Blog - Smart Buildings Center

Last Chance to GiveBIG to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP)!

May 13, 2020 By Britton Rife

The GiveBIG giving period was extended through May 14th, and today is the last day to make your tax-deductible donation to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP) to help us continue our work to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of smart building technologies and practices through education and demonstration.

SBCEP organizes educational and networking events such as our “Why Smart Buildings?” Executive Forums, the Smart Buildings Exchange Conference and Tradeshow, and building tours to promote and showcase the use of smart technologies and practices in the built environment.

We welcome your support to help us sustain our educational programs. Click here to make your contribution to SBC EP through GiveBIG! Any and all levels of support are greatly appreciated and go a long way. Thank you!

Climate Leaders Live: Building a Clean Energy Future Together, May 19th

May 13, 2020 By Britton Rife

Tuesday, May 19, 2020
11:00am to 12:00pm PST
Register here

Discover how we can further solutions to the climate crisis during this challenging time of the COVID pandemic. We hope you can join us online for this program featuring leaders Dr. Lucas Joppa, the Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft and the architect of Microsoft’s global climate commitment, Washington State Representative and Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins, and Climate Solutions Executive Director Gregg Small as well as some other special guests – Senator Mona Das, Representative Debra Lekanoff, Ken Workman, Ash Awad, and Stephanie Noren.

We have an urgent opportunity for this place we love. Now more than ever as we experience climate impacts, it is clear we need to accelerate the transition to 100% clean and efficient energy in the region and beyond. We need solutions like 100% clean electricity for our grid, cleaner fuels and electrification to power our transportation, and clean and energy savvy buildings where we work and live. With your help, we can accelerate the transition to a clean energy future.

Register now

You’re Invited! Why Smart Buildings Virtual Executive Forum, June 11th

May 13, 2020 By Britton Rife

REGISTER HERE

Electrifying Multi-Unit Dwellings: Call for Demonstration Sites

May 13, 2020 By Britton Rife

Forth is working with the Center for Sustainable Energy, Energetics, and the Clean Cities Coalition on a demonstration project for innovative charging technology and approaches for multi-unit dwellings and residential curbside sites.

We are looking for candidates for multi-unit dwelling (MUD) sites for the demonstration phase of the project. If you know of sites (apartment buildings or condominiums) interested in expanding their existing charging stations or installing new stations, please let us know by contacting erich@forthmobility.org

For more information, please refer to the project description here.

You’re Invited! Why Smart Buildings Virtual Executive Forum, June 11th

May 7, 2020 By Britton Rife

Navigating the New World, How the COVID-19 Crisis Has Strengthened the Case for Smart Buildings Practices and Technologies

First off, we really hope you are safe, healthy and sane. We know this crisis is taking a financial and personal toll on each of us and we here at the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council and Smart Buildings Center extend our thoughts to all our members and stakeholders as we each individually cope with the trauma and loss around us. If there’s anything NEEC can do to help you or your business navigate the current situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. As part of our effort to support our members and stakeholders, we are hosting a virtual executive forum that will focus on utilizing smart buildings technologies to prepare for new expectations of buildings and their operations as we re-enter society.

We are sure many of us are beginning to craft the narrative of our own journey over the last several weeks in an attempt to make sense of the chaos and forge a path forward. After the initial shock of the pandemic wore off, we at the Smart Buildings Center, started thinking, discussing and speculating about the impacts of the pandemic on buildings and the smart buildings industry as a whole. In discussions, we talked about how the critical operations of buildings can go on remotely for those who have already installed remote management capabilities, and how these technologies can help businesses manage the risks associated with vacated buildings and unknown equipment failures and the impacts of such events. We heard from some of you about your concerns regarding energy efficiency programs and especially programs that still rely on deemed savings rather than meter based savings, as the dramatic and unforeseen shift in residential and commercial building occupation will profoundly impact energy savings realization rates. We talked about when it will be safe to again occupy buildings and how building owners and operators can leverage technology to help communicate their commitment to healthy workspaces in the post-COVID-19 universe. The discussion is prescient and worth sharing with you.

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted each of us and the world at large in ways that can’t be undone, but it has also strengthened the case for smart buildings technologies and practices to help mitigate unforeseen crisis, better manage building operations, and meet the needs of tenants, occupants and other stakeholders in the built environment. Buildings and building technologies will play a critical role in driving society toward a new normal as we emerge from our homes and return to public life inside of buildings.

As such, the Smart Buildings Center is excited to invite you to a Why Smart Buildings Virtual Executive Forum: Navigating the New World, How the COVID-19 Crisis Has Strengthened the Case for Smart Buildings Practices and Technologies. In this 60-minute webinar, we will hear from Cara Carmichael of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Art Smith of DB Engineering and Matt Golden of Recurve as they explore the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on commercial buildings.

REGISTER HERE

GiveBIG Today to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP)!

May 5, 2020 By Britton Rife

You can GiveBIG to the Smart Buildings Center Education Program (SBCEP) now through May 6th and together we can continue to work to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of smart building technologies and practices through education and demonstration.

SBCEP is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that believes the smarter use of technology and practices in the built environment, particularly as they relate to building operations and management, will enable a cleaner, healthier and more productive future. We seek to establish thought leadership in the Pacific Northwest for smart technology within the commercial and residential building sectors, and pursue our objective through the following pillars of activity: delivering training programs to educate the building workforce of the future; enabling industry leading demonstration projects; and connecting the industry through hosting and participating in smart building events.

We welcome your support to help us sustain our educational programs. You can make your tax-deductible donation to SBCEP now through Wednesday, May 6. Click here to make your contribution to SBC EP through GiveBIG! Any and all levels of support are greatly appreciated and go a long way. Thank you!