Category: News

By Laura Brannen

Many hospitals and health facilities are working hard to reduce waste, energy and water, and are reaping the financial, environmental and public relations benefits of doing so.

They are overcoming perceived cost barriers because they have proven the overall cost-effectiveness of saving energy, water and reducing waste more than compensates for first-cost expenses.

So, why are many other hospitals and health care facilities still struggling with getting started or realizing the benefits of a fully functioning, integrated sustainability program?

Read the complete article at HEALTH FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

January 01, 2011

On January 1, California became the first state to implement a new federal law improving energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs. The state now requires that any 100-watt bulb manufactured after January 1 and sold in the state must use 28% less energy than the old incandescent bulbs. At the same time, the new 72-watt replacement bulbs must provide the same amount of light, or lumens. The California Energy Commission (CEC) said that the Golden State was given authority to implement the national standards one year earlier than other states to avoid the sale of 10.5 million inefficient 100-watt bulbs in 2011. Those bulbs would cost consumers an estimated $35.6 million in higher electricity bills, the CEC said.

The higher standard, created by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, will take effect in the rest of the country on January 1, 2012. The law is designed to reduce U.S. energy use and pollution while cutting down on foreign sources of energy. The new standard is technology neutral and allows consumers to choose among a variety of high-performance products for replacement. Additionally, the standard does not affect the existing supply of incandescent lightbulbs stocked in retail stores or already in use. See the CEC press release and the frequently asked questions section on the CEC Web site.

January 12, 2011

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) approved on December 20 the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. The concentrating solar power plant will produce 110 megawatts, enough to provide electricity for up to 75,000 Nevada households. The project will also generate about 450-500 new jobs during construction and up to 50 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. The project, proposed by SolarReserve’s Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC of Santa Monica, California, is sited on approximately 2,250 acres administered by DOI’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) about 13 miles northwest of Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada. It was the ninth large-scale solar facility to be green-lighted under the Obama Administration’s initiative to encourage rapid and responsible development of renewable energy on U.S. public lands.

The Crescent Dunes plant will use concentrating solar thermal “power tower” technology to contribute 485,000 megawatt hours of cost-effective renewable energy to the Nevada grid each year. This innovative technology uses mirror fields to focus solar energy on a tower receiver near the center of the array of mirrors. Steam from boilers in the tower drives a turbine, which generates electricity for the transmission grid. Crescent Dunes will also have thermal energy storage capability.

To advance an environmentally appropriate project, the BLM worked closely with state, federal, and military agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the U.S. Air Force, as well as members of the environmental and conservation communities. To minimize impacts to biological resources, the BLM selected an alternative plan that reduced the project size from 7,680 acres to 2,250 acres. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC can qualify for grants in lieu of tax credits of up to 30% of the project’s eligible costs, as well as DOE loan guarantees to assist with the construction of the facility. The developer has acquired a power purchase agreement with NV Energy. See the DOI press release.

Effective March 21, 2011, several important updates will be made in Portfolio Manager, Target Finder and the Automated Benchmarking System (ABS).

These changes may impact your energy performance ratings.

If you need documentation of your current rating (e.g. for ENERGY STAR or LEED applications), print an SEP prior to March 18, 2011.

1. New Senior Care Facility Model
2. New Optional Inputs for the Data Center Space Type
3. Updates to Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) and Green Power Tracking
4. Revised Source Conversion Factors for District Steam and Hot Water Energy Types
5. New and Revised Building Import Templates
6. Updates to the Automated Benchmarking Services Console
7. Update to Emissions Factors

*Important Notice* Portfolio Manager System Down Time

In preparation of system updates to the rating models, Portfolio Manager will be UNAVAILABLE beginning 5:00 pm EST on Friday, March 18, 2011 until 8:00 am EST on Monday, March 21, 2011.

This guidance relating to these changes is also available on our website.  If you have any questions about these changes, please contact buildings@energystar.gov.
Thank you.

1.  New Senior Care Facility Model
A new rating will be available for Senior Care facilities, and those facilities scoring 75 or higher will be eligible to apply for the ENERGY STAR label.  This rating methodology will be used for individual buildings and campuses of buildings that house and provide care and assistance for elderly residents.  Nursing homes (skilled nursing facilities) and assisted living facilities are eligible under this definition.  Independent senior living communities are not eligible under this definition.  However, it is common for some Senior Care Facilities to offer a mix of residential options including independent living along with some form of assisted living.  In these situations, more than 50% of the units in a community must be considered skilled nursing or assisted living in order to be eligible as a Senior Care Facility.  Facilities with more than 50% independent living units cannot earn a rating under this model and should benchmark using the Multifamily space type in Portfolio Manager.

