Summer 2010 Forum
Topics included:
The Northwest Sixth Power Plan...Charlie Grist
Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty Code...Mike Rosenberg
Local Student Projects and the Student Energy Project of the Year Award
The Oregon APEM 2010 Summer Forum, “Sustaining the Future of Energy,” was held at Northwest Natural in downtown Portland (a special thanks to NW Natural for being such wonderful hosts). Throughout the day there were many interesting and thought provoking speakers.
Charlie Grist began the day by providing an overview of the NW 6th Power Plan. It was amazing and yet encouraging to see how much of our future energy needs can be met purely with conservation.
Gabrielle Schiffer kept the ball rolling with a brief discussion about the Oregon Building Codes Division as part of her introduction for Mike Rosenberg. Mike began his presentation with a brief overview explaining why the Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty Code was changing. As many know, a large portion of the country’s energy is consumed by buildings. By upgrading the code, more efficient buildings become the law. This in turn greatly reduces energy consumption in the building sector. Mike continued by covering the major changes to the code and then discussed different methods for complying with the new code.
Following Mr. Rosenberg’s presentation was a short activity that was designed to give attendees an opportunity to network with their peers as well as meet new people. Mitchell Dec followed that with a presentation on the energy efficient design features that had been incorporated into the 12 west building, a mixed use building in downtown Portland. Mitch’s presentation was a perfect lead-in to a tour of the building that took place following the forum.
The lunch hour included two presentations from students who were recipients of Student Project of the Year awards. There were winners in both the Student Internship category and the School Project category. Lura Griffiths, a graduate of the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) in Renewable Energy Engineering (REE), discussed the work she did while interning at PECI. Ken Peterson, also a student at OIT in REE, presented an energy audit that he, Brandon Little, Lura Griffiths, and John Sifri had conducted as a class project. Both students did a wonderful job and it was great to hear what local students are working on. It appears that the future of energy efficiency is in good hands.
Presentations:
Local Student Projects and the Student Energy Project of the Year Award