Three WHPA Groups Deliver Valuable Industry Input

Ambitious Plan to Provide Industry with IOU and Regulatory Updates Delivers Results

Formed in early 2014, the Regulatory Notification and Feedback Working Group had set its sights on the lofty goal of providing HVAC stakeholders with visibility to the activities and resources of the utilities and regulatory bodies.

After months of policy research, the Listings of Regulatory/ Policy Activities and Resources webpage is live on the website.

Mike O'Halloran (AHRI), Working Group Chair, said "The Executive Committee saw the need (by way of 2014 SMART Goal 5) to help the industry navigate the abundance of information from the utilities and regulators because there isn't a comprehensive collection of this information out there.

"The working group members did a superb job of developing a virtual resource where this information is available.

"Moving forward," added Mike, "this work product requires the involvement and participation of the utilities and government agencies in order to remain up-to-date."

He suggested industry stakeholders visit the page to see a list of current regulatory policies and activities. Mike concluded, "This webpage is for you."

Valuable Input Provided by Committee to Support IOU Commercial Strategy

Responding with deep industry expertise to IOU requests is a key purpose of the WHPA's existence.

This was ably demonstrated with the September delivery of the HVAC Sector Strategy Gaps Report, developed by the Commercial Sector Strategy Committee. This work product was submitted to the IOUs to assist with the commercial sector strategy that they are developing.

Five concise commercial performance gaps and problem statements around training and education for contractors, technicians, and building operators were distilled from an original working set of 10.

The Commercial HVAC Sector Strategy Committee was chaired by Don Frendberg of the HVACR Workforce Development Foundation.

Don said, "It has been a very enjoyable experience, but very challenging. There are so many facets of the work that is going on. The biggest challenge was trying to get our ideas focused into workable areas."

Don continued, "There were a number of volunteers who worked on this very diligently; some very brilliant people who gave up their time working through this. I have not met any of the volunteers in person, but we developed a tremendous working relationship. I am pleased that we were able to deliver this report to the IOUs."

With the adoption of the report by the Executive Committee and subsequent delivery to the IOUs, the committee is ready to continue assisting the IOUs with additional review and input regarding refinement of the strategies and implementation steps.

RQI Committee Delivers Input to SCE on Energy Savings Estimates

Southern California Edison (SCE) engaged the WHPA to help refresh their residential quality installation (RQI) work paper, which was last revised in 2009.

Beginning in May of this year, the RQI Committee, under the chairmanship of Jeff Henning (MSDC), reviewed claimed savings parameters used in the work paper and suggested other improvements that would more accurately estimate measured savings.

The committee then submitted the Input to SCE RQI Program Claimed Savings Workpaper to the Executive Committee (EC) in August 2014. The report was promptly adopted by the EC during its September 10th meeting.

This report has now been delivered to SCE and will also be forwarded to other organizations including the California Technical Forum (Cal TF), which is forming a subcommittee to review the work paper.

Annual WHPA In-Person Meeting to Cover 2014 Work Products and 2015 Goals

The WHPA's November in-person meeting promises to be an exciting one.

The Executive Committee, Council of Advisors, committee and working group chairs, and IOU and regulatory guests will meet for several days in San Francisco.

The event will include the annual meeting of all Committee and Working Group chairs, which is always very fruitful. The chairs often take advantage of this rare opportunity of meeting in person to find synergies amongst the tasks performed by their respective groups.

There will also be an Executive Committee meeting and a full day joint session of all participants.

Key agenda items of the event include:

Presentations by committee chairs
The chairs will have an opportunity to "show and tell" their committee's fine work with the industry leaders in attendance.

Review of the WHPA's 2014 accomplishments
The numerous WHPA work products produced in 2014 will be discussed.

Discussion of proposed 2015 goals
A lively discussion is anticipated on the WHPA's goals for 2015.

Presentations by outside speakers
These influential speakers will cover HVAC and energy efficiency strategy and policy. Previous speakers have included Mark Ferron, CPUC Commissioner, and Simon Baker, CPUC Project and Program Supervisor.

A subsequent newsletter will be sent to all WHPA members detailing the discussions and conclusions of the meetings. Presentations will be posted on the WHPA website for all to see.

Two New Committees Launching
in Q4 2014

Even as WHPA Chairs prepare to present their 2014 activities, new committees are getting started on work for 2014 and 2015.

The Commercial Quality Installation (CQI) Committee and the HVAC Energy Savings and DEER Committee are each launching in the 4th quarter of 2014. Both committees are aligned with SMART Goals 2 and 3.

The CQI Committee, chaired by Rob Falke (National Comfort Institute), is charged with developing a “Road Map” for how a CQI program can help California meet the energy savings goals listed in the Strategic Plan.

The HVAC Energy Savings and DEER Committee is chaired by Ron Jarnigan (ASHRAE). Its goals include engaging in the DEER update process and providing input to help quantify QI/QM energy savings.