Building Operator Certification
Beginning in October, Salt Lake City facilities staff began attending the Level 1 Building Operator Certification training as part of the City’s internal efforts to lead by example and meet the overall energy goals of Project Skyline. BOC training focuses on the improved operating efficiencies that can be realized in existing buildings by ensuring that mechanical systems are properly functioning and synchronized with each other. While this may sound like an obvious course of action, many existing buildings systems do not function as they are designed. BOC training explores the methods of evaluating and fine-tuning building systems to cut energy waste and maintain maximum efficiency.
Members of Salt Lake City building staff are very enthusiastic about what they have already gained from these courses. “My work in the facilities division is on the preventative maintenance team, and the first few days of this course were closely related to my day-to-day assignments,” says Ron Lindquist of Public Services Facilities
What’s most compelling about the BOC training is the focus on major building efficiencies that can be gained from no-cost measures. Salt Lake City plans to continue participating in these training opportunities in the future.
Energy Star Certification Nation
To celebrate 15 years of ENERGY STAR certification for buildings, EPA launches Certification Nation 2014, awarding special recognition for multiple-building certifications. If your buildings have an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or better, there has never been a better year to certify. Join today!
Project Skyline Welcomes new participant Fidelity Investments
Fidelity focuses its environmental sustainability efforts on the tangible steps they can take to minimize the effect our operations may have on the environment. In that regard, they focus on reducing consumption of resources such as paper, water, and energy. As a result they are expanding LEED® certification to 65% of the North American corporate real estate portfolio to 6 million square feet of green office space.
October News
Project Skyline attends the Intermountain Healthcare Energy Summit
On October 29th, Intermountain Healthcare, one of our Mayor’s Skyline Challenge participants, hosted the company’s Energy Summit at the Marriott City Creek in downtown Salt Lake City. The day-long event featured panel discussions, break-out sessions, as well as the announcement of the Intermountain Energy Innovator of the Year award. The panel discussions explored the topics of Utah’s Energy Landscape and Energy Demand Management, and featured a long list of experts including Dr. Laura Nelson, Utah Director of Energy Development. While each of the panel discussions were engaging and insightful, one of the most remarkable aspects of the event was seeing the level of focus placed on energy management by Intermountain Healthcare. The Project Skyline team was happy to be in attendance and learn first-hand from Intermountain’s own expert energy staff as well as their guest speakers. Congratulations on a successful Energy Summit Intermountain Healthcare!
Project Skyline hosted another successful workshop
The Mayor’s Skyline Challenge workshop series continues, most recently with our October 30th installment that focused on Energy Action Plans. An Energy Action Plan serves as the road map for how you will move forward with efficiency improvement projects.
Leslie Cook of Energy Star took attendees through the various components of an energy action plan and what tools are available on Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool to assist in this process. Next, Troy Jensen of Intermountain Healthcare answered questions from attendees about the company’s own 10-year strategic energy plan. All of this tool place over coffee and pastries sponsored by official Project Skyline partner Rocky Mountain Power.
Thanks again to our presenters Leslie Cook and Troy Jensen, as well as Energy Star, Intermountain Healthcare and Rocky Mountain Power for sponsoring our breakfast. We hope to see another great attendance at the next fall workshop on November 19th for presentations on building commissioning and recommissioning.
Project Skyline at the 2014 USGBC Green Build Conference and Expo
Thank you to the Challenge participants who have recently submitted 2013 baseline data. If you haven’t submitted the 2013 baseline data for your participating buildings yet, please visit this link to get started!
Project Skyline director, Sonal Kemkar, attended the USGBC Green Build Conference last week in New Orleans to discuss the progress being made on commercial building efficiency in Salt Lake City. In addition to highlighting the newest technologies in green building design, the conference brought together leadership from various levels of government and the real estate community who are working on the next-generation of energy efficiency programs. With the launch of the Mayor’s Skyline Challenge, Salt Lake City joins cities like New York, Denver, and Atlanta who are also working with local business leaders on increasing awareness of building performance. Salt Lake City joined members of USGBC and USGBC Utah, AIA, and BOMA at the annual conference.
