Washington

Referendum 52 – a legislative directed statewide ballot initiative to sell bonds for investment in energy efficiency improvements in public schools, colleges, and universities – recently announced the engagement of a campaign manager, Sheila Stickel of The Advocacy Group. Sheila is an experienced consultant in organizing and winning state and local campaigns. In other developments, the ballot title challenge for Referendum 52 was decided earlier this month with the assigned judge ruling for the following ballot title language;

In the last month, both PSE and SCL have announced staff changes in their energy efficiency groups. At PSE, David Landers, P.E. is the new manager for commercial and industrial programs at the utility. David has been with PSE for a number of years as an energy management engineer. On the residential side of the PSE shop, Jeff Trip is the new manager of utility efficiency efforts for that sector.

NEEC was announced as a recipient of a US DOE ARRA grant award on June 17th focused on curriculum development for the training of building technicians and operators. NEEC applied for the grant to support enhancements to its nationally recognized Building Operator Certification program. The BOC® project will focus in two areas -- to develop new curriculum to address energy efficiency knowledge gaps, and to create a blended learning approach to course delivery using classroom, online and on-site training.

On June 11th, the Washington State Building Code Council, in response to a request from Governor Chris Gregoire, voted to delay implementation of 2009 Washington State Energy Code to a date no later than April 1, 2011. The SBCC will hold a public comment period in the Fall of this year and take a final vote on the implementation date in October. The Governor made this request citing concerns over the effect of the 2009 WSEC on homebuilders and the economic recovery of this sector of the economy. The Non Residential Energy Code will also be delayed by this action.

The Washington State Energy Code (WSEC) moves to the 2009 version of the code effective July 1st of this year. Substantial revisions have been made to the code from the 2006 edition. NEEC is providing technical assistance to code users to support the migration to the 2009 WSEC (note that Washington State University Extension Energy Program provides TA for the single family residential component of the code, while NEEC handles non-residential and multi-family occupancies).

SB 5849 passed by the 2009 Washington Legislature, scripted the Department of Commerce to develop a state energy strategy document for consideration in the 2011 Legislature. The DOC recently announced its public process for input and participation in the crafting of this strategy. Rogers Weed, DOC Director, recently announced; 

The “JOBS Act” passed in the recently concluded Washington State legislative session will appear on the November ballot as Referendum 52. The legislation established a $505 million bond sale distributed as competitive grants for energy efficiency projects at public K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. The debt service on the bond is to be paid by a continuation on the sales tax on bottled water (which would otherwise expire in 2013). Since the bond size would exceed the state’s current debt limit, a vote of the people is necessary to make it a reality.

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC), in collaboration with the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, is a recipient of a $3.9 million US Department of Labor grant for job training and placement in the building energy efficiency sector. NEEC will utilize this funding for the Sound Energy Efficiency Development (SEED) project to be implemented by a regional partnership of employers, labor organizations, Workforce Development Councils, One Stop Career Centers, and community and technical colleges across a five county area in the Puget Sound region.

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Council is offering a three-part webinar series about the 2009 Non-Residential Energy Code. Experts from the industry will discuss significant changes in the upcoming code and adress frequently asked questions. (Note that the 2009 Washington State Energy Code now requires occupancies other than single family residential to comply with the NREC section of the code.)

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