ICYMI This Week at the Smart Buildings Center & Building Potential

April 16, 2026 By SBC staff

This week we hosted our third session in our SBX Plus webinar series, How to Utilize Diagnostic Tools to Identify Energy Savings. The presentation showcased how modern diagnostic tools uncover hidden inefficiencies in building systems and pinpoint actionable energy-saving opportunities. You can catch this recording, register for future sessions, and find more information and registration opportunities for Smart Buildings Exchange webinars and in person conference here.

Jorge Melendez, Senior Specialist of Conservation and Efficiency Programs at Southern California Edison, Robby Martin, Building Analytics Business Development Lead at ATS Automation and Britton Rife, Senior Project Manager at the SBC and Building Potential covered practical approaches to utilizing specific diagnostic tools, analyzing data, prioritizing improvements, and validating results. Many regions have access to commercial tool lending libraries, check them out here:

Washington & Oregon

Smart Buildings Center – https://www.smartbuildingscenter.org/tool-library/

Idaho

University of Idaho – Integrated Design Lab – http://idlboise.com/about-erl

California

Pacific Gas & Electric – www.pge.com/tools

Sonoma County – http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/General-Services/Energy-and-Sustainability/Tool-Lending-Library/

Southern California Edison – https://www.sce.com/business/consulting-services/energy-education-centers

San Diego Gas & Electric – https://www.sdge.com/energy-innovation-center/tool-and-book-lending-library

New York

CUNY Building Performance Lab – https://nycenergytools.com/

Smart Buildings Center and Building Potential Quarterly Snapshot

April 14, 2026 By SBC staff

Q1 Quarterly Recap

SBX ‘26

SBX Registration is OPEN – Smart Buildings Exchange Nov 9-10 2026 register today and use this link to direct your colleagues to the registration site

SBX+, our webinar series leading up to the 2 day in-person event, will be happening virtually from February to October. You can get access to both the webinar series and the in-person event for a bundled rate. Recordings are available.

Next up: April 15 – How to Utilize Diagnostic Tools to Identify Energy Savings

The BOC

We’re always launching new BOC courses and are excited to announce that Level I and Fundamentals are happening right now! New courses are starting soon and we have the schedule lined up well into the Summer and Fall. Register today or share the word with our website at: theboc.info

Tool Lending Library

The TLL continues to offer a wide array of tools to service professionals in Washington and Oregon. You can always find an updated list of tools here along with instructions on how to request a tool and videos and guides for tool use and care.

Have Con Will Travel!

We’re on the road and spreading the word at conferences around the region and beyond! Recently we visited EdCon and AEE West, sharing the news about SBX, The BOC and our advocacy work as Building Potential to lines of attendees at our booths. Will we see you at the next one? We keep a list of conferences we promote and attend at theBOC.info – Trade Shows

SBX 2026 Sponsorship Opportunities

April 1, 2026 By SBC staff

Sponsorship Opportunities for Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2026 are now available! Please view our 2026 Sponsor Prospectus for full details on sponsorship levels and benefits.

SBX 2026 focuses on a defining challenge for our industry: how to capitalize on innovation and accelerate smart buildings adoption in a rapidly changing environment. In a world of rising costs, AI, evolving expectations, connected building systems, and growing building and cybersecurity concerns, the need for smarter, more resilient, and more scalable solutions has never been clearer. SBX 2026 will bring together leaders from across the built environment to examine what is driving progress, what is holding it back, and what it will take to move from promising innovation to widespread implementation.

The 2026 conference theme, “Accelerating Performance at the Speed of Innovation,” reflects both the urgency of the moment and the opportunity in front of us. As technologies advance and pressures on the built environment intensify, buildings are being asked to do more: reduce costs, improve resilience, respond to grid needs, support occupant outcomes, and deliver stronger performance in an increasingly complex operating environment. SBX 2026 will create space not just for inspiration, but for debate, problem-solving, and clearer pathways to action.

For more information, please see the 2026 Sponsor Prospectus and contact [email protected] with any questions or to become a sponsor.

Celebrating the First Cohort of BEACON Fellows

March 26, 2026 By SBC staff

The Smart Buildings Center is a proud partner of the BEACON project and is celebrating the successes of the first cohort, we’re happy to join with Commerce in celebrating this historic moment.

