Join us for the Smart Buildings Exchange 2026!

Smart Buildings Center

Energy Efficiency Innovation Center, Tool Library & Data Visualization

Clean Building Performance Webinar Series and New and Updated Guidance Documents

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CBPS Webinar Series: How to submit a Tier 1 compliance application

The first compliance deadline for Tier 1 buildings over 220,000 square feet is approaching quickly. To help building owners and their teams, the Clean Buildings team is hosting a webinar on how to submit a Tier 1 compliance application through the Clean Buildings Portal.

Join us on May 6, 2025, at 10 a.m. This session is designed for all Tier 1 covered buildings and will walk participants through accessing the portal, setting up shared access, connecting your compliance application to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and completing the submission. Whether you’re preparing your first application or want to make sure everything is submitted correctly, this webinar will provide step-by-step guidance and helpful tips.

 

REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE

 

New and updated guidance documents added

We’ve updated and added new guidance documents! Visit the Clean Buildings Document Library to review new and updated guidance documents.

Updated:

New

FREE Webinars at The Lab at City Light May – June

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Our friends at the The Lab at City Light want you to know about some upcoming Webinars. Don’t miss your chance to enroll in these free sessions from The Lab at City Light! Learn more about The Lab at: Lighting Design Lab

Selling Energy Projects with Pro Forma Thinking
May 14, 2026 | 10:00 – 11:00 am | Online | Free
You’ll also see how real-world capital pathways (C-PACE, performance contracting, Energy-as-a-Service, green bonds and tax credits) snap into a pro forma narrative that gets to “yes.” You’ll leave with a practical story arc, a sharper value stack and model inputs you can reuse to move bold projects from “interesting” to funded.
Performance Commissioning: Delivering High-Performance Buildings and Enabling Electrification
May 21, 2026 | 10:00 am – 11:30am | Online | Free
In this session, you’ll learn what performance commissioning is, how it differs from traditional approaches, and why it is essential for both new construction and retrofit projects. You’ll also gain insight into how it supports electrification and ensures reliable, efficient, and long-term building performance.
Urban Business District Lighting Review
May 28, 2026 | 10:00 am – 11:00am | Online | Free
This discussion will offer a review of human perception leading to practical tips on how to consider effective lighting including concepts. Real world examples will be used to illustrate effective design approaches as well as some cautionary tales.
Deliver High Performance Heat Pump Retrofits
June 4, 2026 | 10:00 – 11:00 am | Online | Free
In this session, David Richardson will layout a blueprint for how you can add High Performance Heat Pump Retrofits to your product offerings and avoid the most common pitfalls.

ICYMI This Week at the Smart Buildings Center & Building Potential

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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/

Registration Open for Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2026!

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

Register now!

The Smart Buildings Center is excited to host the 6th 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 18th 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

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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!

Energy Benchmarking for the Clean Buildings Performance Standard

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Join us for a comprehensive webinar designed to guide building owners, managers, and energy professionals through the process of benchmarking buildings for Washington State’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS).

 

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this webinar, attendees will know how to:

  • Create and configure a Portfolio Manager account
  • Add properties and assign activity types
  • Benchmark properties with complex configurations (e.g., shared meters)
  • Upload and manage utility data using multiple methods
  • Connect the Energy Star Portfolio Manager with the Clean Buildings Portal.

Date: February 25th, 2026

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 PM

REGISTER

The webinar will be recorded and shared through this website.

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