Last Updated: June 10, 2016

• 1. Vision
• 2. Mission
• 3. Goals
• 4. Performance Alliance Membership
• 5. Nomenclature
• 6. General Governance Principles
• 7. Governance and Policy
• 8. Communications

People in all California buildings—whether homes, offices, schools, hospitals or other facilities—will enjoy cool, pleasing, productive temperatures during the heat of summer and a warm environment during the cold winter months.

HVAC products and services will help safeguard California’s energy resources through the expert application of high-quality technologies, equipment, installation and maintenance.

Blackouts and strains on the energy grid will be rare, as energy efficiency and energy planning has reduced the stresses of peak load energy demands. HVAC companies, the energy management industry, and utilities will be esteemed by consumers and society for the quality and value of their services while maintaining a sustainable business model.

The Western HVAC Performance Alliance is a collaboration of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), energy efficiency, facility management, and utility industries and government formed to:

1. Maximize the many benefits of cooling, heating, indoor air quality, and energy efficiency services to consumers.
2. Minimize the use of gas and electricity.
3. Benefit the individuals and organizations that ably deliver the above to consumers and society.

Through this collaboration, the residential and small commercial HVAC market will be transformed and will ensure that technology, equipment; installation and maintenance are of the highest quality to promote energy efficiency and peak load reduction.

3.1 Overarching Goals

• Assist California utilities, policymakers and other stakeholders to implement, assess, prioritize, build consensus around, and continuously improve the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan (CEESP).
• Craft and continuously evolve an “HVAC Road Map” (Action Plan) that identifies specific actions, milestones, schedules, and metrics for measuring progress on the near-term, mid-term, and long-term goals articulated in the CEESP.
• Provide counsel to and take input from California’s investor owned utilities (IOUs), efficiency program designers, implementers, and evaluators for the purpose of curbing energy waste.
• Serve as a credible, reliable, influential, and effective resource for the broad based community of stakeholders who have joined forces to transform the HVAC marketplace.

3.2 HVAC Efficiency Program Goals

• Through effective communication and collaboration, utilize expert knowledge and connections to amplify the impact of ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs administered by the IOUs, publicly owned utilities (POUs), local governments and other “third party implementers.”
• Propose plans to advance statewide HVAC efficiency program approaches without discouraging or stifling locally targeted product or process innovation.
• Continuously review the design and implementation of programs being administered in support of the CEESP and propose new program ideas.
• Recommend qualifications and guidelines for HVAC program implementers, trainers and educators who are to receive IOU funding.

3.3 HVAC Industry Goals

• Recommend strategies to transform the residential and small commercial HVAC market so that technology, equipment, installation and maintenance are of the highest quality in order to achieve energy efficiency and peak load reduction in California’s climate.
• Resolve the many disparate interests within the HVAC market by working both individually and collectively on HVAC energy efficiency in California and the nation at large.
• Take a leadership role to advocate for reducing of inefficient energy use due to improperly installed, operated, serviced, and maintained unitary HVAC systems and other HVAC systems serving the residential and small commercial markets.
• Leverage industry expert knowledge and connections to promote awareness among HVAC industry personnel as to the impact their products, services and labor have on energy use—both good and bad—and the significant business and occupational opportunities that exist for those who use their knowledge and skills to bring about efficiency.
• Pose tactics to make the HVAC industry—and HVAC energy efficiency—more attractive to future HVAC workers, and establish outreach programs in support thereof.

3.4 Communication Goals

• Cultivate dialogue and closer working relationships within all segments of the HVAC market, creating a forum for open dialog among what have historically been disparate interests often working against or independent of one another.
• Solicit and summarize opinions on issues relevant to ratepayer-funded programs, as a means of improving the effectiveness of these programs and assisting IOU Program Managers.
• Seek out, document, and deploy information about best practices in HVAC installation and maintenance, business practice, engineering education, training, certifications, code enforcement, distribution, and manufacturing, such that this knowledge is shared within all facets of the market to support energy efficiency goals.
• Generate dialogue and closer working relationships among market actors who also promote HVAC efficiency by being bidirectional and transparent, both influencing and being influenced by other stakeholder groups.
• Take guidance from and provide guidance to regulators and others engaged in market assessment, evaluation, measurement and verification about the potential for and actual results of HVAC energy efficiency programs.

