Here is some food for thought: your HVAC system accounts for around 30% of your building’s total energy usage. This can be a significant number if you live in certain parts of California. Specifically, the central valley where 100-degree weather is commonplace during the summer months. This fact is one of the reasons the market is looking for more efficient alternatives for rooftop air conditioners.

At the SJVCEO, one of the pillars of our work promotes enhancing local control to the communities that we serve. Allowing the stakeholders and residents to make the decisions, influence policy, and establish goals for their community brings a sense of ownership and comradery to the region.

Here is a question for you to think about: is your building a smart one? Not in the sense they have smart people working IN them; we already know there are but is the building itself smart?

It is always a great day when we see energy related stories into the news, but even better when this news is coming from our own backyard. Our California communities are making strides and creating change where change is needed. Enhancing access to employment into a region that is often overlooked by countless programs and opportunities makes this news even better.

While Valentine’s Day may be hearts and flowers for some, this year we ride for the broken hearted, the unattached, the one’s doing their very best to pick themselves up and move the heck on!

I have 2 words for you: building envelope! Exciting, right? If we are honest, it is not very exciting, but it is the backbone of any energy efficiency work we do inside of buildings.

What is exciting is the concept of highly insulating windows or ‘Super Windows.’

To continue learning and expanding my knowledge on EE Workforce issues, I have had the amazing opportunity to be a member of the ACEEE Inclusive EE Workforce Development Learning Group that started in December of 2020. ACEEE is a pivotal voice when it comes to countless topics related to EE, but when it comes to the cross connection between equity in energy, their knowledge is unmatched. Within this working group I was referring to, you will find stakeholders stationed across the country all working to push equitable practices in the energy space. Representatives from utilities, program administrators, and community-based organizations all find themselves in an influential space to make a progressive difference in the world of EE- and I am honored to be a part of it.

Let’s talk about energy management systems (EMS). If you review your monthly energy bill and try to use less energy the following month, that’s an EMS, right?

However, as we continue our journey through climate change, policy adjustments, social and environmental justice, we need an expansion. Looking beyond clean energy careers, we need to create and promote “climate adaptive careers” that will serve at the forefront of an equitable workforce.