6/19/2015 (Award notice 5/4/2015) King County’s Energy Task Force has been selected as the winner of the Washington State University (WSU) Energy Program’s Energy Facilities Connections’ (EFC) Innovations Award. The award recognizes the County’s achievement training and certifying its employees to improve the energy efficient operation of county buildings. The County’s Energy Task Force worked in partnership with Puget Sound Energy and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council’s to provide the Building Operator Certification (BOC®) training and certification to county facilities and other personnel. The initiative supports the County’s commitment to achieve long-term energy reductions. The EFC Innovations Award honors non-profit, tribal, or public organizations that implement results-oriented, innovative programs or projects that demonstrate cost-effective, significant and relevant impact on the populations they serve.
“NEEC is pleased to support King County’s commitment to energy performance through better building operations” said Stan Price, Executive Director, NEEC. “Training and certification of building operators is a proven way to deliver money and energy savings for the County, and it also improves the comfort and productivity of building occupants.”
A team of advisors was assembled to work with NEEC to customize the BOC training and instructional delivery to county energy management objectives and infrastructure. Savings resulting from other County resource efficiency projects was used to pay for the initiative.
About Energy Facilities Connections: The Energy Facilities Connections Conference is now in its 11th year and is presented by Washington State University Energy Extension Program. The theme this year was Staying Smarter than Your Buildings. With an array of hands-on learning and networking opportunities, EFC is tailor-made for facilities leaders in K-12 schools, higher education facilities, municipalities, state and provincial agencies, hospitals, utilities, tribes, nonprofits and more. The Innovations Award is given at the conference each year to a public, non-profit or tribal organization who show an innovation in their facility operations.
About King County: The King County Facilities Management Division (FMD) operates and manages the County’s capital assets by developing and maintaining cost-conscious, sustainable, high-quality facilities and environments. The Energy Task Force works diligently to reduce King County energy costs and benefit environmental quality through ensuring that new and existing County facilities are designed, maintained and upgraded, as required, to be energy efficient based on life cycle evaluations and implementing and maintaining energy conservation efforts within County facilities and operations, in addition to other efforts.
About NEEC: The Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) is a non-profit business association of the energy efficiency industry. NEEC’s mission is to promote policies and programs that enhance market opportunities for energy efficiency. NEEC is a national provider of a range of services from Energy Benchmarking technical support to training and credentialing through the Building Operator Certification (BOC®) program.