7/25/2024
Group 1: Creating a Streamlined BEM Process
Co-Chairs: Supriya Goel, Neal Kruis, and Dimitri Contoyannis
Working Group 1 started the year off reviewing the results of the “Third Party Energy Code Verification: Market Characterization” project. In the group’s January webinar Sally Blair (NORESCO) and Hwakong Cheng (Taylor Engineering) shared the project objectives, approach, and findings. They reviewed five different frameworks to third party energy code verification, identified through literature and policy review and interviews with subject matter experts. Attendees engaged in a detailed Q&A session, which inspired a follow-up Q&A discussion meeting.
The Spring Meeting hosted updates from NORESCO on two active projects: the PRM Project and the CBECC-Com GitHub Migration Project. Xia Fang and Rob Guglielmetti presented project updates and attendees contributed to a lively Q&A session.
If you have missed these recent meetings, meeting notes and materials can be found in the CalBEM Collaborative Efforts SharePoint here.*
The Prototype Unification Technical Advisory Group led by Bryan Boyce (Energy Solutions) and Rahul Athalye (NORESCO) continues to make progress on advancing its goal to develop a single set of prototypes for use by all California state agencies and other public research/policy purposes. The TAG plans to meet in July to present their progress: The single- & multi-family work has been focused on validating the prototypes while non-residential work has been focused on gathering necessary inputs.
Efforts on the “PRM Case Studies by Practitioners” led by Greg Collins (Zero Envy) and Panos Bakos (Atelier Ten) kicked-off in the fall of 2023 and will be starting its next phase late summer 2024.
To attend future Group 1 meetings, or simply to keep in the loop, sign up for the WG1 mailing list.
Group 2: Developing BEM Education and Resources
Co-Chairs: Erik Kolderup and Nick Brown
Working Group 2 began the year with the passing of the Co-Chair torch from Brian Selby to Nick Brown! We thank Brian Selby for his dedication and many contributions to CalBEM Group 2, and welcome Nick Brown to the Co-Chair role.
Working Group 2 held two meetings this past winter and spring. At the January Webinar, Group 2 focused on a problem statement identified during the 2023 CalBEM Symposium, that there is “a lack of BEM Industry awareness, particularly among students and early-career professionals.” The group discussed various strategies to increase awareness and identified many great ideas, primarily centered around leveraging existing job fairs, organizations, and university programs to share BEM education resources and boost knowledge of job opportunities through each of those avenues. The Co-Chairs are still seeking an individual to spearhead this effort, or to submit a CalBEM project proposal to receive funding to conduct this work.
The Group 2 Co-Chairs also hosted a Spring Meeting on “Performance Metrics for Energy Modelers,” which included presentations from RJ Wichert (CEC), Jared Landsman (E3), and Carrie Brown (Resource Refocus). The panelists spoke to the reasoning behind our compliance metrics, how California’s compliance metrics are derived, and a discussion around ASHRAE standards and operational carbon emission factors, respectively. The panelists and attendees discussed education needs surrounding metrics, especially the upcoming metrics changes in 2025 Title 24, Part 6. The Co-Chairs will seek pathways to executing the educational resources identified during the discussion.
If you have missed these recent meetings, notes and slides can be found in the CalBEM Collaborative Efforts SharePoint here.*
These two meetings, along with the difficulty locating a funding fit for the 2023 “Educator Community of Practice” proposal, highlight the need for funding allocated to BEM education throughout the educational pathway. The CalBEM Planning Team and the Working Group 2 Co-Chairs continue to investigate solutions to address this funding gap.
The “Open Source Data Visualizations for BEM Quality Assurance” project led by Greg Collins (Zero Envy), was approved by the Steering Committee in June 2024 and is currently seeking project funding.
To attend future Group 2 meetings, or keep in the loop in real-time, sign up for the WG2 mailing list.
Group 3: Advancing BEM Capabilities and Metrics
Co-Chairs: Haile Bucaneg, Neil Bulger, and Michael Sawford.
Working Group 3’s January Webinar reviewed takeaways from the CalBEM 2023 fall Symposium, provided updates on the Title 24 Part 6 update process and the CEC Tools Team activities, and identified next steps. Attendees discussed five key topics from the symposium: compliance option process for reviewing and defining accuracy, compliance measure prioritization, HVAC/DHW performance maps in BEM and compliance tools, modeling mandatory measures to improve BEM accuracy, and updating modeling internal gains assumptions in the Title 24 ACM. The attendees discussed actions for each item including upcoming meetings, which led to the development of the Spring Meeting.
The Group 3 Spring Meeting primarily focused on ranking compliance measures; they took measures identified during CalBEM 2023 and the January Webinar and asked attendees to select their priority measures via a poll, and then discussed the top three voted measures. The Co-Chairs plan to summarize the feedback and share it with the CEC.
If you have missed recent meetings, notes and slides can be found in the CalBEM Collaborative Efforts SharePoint here.*
The Alternative Calculation Methods (ACM) Manual Enhancement project, led by Elizabeth McCollum (TRC), continues to make progress towards the project goal of drafting revised content improving the structure and clarity of the manuals. The team has also completed interviews to gain input and vetting from key software, energy consultant, and policy stakeholders. The CEC aims to publish the 2025 ACM Manuals for public review in April 2025.
To attend future Group 3 meetings, or keep in the loop in real-time, sign up for the WG3 mailing list.
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* Working Group participants can email info@calbem.org to gain access.