Welcome to ASHRAE's Government Affairs Update! Along with the Government Affairs Webpage, these periodic Email updates feature information on government affairs-related activities of interest to ASHRAE members and others interested in the built environment. Archives of previous updates are available from the Government Affairs Webpage (www.ashrae.org/advocacy).
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ASHRAE Government Affairs Update, 3/23/2012
- From Coast to Coast and
Across Borders, ASHRAE Grassroots Sprout
- ASHRAE Provides
Suggestions to EIA for Improving the 2012 CBECS
- Prominent House
Republican Releases Budget – Is There Any Relevance for ASHRAE?
- High-Performance
Building Congressional Caucus Holds Briefing on SBIC’s Beyond Green Awards
- Pentagon Seeks Less for
Construction, More for Conservation
- Lawsuit Prompts Smart
Meter Opt-Outs for Opponents in Hawaii
From Coast to Coast and Across Borders, ASHRAE
Grassroots Sprout
ASHRAE’s new grassroots government activities initiative is
growing day-by-day. As noted in the
last edition of Government Affairs Update, ASHRAE members in California
weighed-in in force on a proposal, which, if adopted, would prohibit engineers,
commissioning agents, and other licensed professionals from performing
acceptance tests, while allowing only testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB)
agents and electrical contractors to perform such tests. Though the outcome of
member input in still in question, it underlies the importance of ASHRAE
members getting involved when appropriate.
How else is ASHRAE expanding its advocacy scope at the
chapter level?
- An ad hoc Society subcommittee is crafting training
materials – an “Advocacy 101,” if you will – so that the message of member
involvement may be easily disseminated and put to good use.
- Those materials will be put to the test at upcoming Chapter
Regional Conferences (CRCs) in Regions II (covers eastern Canada) and XI
(covers the Pacific Northwest and western Canada) and, thereafter, will be
made available to North American regions and chapters through various
avenues.
- Also speaking to Canadian chapters, Government Affairs
staff is working with leaders in Regions II and XI to develop a “gap”
analysis to see where member engagement – particularly as far as adoption
of ASHRAE standards (e.g., iterations of Standard 90.1, Standard 189.1) –
is most needed.
- Government Affairs staff is in conversations with the
Southeastern Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) – one of the now six
regional energy efficiency organizations – to ascertain where their
efforts on promoting efficiency in the built environment through
high-performance codes and standards may gel with what Regions III, IV,
VII, and VII members are trying to do on that front as well.
- Members in the Central Florida chapter are starting the
process of banding together with other engineering societies in the
Sunshine State to fight any efforts by the state engineering licensing
board to impose “master’s or equivalent” requirements on individuals
seeking PE licensure.
These are just a handful of initiatives ASHRAE is
undertaking to expand its reach in the grassroots arena, so should you want to
become part of the movement toward a vibrant network of engineer-advocates:
- Continue reading Government Affairs Update for the
latest news from Capitol Hill and beyond;
- Review advocacy resources available on the Government Affairs
Website;
- Contact your chapter leaders about your interest in
promoting and preserving the profession;
- Follow us on Twitter (@ASHRAEGovAffs, @ASHRAE_Ames) for regularly
updated streams of articles and information related to advocacy,
standards, and many other topics; and
- Contact ASHRAE’s
Washington, DC staff to learn more.
ASHRAE members cannot stand on the sidelines while public
policy is made without their technical expertise, so get in the game and make a
difference!
ASHRAE Provides Suggestions to EIA for Improving the
2012 CBECS
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is moving
full steam ahead with the 2012 edition of the Commercial Buildings Energy
Consumption Survey (CBECS) – a national survey of U.S. commercial building
energy consumption, characteristics, and expenditures. The first step in
rolling out the 2012 CBECS is designing the questionnaire for the Survey.
In an effort to improve the Survey, EIA reached out to
ASHRAE and several other building community stakeholders, and asked us to
submit suggestions for improving the questionnaire. ASHRAE’s comments can be
found at http://ow.ly/9P7CX.
EIA is now collecting comments from interested individuals
and groups on the 2012 CBECS. A formal request for comments will soon appear in
the Federal Register, however interested individuals and groups are
encouraged to email Joelle Michaels, CBECS Survey Manager (Joelle.Michaels@eia.gov), and request
additional information prior to the announcement to give yourself more time to
respond.
In-depth information on the 2012 CBECS and prior Survey
editions can be found at www.eia.gov/emeu/cbecs.
Prominent House Republican Releases Budget – Is
There Any Relevance for ASHRAE?
Earlier this week U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul
Ryan released his budget proposal in a document titled “The Path to Prosperity:
A Blueprint for American Renewal”. This plan would slash spending for a large
list of programs to help reduce the federal deficit. This plan is getting a lot
of press – and it recently won approval by the House Budget Committee (albeit
narrowly – the vote was 19 to 18, with two Republicans voting against it). A
key question for ASHRAE is, does it have much relevance for the Society?
The short answer is ‘no’ – at least not directly. Chairman
Ryan’s budget does not directly address building energy efficiency, indoor air
quality, climate change, water conservation, or science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) education. (These are areas that ASHRAE pays particular
attention to.)
The absence of these issues does not mean that they aren’t
considered important by House leaders, rather that they are not main political
targets in Chairman Ryan’s budget plan.
For more information on House Budget Committee Chairman
Ryan’s budget proposal, including summary tables, charts, and video, visit http://budget.house.gov/fy2013Prosperity.
High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus Holds
Briefing on SBIC’s Beyond Green Awards
The High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition
held a briefing on Capitol Hill this past Thursday showcasing the winners of
the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council’s (SBIC) Beyond Green
High-Performance Building Awards. Winners presented case studies from a wide
variety of building types from across the country, which highlight the
successful integration of sustainability and energy efficiency with
cost-effectiveness, safety and security, accessibility, historic preservation,
and aesthetics.
Additional information on the Beyond Green awards
can be found at http://sbicouncil.org/beyond-green.
Pentagon Seeks Less for Construction, More for
Conservation
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is making an effort to
increase energy efficiency and conservation while pushing down costs. Here are
a few interesting excerpts from a recent press release on the Pentagon’s FY
2013 budget request:
- The budget request includes $547 million to replace or
renovate 11 Defense Department schools that are in poor or failing
condition, mostly overseas. By the end of fiscal 2018, more than 70
percent of DOD schools will have been replaced or undergone substantial
renovation.
- DOD is the owner of 300,000 buildings. The Department
has a $4 billion energy bill for its installations that comes almost
entirely from commercial power grids. DOD is trying to change that through
energy conservation programs and innovations in alternative energy.
- The Department has
created 70 test projects on innovations in areas such as microgrid and
storage technologies, advanced lighting controls, high performance
cooling systems, waste heat recovery and on-site generation, she said.
Check out the full release at http://ow.ly/9Q43g.
Lawsuit Prompts Smart Meter Opt-Outs for Opponents
in Hawaii
Privacy and security concerns in Hawaii have resulted in a
lawsuit that has halted the installation of smart meters in Hawaii for those
that oppose the devices. More information is available at http://ow.ly/9Q5m4.
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