Webinars - Smart Buildings Center

Free, Online Demand Flexibility Learning with AESP & The U.S.D.O.E.

November 8, 2024 By SBC staff

AESP's and DOE's FLEX Program

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

SBX Day 3 LIVE – Recording Now Available!

October 23, 2024 By SBC staff

Did you miss the Day 3 In-Person Presentations at SBX this year? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Check out our YouTube channel for the recording, available now! You can also find a playlist of every presentation in case you missed one you were looking forward to. Check out the short description below or click here to get viewing SBX 2024’s biggest moments!

SBX 2024 Day 3 Live

The third and final day of the conference was held in-person in Seattle and featured opening remarks from Dawn Lindell, General Manager and CEO of Seattle City Light, followed by panel discussions with leaders from Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on how different jurisdictions are structuring building performance standards, and how existing building commissioning can offer an initial path to standard compliance.

Webinar: Profitable Decarbonization: How to Increase ROI and Strategically Finance Building Upgrades

October 15, 2024 By SBC staff

Presenter: Molly McCabe, Founder, Hayden + Tanner

Decreasing building emissions does not have to decrease your bank account. In fact, when financed strategically, your building upgrades can increase your building’s ROI while achieving even the most aggressive decarbonization goals or local building performance standards. Join commercial real estate finance and capital markets expert Molly McCabe to learn the leading strategies to planning cost-effective building upgrades, identifying and layering all available financing opportunities, and structuring your investments for effective presentation to bankers and other finance and equity partners.

Webinar details:

Event listing and registration details
NEEA/BetterBricks LinkedIn event post you can engage with and/or repost

October & November Webinars Presented by SCL and Lighting Design Labs

September 27, 2024 By SBC staff

Our friends at Seattle City Light and Lighting Design Labs are excited to announce the following Webinars coming up in the next two months. Don’t miss out on these excellent educational opportunities. Some events below will be offering IN-PERSON as an option, register for those before the seats fill up! Click the title to be taken to each events webpage for more info or to register.

Net Zero with Mike Dieterich | 10/10 @ 10AM – 12 Noon | Virtual & In-Person!
The presentation will cover net zero in three phases. Phase 1: Zero Energy Design, for buildings with a bit of zero carbon; Phase 2: Corporate Zero Energy Planning and Roadmapping; Phase 3: Zero Energy and Carbon Applications in Districts like schools or municipalities and the integration of planning. Each phase will be followed by a Q&A session to dive deeper into the topics.

Powering Your Building: The Role of Electrification in Optimizing Building Operations | 10/17 @ 10AM – 11AM | Virtual Only
This session will provide an overview of how these initiatives will influence building performance, safety, operation, and maintenance by discussing electrification technologies; implementation benefits; implementation barriers and solutions; logistical considerations; maintenance of key assets and systems; and case studies highlighting electrification efforts in various buildings

Measurement & Verification Resources for BPA Utility Programs | 10/29 @ 8AM – 12 Noon | Virtual & In-Person!
Measurement and Verification (M&V) is a process of planning, measuring, collecting, and analyzing data to verify and report energy savings within a facility or facilities, resulting from the implementation of energy-efficiency measures. BPA Utility program custom projects require site-specific M&V to support reliable estimates of savings. BPA M&V protocols and guides direct activities and are resources for reliable M&V. In recent rate periods, custom projects measured and verified energy savings account for 20%–30% of BPA Energy Efficiency’s overall savings achievements.

Save the Date! The below events in November will have registration opening soon, we’ll let you know when links are available.

Micro Heat Pumps | 11/7

LEED and Other Certifications | 11/19

Smart Buildings Exchange 2024 Session Recordings Available!

September 10, 2024 By SBC staff

Last month the fourth annual Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) delivered a value-packed three days of conversations focused on the market opportunity for smart buildings and solutions to some of the challenges currently facing the commercial, corporate, and institutional real estate industries.

The conference kicked off with a virtual Opening Plenary featuring industry leaders discussing the public, private and tax credit resources that will catalyze the decarbonization of the built environment. Following the Opening Plenary were virtual sessions on Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings as a Utility Resource, Indoor Environmental Quality – Field Results Inform Operational Practices, Planning & Implementing Campus-Scale Decarbonization, and Making Buildings Smarter – Live Demonstration.

The second day of the conference began with a virtual Plenary Session on Innovations for an Electrified & Decarbonized Future which examined where we are with the pace of innovation – technology, construction, finance, and policy – and what more we need to do to go further faster. The day continued with virtual sessions on Building Owner/Manager Guide to Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings, Choosing the Smart Buildings Platform Right for You, Fault Detection & Diagnostics – Real World Lessons for Field Service, and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Reporting – Losing the Acronym, Improving the Result.

All of the virtual SBX session recordings are now available on the Smart Buildings Center YouTube Channel so you can watch any you missed and rewatch any you enjoyed. The recording for the in-person day will be available in the coming days.

Thank you to all sponsors, planning committee members, speakers, and attendees who helped make the event a success!

SBX Virtual Opening Plenary Sessions, Aug 27th & 28th

August 26, 2024 By SBC staff

Join us virtually for the Smart Buildings Exchange (SBX) 2024 Opening Plenary Sessions on Tuesday, August 27th from 8:45 – 10:00 am PT and Wednesday, August 28th from 9:00 – 10:15 am PT. Read on below for the full 3-day SBX schedule, also available here.

On Day 1, Ash Awad (McKinstry) will moderate a discussion on Financing the Decarbonization of the Built Environment between Elizabeth Wolfe (US Department of Energy), Marc Daudon (The Caspian Group), Scott Stogsdill (Ryan LLC), and Molly McCabe (HaydenTanner).

On Day 2, Poppy Storm (2050 Institute) will moderate a discussion on Innovations for an Electrified & Decarbonized Future between Allen Preger (Building Ventures), Celeste Tell (Epicycled), Lucas Toffoli (RMI), and Steve Ruby (McKinstry).

You don’t want to miss these sessions — register now!

Financing the Decarbonization of the Built Environment – Public, Private & Tax Credit Resources
Decarbonizing the built environment requires technical and operational innovation. Beyond that challenge is the financial investment necessary to implement this transformation at scale. This conference plenary will bring leading voices together to explain how public (federal, state, and local) and private financing are being structured to catalyze this transformation.

Innovations for an Electrified & Decarbonized Future – Technology, Construction, Finance & Policy
Success in transforming the built environment from a carbon problem to a carbon solution requires innovation. This is especially true for existing buildings as they are retrofitted and re-purposed for an electrified and decarbonized future. The question is – are we innovating fast enough and at a deployable scale to get where we need to go. This panel will examine the technology innovations that can help lead the transformative process for the built environment.