The Building Advisor

Portland-based PECI has won an $18.8 million contract from the California Energy Commission to manage an “EnergySmart Jobs” program that will create more than 200 California jobs.

The “EnergySmart Jobs” program will provide energy efficiency training throughout California to implement efficiency upgrades on commercial buildings. The company will also hire and retain over 200 contractor and energy surveyor positions. The program will focus on regions within California with lots of opportunity for efficiency savings and high unemployment.

The 18-month program is paid for with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding and is slated to deliver $13.9 million in initial energy savings for electricity rate payers during the first year and a half.

The program will also create three jobs in Portland, Sustainable Business Oregon reports.

Additional program partners include private contractors, utilities, manufacturers, and the California Conservation Corps. “The Conservation Corps ‘Corpsmembers’ are comprised of unemployed or otherwise economically disadvantaged people between the ages of 18 and 25, with the intention of helping those in greatest need get a ‘head start’ in the employment market,” according to PECI’s press release.

PECI has a longstanding relationship with the State of California, having delivered energy efficiency programs throughout the state for 20 years and employing 28 in the state.

San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, signed legislation on Monday that will enable property taxes to serve as a vehicle for financing energy efficiency upgrades of buildings and homes.

The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, which will make $150 million in bonds available, is apparently not the first of its kind, but it will be the nation’s largest.  Launched in November of 2008 in Berkeley, CA, there are currently 17 states that have authorized PACE programs.

The idea is that since up-front costs often represent the most significant barrier to the implementation of more energy efficiency solutions, by spreading the cost out over time, such cost-saving and more sustainable solutions will become more widespread.  Essentially the city or district makes a loan for the project and then is paid back on the loan through the property tax bill.  Another feature of PACE programs is that the loans are attached the the property and not the owner.

It’s another example of the type of innovative financing programs that are springing up all across the country to help spur more improvements in energy efficiency and hopefully will lead to an increase in green jobs.

Good discussion on a blog post at My FacilitiesNet about the maintenance profession being cool now.  The premise is that with the bigger-than-ever emphasis on energy efficiency in the buildings industry, partly due to the provisions in the economic stimulus, job opportunities are being created which will pull people to the maintenance, engineering and operations professions.    And also, knowing that you’ll be directly contributing to energy efficiency makes the job cooler.

What do you think?

Millions of dollars for the creation of green jobs have been included in the recently passed economic stimulus.  What exactly is a green job and how do you know if your company can benefit from this part of the stimulus?  In other words, if you think your company does “green” work, you should be able to benefit through some sort of incentive money to hire and/or train employees.  This should include any company that helps buildings become more energy efficient.

NPR has a story about a couple of residential contractors who could benefit.  But, what about commercial contractors?  Exactly how does this play out?  If you’re a commercial buildings contractor, how can you take advantage of this?

One of Portland’s leaders in green building, Mark Edlen of Gerding Edlen, recently spoke with Vice President Joe Biden about green jobs in the commercial sector.  In the article in the Portland Business Journal about that meeting, Edlen provides some insight as to how this could play out, mostly from the new buildings perspective.

The stimulus package making its way to the President’s desk in the next few days has some very good strategies to help kick start the economy and help energy services grow.  In a recent press briefing, President Obama had these words to pass along to those detractors of energy efficiency.

“When people suggest that, “What a waste of money to make federal buildings more energy-efficient.” Why would that be a waste of money?

We’re creating jobs immediately by retrofitting these buildings or weatherizing 2 million Americans’ homes, as was called for in the package, so that right there creates economic stimulus.

And we are saving taxpayers when it comes to federal buildings potentially $2 billion. In the case of homeowners, they will see more money in their pockets. And we’re reducing our dependence on foreign oil in the Middle East. Why wouldn’t we want to make that kind of investment?”

Exactly!  Anything we do to reduce energy consumption has a corresponding reduction in monthly costs and greenhouse gas emissions.  Why wouldn’t we do it?!

Newly elected President Obama and his supporters have been carrying a message of Yes We Can! to all those who will listen. This message is one for our service based industry as we grow Energy Services for the 21st Century. It is true that we are facing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and that creates a very tight financial market to work within. Our economy is continuing to contract and shed good jobs at unprecedented rates, but in a simple phrase, Yes We Can! We can find all the hope and structure to rebuild the economy and our industry around an emerging opportunity that has global implications. There are points in our history we can look to for advice, help, and understanding the pitfalls that we may face as we grow a fledgling industry. In the 80’s, the personal computer ushered in the electronics age and propelled the US to the forefront of the world stage as a technological and financial leader, created jobs and whole industries and drew unprecedented wealth to Americans.

