The following text is an excerpt from the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment. The full blog post can be found here.
Seattle’s progressive energy efficiency policies like the City’s Building Tune-Ups Ordinance and a strong local market favoring energy efficient buildings requires a specialized workforce to tune-up buildings and keep them operating their best. Seattle Colleges is growing this workforce through its Sustainable Building Science and Technology (SBST) degree program at South Seattle College and participation in the Office of Sustainability & Environment’s (OSE) Tune-Up Accelerator Program.
With eleven Seattle Colleges buildings enrolled in the Tune-Up Accelerator, SBST students had opportunities to grow their skills beyond the classroom by supporting the tune-up process. Student teams scouted three buildings for operations and maintenance efficiency opportunities, reviewed operations and energy data, and collected details on each building’s equipment for the tune-up assessment and US Department of Energy Asset Score. Students worked under the guidance of SBST faculty Steve Abercrombie, and in coordination with Sustainability Coordinator Adam Maurer, Campus Facilities staff, and energy service provider, McKinstry.