3.5 Consumer Outreach Goals

• Encourage WHPA Members to promote energy efficiency in marketing and sales efforts whenever possible by creating new programs, supporting existing programs, and measuring the success of such promotional efforts.
• Provide feedback about market conditions and suggest approaches for creating desire among residential and non-residential consumers through individual and collective marketing, communications and sales efforts for efficient HVAC equipment, and high-quality installation, service and maintenance.
• Encourage HVAC industry participation in marketing, communications and sales efforts with statewide branding focused on HVAC issues such as quality installation, quality maintenance, installer/technician certification, and contractor accreditation.
• Assist in identifying feedback mechanisms for residential and non-residential consumers who directly or indirectly participate in ratepayer-funded HVAC programs and/or adopt high quality, high efficiency HVAC products and services.

3.6 Technology Development Goals

• Identify needed emerging energy efficiency technologies and provide insight, guidance and prioritization to such technologies that become identified for development or commercialization in HVAC Program Implementation Plans (PIPs).
• Envision tools and technologies that would help transform the HVAC market and seek their development in both public and private research laboratories.
• Assist with the field testing of commercially viable tools, equipment and processes, and report results.
• Effectively communicate the value and benefit of adopting proven but still emerging HVAC tools and technologies through HVAC industry channels such as associations and the trade press.

The Western HVAC Performance Alliance consists primarily of high-level HVAC industry stakeholders—such as manufacturers, distributors, contractors, associations, organized labor and influential end users/customers/consumers—that are committed to advancing the work of the Performance Alliance. Membership and also includes other key market actors, such as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Energy Commission (CEC), California’s IOUs and POUs, researchers, and the federal government.

A Member Emeritus Category exists to provide eligibility for continued participation in the WHPA for WHPA registrants who, in general, are retiring from a WHPA member organization and who wish to continue active engagement in the WHPA. This is a non-voting membership.

Below are the criteria for Member Emeritus Category:

• Individuals who have been registrants of WHPA member organizations, and who are viewed to have provided significant contributions to the WHPA;
• Emeritus status will be applied for by the individual, and is to be approved for that individual by majority vote of a quorum of the Executive Committee

The organizations that comprise the Performance Alliance have been willing to donate the time and expenses required for their representatives to participate in Performance Alliance meetings and activities. This significant in-kind contribution evidences the spirit of community and common purpose that is key to making the Performance Alliance effective.

Only individuals who are Registrants, and who are therefore in a WHPA Member organization (or in the Member Emeritus Category) are eligible to participate in any WHPA entity, including but not limited to Committees and Working Group, in a member capacity, whether a voting or a non-voting member. Non-members may participate only as invited guests, under the guidelines for invited guests.

1. An organization is the WHPA “Member”, with the exception of “Member Emeritus” category, which is at the individual level.
2. An individual who is part of a WHPA Member organization and who has completed the WHPA registration process is a WHPA “Registrant.”
3. A “Body” is a WHPA organizational entity. At present, the WHPA is organized into four kinds of serving bodies: the Executive Committee (EC), Council of Advisors (COA), Committees, and Working Groups.
4. The term “Industry Member” is used broadly to reflect stakeholders with an interest in HVAC efficiency. This includes the HVAC industry, energy efficiency industry, and facility managers, but not the IOUs, CPUC, or CEC.
5. “Permanent” EC and COA Members are IOUs, CPUC, and CEC.
6. A “Guest” at any meeting has a non-member and non-voting status.
7. A "proxy" vote has the same status as a vote by the voting member; however certain governance principals apply which are defined in Section 6.
8. An "email vote" has the same status as a vote at an in-person meeting or by conference call; however certain unique governance principals apply which are defined in Section 6.