The big picture of today looks very similar to the dawn of the electronics age. We are facing the threat of climate change, shrinking budgets personally and within the built environment (building owners/operators). The key to unlocking these issues is Energy Services! Building owners are focused on improving the asset value of their building portfolios and the only way they can do that in a market where occupancy and rent are decreasing is to improve the bottom line on operating the building. This is easily accomplished by having a high performance building from an Energy, Comfort and Tenant Productivity standpoint. The path to performance is through energy savings, streamlined operations and assurance that the savings stays longer than a couple of months. To accomplish this, a systematic approach is needed to diagnose and assess the energy performance of a building, propose and implement changes, and then verify the changes are having a positive effect. Oh and by the way, through energy savings we also get a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to reduce the impact of climate change.

The practical means of getting to this big picture is through building an efficient Energy Services division within your company. It starts with an internal champion who understands the big picture opportunity, uses efficient diagnostic tools to quickly asses a buildings performance, and then acts upon those findings to drive changes to a building owner’s bottom line. Like the little engine that could, Yes We Can change a reactionary industry into one that proactively builds itself around energy independence, green jobs and sustainable operations that benefit everyone’s bottom line!

The current economic downturn has put an emphasis on how reliable we have become on the standard industries that have perpetually driven our economy. Yet, this current “market correction” is ripe with the opportunities to create a sustainable version of our economy centered on Green Jobs and Energy Services, the two emerging growth industries which are service oriented and focused around the very core of our market economy.

We all work in buildings, right? Those buildings all have either an owner or operator who needs to provide tenants with a comfortable and productive environment so they can retain the rent money. The tenants are driven by “greening” the environment they spend most of there time and feeling good about the job they do during the day. In comes the HVAC service provider who employs an automated building performance test that helps to identify the energy and comfort issues in the building, proposes solutions to the owner to fix them and save money. The owner is excited because their building is more comfortable for tenants, saves them money and because the HVAC provider has tied the performance assessment to the building’s service agreement, the owner has a built in mechanism to assure themselves of the savings when the provider comes back in a few months to do a checkup. The tenants are happy and productive because they are comfortable, work in an environment with clean air and know their building has lowered its Carbon Footprint because of all the energy being saved.

Now, imagine your energy service business doing this every week from a pool of nearly 2,000,000 buildings that range in size from 5,000 to 100,000 square feet, the most underserved buildings from an energy perspective. These buildings consume 56% of the overall energy spend from commercial buildings and easily can squeeze 10-30% savings from there operation without a big ticket capitol expense. The money is in better building operations and service to those buildings. Multiply this by a small team of dedicated “green energy” professionals who offer LEED services along with there energy assessments and you have a growth industry ripe with opportunity, even when the economists are predicting most woes for our economy.

Leading entrepreneurs view climate change as a growing strategic concern

Source: Business Wire First Published Nov. 20, 2008

Leading entrepreneurs view climate change as a growing strategic concern according to a survey conducted by Ernst & Young. A significant majority of entrepreneurs surveyed (61%) view climate change as an important strategic concern, while 70% have increased their focus on climate change initiatives over the past 12 to 24 months.

In line with broader corporate trends, 80% expect to increase their cleantech spend over the next five years: namely to improve their internal operations and supply chain, and to meet their corporate responsibility requirements. Nearly half (44%) have budgeted at least US$1 million for climate change investments over the next five years and 6% anticipate spending upwards of US$20 million during the same period. Sixty-seven percent cite the opportunity to enhance competitive position as an important strategic driver. Other key opportunities identified include contributing to a wider climate change solution (65%), brand enhancement (63%), gaining customers (61%) and enhancing efficiency (56%).

In terms of climate change-related risks, the cost of energy and other resources was identified as an important risk by the largest number of entrepreneurs (55%), closely followed by a “greening” customer base (54%), energy reliability issues (44%) and operational efficiency/continuity (43%). When asked to identify the single greatest challenge in responding effectively to climate change, the greatest number of respondents (28%) said regulatory uncertainty.

In terms of financial return, the majority of respondents (69%) said that their response to climate change would have a positive or neutral impact on the bottom line over the next 10 years. Thirty-seven percent of respondents have completed or are in the process of developing a formal climate change agenda. Another 37% identified developing an agenda as a company priority. The majority have taken actions in response to climate change: 76% have identified new products and services; and 74% have identified cost saving opportunities.

Climate change has moved to the top of the CEO agenda at many leading companies. Of those surveyed with a climate change agenda or one in development, most (69%) kept overall responsibility for climate change response at the full board level. Respondents generally believe that their boards have a good grasp of climate change legislation and risk, and that the information their boards need is largely available.