News
The BCxA NW Chapter is now actively supporting the South Seattle College Sustainable Building Science Technology (SBST) program led by Steve Abercrombie. The program requires 500 hours of on the job training and for anyone who would like to have a 2nd pair of hands for a commissioning project site tasks, with a month's notice, you could be paired with a student to complete your work and help train them. Students come from a variety of backgrounds from the trades to unrelated fields like teaching. Take a look at the course materials and rewatch our 2023 Q3 chapter meeting for a summary presentation on the program.
If you have any questions about the program, would like to train a student on one of your projects, contribute by presenting a topic to students one evening, or would like to support the program through other means, please contact Steve Abercrombie.
Request from Ryan Stroupe, BCxA California Chapter President:
Would you, the NW Chapter members, be interested in collaborating with the CA-BCxA chapter on the building commissioning case study presentation series we are developing?
Building Commissioning Case Study Presentation Series
These presentations would feature recently-completed building commissioning projects, and speakers would share best practices and lessons learned from these projects. Ideally we would hold a case study presentation each month as a lunch-and learn and invite BCxA members as well as the general public to attend. Speakers are welcome to present with co-workers or other critical project stakeholders like the building owner, someone from the operations team, or someone from the design/engineering side of the project. Each session would include a 30-45 minute presentation with 15 additional minutes for Q&A. The projects can be new construction commissioning, existing building commissioning, or ongoing commissioning. These trainings will be held as webinars and will be hosted through the PG&E Energy Center. I am actively looking for volunteers willing to present as part of this series.
Here are some reasons to participate as speakers for this series:
· This is an opportunity for speakers who share case studies to get free exposure for themselves and their firm. I anticipate 50-75 people will attend these webinars and this will certainly include interested parties from outside of California.
· This is an opportunity for speakers to develop their presentation skills. As someone who sits on the planning committee for the BCxA national conference, I must emphasize here that commissioning case studies are always well received conference abstract topics, and the planning committee appreciates lining up experienced speakers for the conference.
· I can provide a $500 honoraria for each talk through the Energy Center. This will more than cover a nice evening out for you and your significant other.
The NW BCxA Chapter was proud to announce its continuing support for full membership sponsorship for any student attending applicable post-secondary educational or apprenticeship programs. The students need to show interest in joining our organization and hopefully this may lead them to pursue a career in our industry. If you have a contact at an educational or apprenticeship program, like your alma mater please provide the following 2023 BCxA NW Chapter Student Sponsorship Notice and notify the board of your outreach by CC'ing the chapter email address bcxa.nwchapter@gmail.com. We would love to help keep these relationships ongoing and support our members and schools simultaneously.
In September 2021, Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) approved a new Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC) program. The Building Energy and Controls Apprenticeship (BECA) is led by Lane Community College's Roger Ebbage. After talking with Roger and having him present to our chapter in March 2022 of last year, the program is recognized as a valuable and viable non-engineering path to entry level positions in our industry. Apprentices earn while they learn, working as regular employees, contributing to companies' output, and mastering skills under the guidance of your skilled workforce. NW Apprenticeship, the new administrator, is looking for Oregon based trainer companies to take on potential apprentices as they become available. Talk to your leadership teams if you have an office in Oregon or do business in Oregon, as we anticipate that this program will expand its reach with federal or multistate approval for the surrounding areas. The program needs the industry support to ramp up with it and with so few applicable job workforce training programs for our industry it is in our best interests to do anything and everything to help spread the reach of this program and others like it that teach some of the skills necessary for a career in commissioning.
This program has been given the green light from the Department of Energy office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, with $500,000 in funding available for both Trainer (companies) and Apprentices (Students) to pay both tuition, wages, and other applicable costs. This program is also available for your entry level employees who could use educational and technical development, you don't have to wait for a student but can use this as an in-house development program too. The Energy Trust of Oregon also supports this program as it offers up to $10,000 per intern for wages by the employer if it meet the program requirements. HINT HINT for both students and potential employers, put a little effort in and it will pay in spades for both the student/intern/apprentice and the employer/trainer.
If you have any questions about the program, please contact Roger Ebbage.
BECA Training Agent Sign Up Docs
Oregon BOLI Apprenticeship Grant Program
Energy Trust of Oregon's (ETO's) Strategic Energy Management (SEM) Program
The Northwest BCxA Chapter has been live on Linkedin, follow the group and stay up to date with the latest info and posts.
BCxA Northwest Committees
Advocacy Subcommittee
Chairs Wesley Hogue & Treasa Sweek
The Advocacy Subcommittee is composed of NW BCxA chapter members who volunteer to act on behalf of the Association to:
(a) Identify, evaluate, and track new or revised potential legislation, codes, standards and policies that may affect the practice of building commissioning.
(b) Actively engaging with legislative and code boards to improve commissioning standards and guidelines.
(c) Educate Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) about commissioning in code, our processes, and seek to improve practical enforcement through lessons learned.