1. Membership privileges – Membership is at an organization level, with the exception of “Member Emeritus” category as noted in Sections 4 and 5.
2. Member organizations agree to support the vision, mission, goals and governance of the WHPA.
3. Membership category – The Member organization identifies its own recommended Membership category (Industry Stakeholder category) at the time the initial Membership application is completed. The Executive Committee has the right to change that category at its sole discretion during the Executive Committee review and vote for acceptance of the Membership application.
4. Quorum Rule – A quorum (50% plus one person) of the total eligible voters of a body is required for a vote to be valid; a quorum for an in-person meeting or a conference call is determined by the number of people present; a quorum for an email vote is determined by the number of responses received back (regardless of vote or abstention).
5. Supermajority Rule – A 60% minimum of those present (in person, conference call, email or represented by proxy) and voting Aye or Nay is required for a motion to pass.
6. Email vote:
   1. An email vote may be initiated by any of the following authorized members of a body: Chair, Vice Chair, or Co-Chair, or by the WHPA staff person supporting that body.
   2. The period of an email vote shall not be less than two business days; the length of time for a vote is determined by the authorized party setting the email vote, In the event that a quorum and/or a supermajority is not received during the voting period. The voting period may be extended once for a period of at least two business days in the event that the vote is incomplete due to the lack of either a quorum and/or a supermajority.
   3. Information shall be sent with the email vote to provide information to help inform the vote, such as is provided for an in-person vote or a conference call vote.
7. Proxy vote:
   1. A voting member may assign his/her proxy to either 1) a registered WHPA individual from that voting member’s organization or 2) another member organization with voting rights for that same body.
   2. A proxy is valid as voted by the person holding the proxy.
   3. A proxy may be assigned for a single vote, a single meeting, or as a “standing” proxy for such times as the voting member is absent when a vote is taken.
      1. Where there is a “standing” proxy, such proxy shall be recorded in the meeting notes and be readily accessible for consultation by the Committee Chair or other authorized person during a vote.
   4. A voting member may not vote more than one proxy per vote, in addition to his/her own vote.
   5. A voting member may assign both a “primary” proxy, who has the first right to vote a proxy, and an “alternate” proxy, where the primary person is not available or is already holding and voting a proxy.
   6. As an alternate to a proxy given by one voting member to another voting member, where the issue to be voted on is known in advance that voting member may give their explicit vote (aye, nay, abstain) on an issue to the administrative person supporting the meeting.
8. WHPA Membership and individual registration is required to hold the Chair of any WHPA body - EC, COA, Committee, Working Group.
9. Voting eligibility for any WHPA body – EC, COA, Committee, Working Group – requires:
   1. The organization is a Member.
   2. The individual voter has completed the registration process, including agreement to abide by the Code of Conduct.
   3. The individual was registered with the WHPA for at least one meeting prior to the meeting when he/she votes.
10. All Committee/Working Group deliverables (white papers, other documents) shall (ultimately or directly, depending on circumstance) be submitted to the WHPA Executive Committee, moving up through the sponsoring body. One or more of the following actions shall be taken by the EC, with the vote recorded for each voting member:
    1. Adopt the motion to "approve" the deliverable (with or without changes). This is the only action of the EC for which the deliverable receives the WHPA brand and is considered a WHPA-sanctioned deliverable. Once approved, the word "DRAFT" shall be removed from the document and it shall be relabeled, adding the subtitle "A WHPA report." The "WHPA Work Product Summary" shall be updated to reflect the EC vote, attached to and made an introduction to the report, and then posted in the "WHPA Work Product" section of the WHPA website.
    2. Hold for future consideration by the Executive Committee.
    3. Return to the body from which the report was received.
11. Violation of the Code of Conduct by a Registrant is grounds for immediate withdrawal of Registrant status and removal from WHPA. Lesser penalties are at the sole discretion of the EC Co-Chairs. Removal of a Registrant does not necessarily result in removal of the Member organization.
12. All WHPA positions are held by the Member organization, not by the individual filling a position. The Member has the right to substitute individuals in any WHPA role at its discretion; however, the individual must be a Registrant of the WHPA for that Member organization.
13. A Guest at any meeting may be asked to leave at any time by request of the meeting Chair or Co-Chair.
14. At the time a Committee is formed, either Co-Chair of the EC shall present a description of the committee’s proposed objectives, deliverables, and any schedules.

The Performance Alliance shall prepare, follow, and periodically update a Communications Plan to ensure effective and efficient communication between industry sectors, Performance Alliance Members, utilities and industry representatives, different utility program managers, and Performance Alliance administrators and Members.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I.Organization Chart and Leaders of the WHPA

Note: The Organization Chart is updated more frequently than the Charter.

APPENDIX II. Council of Advisors Membership

This provides specific examples by membership category of organizations eligible for membership in the COA. BOLD organization names reflect COA Members as of June 1, 2015. Unbolded organization names are examples of organizations that could apply for WHPA membership and, upon acceptance, would be eligible to join the COA.