On Friday, March 13, BEACON fellows, Climate Corps fellows, and BEACON and Climate Corps partners gathered in Bellevue to celebrate the end of the first cohort of BEACON fellows. Thank you to PSE for hosting this incredible group.

BEACON fellows presented on the highlights, successes, and lessons learned from their 10-month fellowships. They reflected on the technical support they provided to building owners, the sustainability projects they supported at their host sites, the relationships they built with utility providers, and the presentations they gave to local community groups.

Over the past 10 months, BEACON fellows conducted outreach to almost 200 unique entities and served 130 building owners and more than 400 buildings across 17 counties. Services included providing CBPS education, Clean Buildings Portal support, energy benchmarking services, energy management planning, operations and maintenance program support, and exemption and incentive application assistance.

BEACON fellows officially end their fellowships on March 31. With this date just on the horizon, project partners also shared words of encouragement for what’s next as fellows start their own job search.

As a reminder, BEACON Project partners are currently working to secure funding to stand up a second cohort of BEACON fellows, and there will be a gap in services between the first and second cohort. An announcement will be made when no-cost BEACON support resumes with a second cohort of fellows.

Meantime, you can receive ongoing no-cost CBPS support through the Commerce Clean Buildings Team and Smart Buildings Center Clean Buildings Help Desk.

Registration Open for Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2026!

March 17, 2026 By SBC staff

Early-bird registration for SBX 2026 is now open at www.sbxconference.org

Register now!

The Smart Buildings Center is excited to host the 6^th annual Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) in 2026! SBX 2026 includes a year-round virtual series, SBX Plus, offering engaging, expert-led live webinars, and an in-person Fall Conference (November 9-10 in Seattle) featuring workshops, keynotes, panel discussions, and networking. Learn more below and register for both SBX Plus & the Fall Conference now and save!

Building Potential members can receive a 15% discount on SBX registration. Please contact [email protected] to receive a discount code before registering.

SBX Plus (Virtual)
Please join us for our next SBX Plus virtual session on Artificial Intelligence, Fault Detection & Diagnostics for Predictive Maintenance on Wednesday, March 18^th from 11am-12pm PST. Hear three case study examples about how AI-driven fault detection and diagnostics has transformed building operations from reactive to predictive. Learn about how advanced analytics can identify equipment issues early, reduce downtime, and lower maintenance and energy costs. Register at the link below to attend!

Fall Conference (In-Person)
This year’s Fall Conference theme – Accelerating Performance at the Speed of Innovation – will respond to the call to action heard at SBX 2025 to accelerate the pace of change needed to drive the clean energy market transformation. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more details on sponsorships opportunities, agenda details, and an open call to submit topics and speakers for consideration. Register at the link below to join us for SBX Plus and the SBX Fall Conference!

Early-bird SBX 2026 registration

Smart Buildings Center Quarterly Look Ahead 2026

March 4, 2026 By SBC staff

Welcome to the Smart Buildings Center’s first Quarterly Look Ahead of 2026. Here’s the learning experiences you can look forward to this year:

SBX Plus

As part of our annual conference, SBX Plus aims to keep you connected to everything you can expect from the big show this November through a series of educational webinars. You won’t want to miss the topics below so register today!

SBX

And of course SBX will be held later this year in November on the 9 -10 in Seattle at the Bell Harbor Conference Center for the second year in a row! We had an amazing time last year with speakers, presentations, panel discussions and much more. We hope you will join us for SBX 2026 when registration opens later this year, in the meanwhile though, you can keep your finger on the pulse for all things SBX at sbxconference.org

The BOC Courses

theBOC.info is your one-stop shop to learn about upcoming courses and register for a Fundamentals, Level I, Level II or Multifamily course. It’s never been a better time to start your journey to becoming a certified Building Operator. Find out more about The Essential Credential and find a course starting in your region at www.theboc.info/find-training

NEEA Webinars

Our friends at NEEA are hosting several webinars in the coming months with a wide range of topics. You can find all the details for these webinars (and their recordings) at info.NEEA.org and register for these FREE one-hour sessions today!