When the updates are released on March 21, 2011, existing “Other- Health Care: Long Term Care (Nursing Home, Assisted Living)” spaces will be converted automatically to the new Senior Care Facility space type.  Default values will be provided for all required attributes, which will enable you to see a rating.  Please log-in to Portfolio Manager on or after March 21, 2011 to update these defaults with actual values for your community to receive the most accurate rating.

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2.  New Optional Inputs for the Data Center Space Type
Two new optional IT Energy meter types will be available in Portfolio Manager. The meter types are optional and therefore will not affect the ENERGY STAR rating calculation. The two new types are:

• Power Distribution Unit (PDU) Output Energy
• IT Equipment Input Energy (meters on each piece of equipment

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3.  Updates to Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) and Green Power Tracking

Several changes will be made to the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) tracking section in Portfolio Manager.  This section will be re-named Green Power Purchases, and it will enable greater flexibility for tracking green power products that you may purchase as part of your greenhouse gas reduction strategy.  When entering these purchases, you will have greater flexibility, including:

• The option to input the Generation Method as a combination of six renewable energy types:
  • Biogas
  • Biomass
  • Geothermal
  • Small Hydropower
  • Solar
  • Wind

• Three options to identify the location where your green power product was generated.  The more information you know about the location where your power was generated, the more accurately Portfolio Manager can compute your Avoided Emissions.  The three options for entering the generation location are:

• • Specific electricity generation plant
  • Unknown generation plant but known eGRID sub-region
  • No information about the location available

• The ability to specify the Generation Period in month/year format, including future dates, to more accurately represent the Green Power Purchase time period.

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4. Revised Source Conversion Factors for District Steam and Hot Water Energy Types
Effective March 21, 2011, the factors used to convert site energy into source energy will be updated for the District Steam and Hot Water energy types in order to take into account the growing presence of more efficient methods of generation, such as combined heat and power (CHP). The new conversion factors that will be used starting March 21, 2011 are:

• District Steam- 1.21
• District Hot Water- 1.28

This change does not require any action on your part.  These factors are applied on calculations within Portfolio Manager.

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5.  New and Revised Building Import Templates

Effective February 4, 2011

Effective February 4, 2011, a new template for the Senior Care Facility space type will be available for download.  We encourage you to begin to gather data on your Senior Care Facilities so that you can benchmark their performance with the new ENERGY STAR rating methodology.  However, because the new calculations will not be released to Portfolio Manager until March 21, 2011, any Senior Care Facility templates sent to buildings@energystar.gov will be processed after March 21, 2011.

Effective March 4, 2011

To accommodate the March 21, 2011 changes in the Portfolio Manager system, all existing import templates must also be revised.  There is a transition period during which new templates will be posted and the previous templates will be removed.

• New Templates – New templates will be posted for download on March 4, 2011.  The electronic processing of any new templates will begin on March 21, 2011.
• Old Templates – The previous templates will be removed on March 4, 2011.  Any completed versions of the previous template must be submitted by March 14, 2011 in order to be processed electronically.

The new import templates will have the following changes:

• Addition of the new optional Data Center IT Energy meter types to the following templates: Bank; Courthouse; Data Center; Dormitory; Hospital; Hotel; House of Worship; Medical; Office; Other; Refrigerated Warehouse; Retail; School; Supermarket; Unrefrigerated Warehouse.
• Removal of the “Healthcare- Long Term Care (Nursing Home; Assisted Living)”  category from the Other template

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6.  Updates to the Automated Benchmarking Services Console

Two major changes will be made to the Automated Benchmarking Services Console:

1.      New Meter Types – The Automated Benchmarking Services Console will now enable Portfolio Manager users to authorize their information service providers to support these additional meter types:

• Facility water meters
• Campus energy meters
• Campus water meters

Please note that ABS providers will be only be able to manage meter data to existing campus energy/water meters.  ABS providers will not be able to add new or delete existing campus energy/water meters.

2.      Multiple ABS Providers – The ABS console will now enable you to assign more than one ABS provider to each meter.  Only a single ABS provider will be able to update the meter data (i.e. have read/write access), however you can also designate as many other providers as you would like to have read only access to each meter.

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7.  Update to Emissions Factors
EPA is in the process of updating the eGRID factors that are used to compute building emissions.  The update is being performed to include the most current information available to EPA through our inventory of all electric generation facilities in the country.  This enhancement will improve your ability to perform an emissions inventory of your building(s).

