BOMA Austin Sustainability Committee is sponsoring a series of workshops presenting the BOMA Energy Efficiency Program (otherwise known as BEEP). Previous modules were taught in 2019 and the remaining 4 modules are in the Spring of 2020. Course 5 & 6 will be held April 30th and Course 7 & 8 TBD all at Colorado Tower (thank you Cousins Properties). To find out more please visit BOMA AUSTIN:
U.S. Green Building Council® unveiled the next step for the LEED rating systems: LEED v4.1. For existing buildings, LEED v4.1 will be new, improved and agile to make it easier for every type of existing building. This is not a full version change but rather an incremental update to LEED rating systems.
LEED v4.1 O&M shifts from documents for documentation TO data for documentation by tracking performance in energy, water, waste, transportation, indoor air quality, toxin free environment and occupant satisfaction.
The Blue Ocean Energy team is very excited about LEED v4.1 O&M as this shift from documentation to more performance data allows existing properties to achieve LEED points based on performance metrics such as actual energy and water usage. Transportation is now a performance metric based on building occupant’s survey responses and Indoor Environmental Quality has tenants reporting on building satisfaction.
Bo Petersen with Blue Ocean Energy has been invited to speak at the Eco El Paso 11th Annual Conference – From Sustainable to Regenerative. Bo will be speaking about Energy Management in Commercial Buildings, Risk Management and Sustainability, Why Benchmarking is essential and Big Data paralysis. Join us on October 24 – 25, 2018, at the El Paso Scottish Rite Theater in Downtown El Paso.
Yet another City of Austin ECAD compliance season is upon us. Austin Energy is intending to send out a letter early April to all commercial building owners informing them of the ECAD Ordinance and the June 1st deadline. IF you have already contracted Blue Ocean to ensure compliance, please disregard these letters. If you haven’t yet made arrangements for ECAD compliance, Blue Ocean can help you comply. As our agreement states, we guarantee your ECAD compliance!
As you may or may not know, ENERGY STAR Ratings are based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is only updated periodically. The next update will be implemented in August of this year. As more new buildings are being developed with ENERGY STAR and LEED standards it is not a surprise that the office building stock is becoming more energy efficient. The implication of this is that most buildings will see a decrease in their ENERGY STAR rating of 10-12 points after August of this year.
We recommend completing the ENERGY STAR Certification (if eligible) for 2018 well before this change.
Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions regarding ECAD Compliance and/or ENERGY STAR certification.