If you are interested in being a voice for the commissioning profession and ensuring that the practice of commissioning is accurately represented at city, county, and state levels, please contact Wesley Hogue & Treasa Sweek to see where you could get involved. This could be as little as one hour per quarter to update the subcommittee on what is happening locally in your region so we can pass that information onto the chapter.
Advocacy Subcommittee “Charter”
Local Cx Code and Standards Tracking - Submission Form
Local Cx Regulations Tracking - Submission Form
Cx Codes, Standards, and Regulations Survey Results
Educational and Conference Subcommittee
Chairs Laura Irons and John Herboth
The Educational and Conference subcommittee provides educational content, planning, and coordination for our quarterly chapter meetings and regional conferences. If you have an idea for a topic or have a 45 minute to 1 hour presentation prepared, send it our way for consideration. Presentation abstracts need to be submitted at least 4 weeks in advance of an event to receive continuing education credit approval through BCxA & AIA.
This year we decided to not host another ½ day technical seminar due to the boards bandwidth and available time to commit to producing a quality product for our chapter members. But there are several areas that this committee could use assistance from our chapter members in regards to continuing efforts to bring high quality educational content to our chapter meetings.
(a) Assisting the planning and session content, includes contacting presenters
(b) Assisting or leading in the marketing of the event and reaching out to affiliate industry groups for event promotion or joint events
(c) Assisting in the execution of events
Please contact Laura Irons & John Herboth if you are interested in supporting our chapter meetings, conference, and joint events
Meet-up Subcommittee
Chairs Brian Barks, Jeramy Bromley, and John Herboth
Wouldn't it be great to meet more of our members in more casual local events for networking and collaboration over coffee, drinks, or a entertainment event? The pandemic is going anywhere anytime soon, so we need your help to setup Meet Ups throughout the Northwest region in areas where members can congregate.
We would love involvement from members in Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, and Alaska to make this valuable outside of the I-5 corridor. The goal is to make people at all reaches of our chapter borders feel connected to our organization.
If you are interested in getting to know your fellow chapter members and grow your professional network, please contact John Herboth, Brian Barks, and Jeramy Bromley.
Membership Subcommittee
Chairs Brian Barks and John Herboth
The Membership committee strives to continuously improve engagement with our members, students, and engage with our chapter’s non-member partner and affiliate organizations to extend the our network's reach and grow.
The committee is committed to promoting connections in our chapter and outside of it through our shared desire to improve our industry and our willingness to commit our time to make it happen.
If you are interested in getting to know your fellow chapter members and grow your professional network, please contact Brian Barks & John Herboth.
Membership Subcommittee “Charter”
BCxA Northwest Chapter Resources
Chapter Election Documents:
For anyone interested in applying to be on the BCxA NW Chapter Board there are 3 open positions yearly. Please fill out a candidate application with all three policy documents for committment, antitrust, and conflict of interest, along with submitting a one page resume, a websized headshot image, and a short statement on why you want to be on the board and how you plan on contributing for inclusion in the electronic ballot that is read by all chapter members. Applicants do not have to be a chapter member on their application submission date but must be by Nov. 1st of that year to be included on the ballot. If you have any questions, please email a chapter board member. All submissions should be sent to Sheri Adam @ sadams@bcxa.org, two chapter board members, and bcxa.nwchapter@gmail.com.
If anyone has any questions, please get in contact with a board member to discuss board officer and member at large duties, tasks, and time commitments. Typically new board members are not asked to take on officer roles in their first year. Each term is 3 years in length with board members able to serve 2 consecutive terms before being required to take a 1 year break. Please download and review the chapter bylaws to familiarize yourself with our organizational rules.
It is a great way to give back to the organization and as a result you will find both professional and personal growth while you become a leader in our profession regionally.
Chapter Board Candidate Application (Due by Oct 14th Yearly)
Chapter Board of Directors Commitment Policy (Due with every Application)
BCxA Antitrust Policy (Due with every Application)
BCxA Conflicts Policy Compliance (Due with every Application)
2023 Chapter Meeting Recordings
Q4 Mtg Replay - BCxA Annual Conference Topics for NW Region Recap and Discussion
2022 Chapter Meeting Recordings
*BECA Trainer Agent Company Signup & Program Info Documents
Q2 Mtg Replay - Northwest Chapter Discussion on BCxA Leadership Conference topics *Recording was not started in the beginning of the mtg, missing the 1st 15 minutes.
Q3 Mtg Replay - Passive Cooling and Natural Ventilations Systems by John M. Herboth/AEI
2023 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
11-13-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
10-09-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
09-11-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
08-14-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
06-12-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
05-08-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
04-10-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
03-13-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
02-13-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
01-09-2023 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
2022 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
11-14-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
10-10-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
09-12-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
06-13-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
05-09-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
04-11-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
03-14-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
02-14-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
01-10-2022 NW BOD Meeting Minutes
Chapter Bylaws
The Northwest BCxA chapter is currently reviewing our bylaws to update language to fit out current chapter and board meeting practices, update officer duties and roles, and review current board makeup guidelines on participation from individual companies. If you have any suggestions please get in touch with John Herboth.
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