WHPA Meeting Engages HVAC Energy Efficiency Community

Annual WHPA In-Person Meeting Sets 2015 Goals;
Expanded Input from Committee Chairs

Bob Baker of ASHRAE (on left) and Jeremy Reefe of SDG&E (on right) are Co-Chairs of the WHPA Executive Committee and led the two-day annual meeting. Commissioner Andrew McAllister of the California Energy Commission was a featured speaker.

More than 60 people including WHPA leaders, California policy officials, and industry executives attended the Western HVAC Performance Alliance (WHPA) leadership team meeting November 4 and 5 in San Francisco.

This was the sixth year of the annual in-person meeting. Day 1 was the annual full-day meeting of the Executive Committee (EC). Day 2 included the entire WHPA leadership team of the EC, Council of Advisors, and Committee Chairs. There were numerous invited guests, including members of California energy policy-making organizations (California Public Utility Commission and California Energy Commission), the Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), building owners, and other industry leaders.

Significantly, this was the first year that Committee Chairs participated in both the development of proposed 2015 WHPA goals and in the voting for the goals that made the “short list.” Here are the 2015 goals, as approved at the December 10 Executive Committee meeting.

The agenda over the two days ranged from strategic discussions on HVAC and energy efficiency to a review of WHPA 2014 accomplishments by Committee Chairs, to IOU feedback on their use of specific WHPA Work Products. A presentation by HVAC energy sales trainer Mark Jewell on HVAC energy efficiency sales techniques was voted the most valuable single session.

The agendas, presentations, and notes from the two meetings are here.

A photo gallery of the meetings is here.

Irvine Company and Tenants Win Big with 2-year $1.7M HVAC EE Program

Mr. Boyer, the Irvine Company’s spokesman in the WHPA, is responsible for more than 350 campus buildings, including the in-house service and maintenance staffs. The EE program was started two years ago. As of November 2014, there were already 145 buildings (106 customers) enrolled in their Energy Efficiency Plan.

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CA Energy Commissioner Talks Future with WHPA

Andrew McAllister, one of five Commissioners on the California Energy Commission, addressed the Executive Committee (EC) and guests on November 4. He was appointed to a five-year term by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012 and occupies the Economics seat on the Commission.

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How Did We Do?
2014 Goal Roundup

The WHPA began 2014 with six major goals to accomplish by year end. And “we”—the committees and working groups of the WHPA—did a fantastic job! More WHPA-branded work products were finalized than ever before and eagerly read throughout the industry (see related article on Work Products below).

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Working Group Provides Red-Line of Standard 180 Section 4 Implementation

One of the final WHPA deliverables for 2014 was finalized “just in time” for the reconvened ASHRAE Standard 180 Committee, which held its first meeting in late October.

The Standard 180 Section 4 Working Group, chaired by Mike Gallagher of Western Allied, addressed a major opportunity to improve Standard 180, especially in the area of Section 4 Implementation. He provided background information to the Executive Committee as part of the October 8 presentation for approval of his Working Group’s report, which was received at the meeting.

Mike said, “Standard 180 was written mainly by committee members who had their own in-house facility workforce to do the majority of the work. Based on their perspective, Standard 180 did not delineate between what is maintenance and what is repair … (because) if you work for the building owner and find a repair problem, then you simply fix it. That model does not work when using outside contractors. So the questions are (1) what is maintenance and inspection and (2) when does the contractor have to go back to the owner for authorization for a repair?”

The group was focused on packaged HVAC equipment similar to the Standard 180 Maintenance Task Working Group. This initial draft report is intended to inform the ASHRAE/ACCA/ANSI Standard 180 Committee of current suggested revisions to the standard prepared by a group of WHPA subject matter experts.

CLICK HERE to read the report.

Record Number of Work Products Completed in 2014

WHPA committees and working groups produced a record nine work products in 2014, all of which were adopted by year end.

The current emphasis on documented deliverables began in 2013, resulting in six adopted work products. The WHPA developed one work product per year from 2009-2012.

CLICK HERE to see all work products.

Webinar on Selling Std. 180-Based Maintenance Available in Audio and Slides

A joint webinar was held by the WHPA and SDG&E called Selling Standard 180-Based Maintenance - A Diagonal Slice Perspective. Why “Diagonal?” Because contractors, implementers, and sales trainers all participated in both providing their experience and in listening to others.

Charles Segerstrom, an energy efficiency program consultant to SDG&E and facilitator of the half-day webinar, said, “The concept was to take a diagonal slice through the marketspace. Meaning, we wanted to deal with high, medium, and low level engagement with selling the concept of standards-based maintenance.”

"The webinar results," Charles said, "were outstanding in terms of helping all parties see other parts of the value proposition in selling energy efficiency."

The WE&T Sales SMART Goal 6 Exploratory Working Group was co-sponsor of the event. CLICK HERE for all audio and presentation materials from the webinar.

NIST Study Sheds Light on Efficiency Impacts of HVAC System Faults

The results of a three-year study undertaken by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been released in their report Sensitivity Analysis of Installation Faults on Heat Pump Performance. The goal of the study was to assess the impacts that HVAC system installation faults had on equipment electricity consumption.

In four years, this report has had the strongest response of any Industry News items posted on the WHPA website.

CLICK HERE to download the report.

The Western HVAC Performance Alliance was established in 2009. About 210 organizations in 21 stakeholder categories are working together to help transform from the residential and small commercial HVAC industry to ensure that technology, equipment, installation and maintenance are of the highest quality to promote energy efficiency and peak load reduction. In this role the WHPA provides input to California Investor-Owned Utilities.