During this update, emissions data will be temporarily unavailable in Portfolio Manager from 1/31/2011 to 3/21/2011.  EPA updates emissions data periodically when more current data is available and this process does not typically require a break in emissions reporting within Portfolio Manager.  However, during this particular update, EPA is also modifying some supplementary reference data, which comes from an external proprietary data source.  The availability of this data has affected the timing required to make this change.  Therefore the interruption in our ability to report emissions data is an isolated event, and it not part of our standard updating protocol.   We are working hard to transition to the new data source as quickly as possible.  Emissions reporting will resume in Portfolio Manager on March 21, 2011.

–The Advocate–

Release Date: February 2011

Volume 30, number 1

The Small Business Advocate is a periodic newsletter that details economic developments and regulatory trends related to small business as well as the latest initiatives of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

In This Issue:

Executive Order 13563 to Improve Regulatory Review, 1

Text of E.O. 13563, 6-7

OSHA Withdraws Two Rules, 1

Startup America Launched, 2

Rodgers Appointed Deputy Chief Counsel, 11

New Advocacy Staff, 11

Message from the Chief Counsel

Small Business Talks; Advocacy Listens, 3

Research Notes

Small Business Economy Released, 2

Legislative Focus

Freshmen Senators Schooled in Small Business Values, 4

Regional Report

Nine Regional Advocates in Place, 8-10

Regulatory News

IRS Modifies PTIN Rule, 12

Financial Rule Delayed, 5

Major Clark Receives Public Service Award, 5

** In order to receive e-mail notices of Advocacy’s news releases, monthly newsletter, small business research, statistics, and regulatory news visit http://web.sba.gov/list. **

Green building is going mainstream, no doubt. But exactly how is building science evolving, and where are eco-minded builders and consumers likely to focus their attention in the year ahead, in light of current economic conditions?  The nonprofit Earth Advantage Institute, which to date has certified more than 11,000 sustainable homes, makes some predictions for 2011 in its annual forecast of green building trends.

Affordable green. Many consumers typically associate green and energy-efficient homes and features with higher costs. However, the development of new business models, technologies, and the mainstreaming of high-performance materials is bringing high-performance, healthy homes within reach of all homeowners. Leading the charge are affordable housing groups, including Habitat for Humanity and local land trusts, now building and selling LEED for Homes- and ENERGY STAR-certified homes across the country at price points as low as $100,000 (in the case of land trusts, homeowners do not own the land their homes are built on). In the existing homes market, energy upgrades are now available through new programs that include low-cost audits and utility bill-based financing. Through such programs as Clean Energy Works Oregon, and Solar City’s solar lease-to-own business model, no up-front payment is required to take advantage of energy upgrades.

Read the other 9 at BUILDER 2011

WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today announced the agency’s decision to move forward with the development of a regulation for perchlorate to protect Americans from any potential health impacts, while also continuing to take steps to ensure the quality of the water they drink. The decision to undertake a first-ever national standard for perchlorate reverses a decision made by the previous administration and comes after Administrator Jackson ordered EPA scientists to undertake a thorough review of the emerging science of perchlorate. Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical, and scientific research indicates that it may impact the normal function of the thyroid, which produces important developmental hormones. Thyroid hormones are critical to the normal development and growth of fetuses, infants and children. Based on this potential concern, EPA will move forward with proposing a formal rule. This process will include receiving input from key stakeholders as well as submitting any formal rule to a public comment process.

In a separate action, the agency is also moving towards establishing a drinking water standard to address a group of up to 16 toxic chemicals that may pose risks to human health. As part of the Drinking Water Strategy laid out by Administrator Jackson in 2010, EPA committed to addressing contaminants as a group rather than one at a time so that enhancement of drinking water protection can be achieved cost effectively. Today’s action delivers on the promise to strengthen public health protection from contaminants in drinking water.

“Clean water is critical to the health and prosperity of every American community and a fundamental concern to every American family. EPA is hard at work on innovative ways to improve protections for the water we drink and give to our children, and the development of these improved standards is an important step forward,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Our decisions are based on extensive review of the best available science and the health needs of the American people.”

Action on Perchlorate:
Scientific research indicates that perchlorate may disrupt the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that are critical to developing fetuses and infants. Monitoring data show more than 4 percent of public water systems have detected perchlorate and between 5 million and 17 million people may be served drinking water containing perchlorate. The science that has led to this decision has been peer reviewed by independent scientists and public health experts including the National Academy of Sciences. Perchlorate is both a naturally-occurring and man-made chemical that is used in the manufacture of rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives, and may be present in bleach and in some fertilizers. This decision reverses a 2008 preliminary determination by the previous administration, and considers input from almost 39,000 public comments.

EPA will continue to evaluate the science on perchlorate health effects and occurrence in public water systems. The agency will also now begin to evaluate the feasibility and affordability of treatment technologies to remove perchlorate and will examine the costs and benefits of potential standards.

More information on perchlorate: http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/unregulated/perchlorate.cfm