilities Staff, and more. Seize the opportunity to maximize the value of flexible loads as both a grid asset and a customer asset. Enroll now for a brighter, sustainable future!
FLEX PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Demand flexibility is the heartbeat of our future grid. It is the coordinated manipulation of energy consumption and production across grid devices on a massive scale while maintaining livability and comfort standards.
Through demand flexibility, we can move energy production and demand into greater alignment, which reduces the need for costly infrastructure investments in transmission and central generation. It makes the most of existing resources, saves the grid money, and saves the consumer money.
In this guide, we will outline best practices to promote the FLEX program.
You can find this training and more on our webpage: smartbuildingscenter.org/education-training/remote-learning-library
