SmartWatt Energy Leverages Proposition 39 Funding for California Clean Energy Job Creation
PLACENTIA, Calif., Sept. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- For the past year, SmartWatt Energy's Placentia and Rocklin, California offices have worked jointly with the California Conservation Corps (CCC) Energy Corps crews to make energy solutions more affordable for California's K-12 schools and community colleges. This year, they expanded the relationship and began leveraging the Proposition 39-funded program to launch an internship program in their Placentia office, which has become a feeder program for new hires in their California offices.
The CCC's Proposition 39 funded Energy Corps crews work statewide, assisting Local Education Agencies (LEA) with energy surveys and energy-efficiency projects. The crews, comprised of young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 and military veterans, work under the direction of a CCC staff supervisor. Since January 2014, CCC crews have surveyed hundreds of school sites, consisting of thousands of school buildings, and collected the data for analysis necessary to create Proposition 39-compliant Energy Opportunity Survey Reports.
Because the Energy Corps crews complete such a thorough inventory of each district's energy using equipment, SmartWatt is able to use this information and pass it along as no cost planning services to California school districts eligible for Proposition 39 funding. This allows funding currently allocated by each district for planning services to be invested in additional mechanical, electrical and infrastructure upgrades instead. To date, SmartWatt has been able to pass more than $3 million in savings along to California schools as a direct result of this partnership and the quality of the CCC's survey data.
After seeing the quality of the energy surveys Energy Corps crews were producing, SmartWatt began offering Energy Corps crew members the opportunity to apply for internships in their Placentia office. Energy Corps interns at SmartWatt learn valuable clean energy job skills by assisting their engineering team in developing energy planning reports. The interns compile CCC audit data to develop energy calculations, benchmark analysis and building system descriptions.
Recently, two CCC Energy Corps interns, Jesus Muniz and Gabriel Navarro, were offered full-time positions with SmartWatt after the successful completion of their internship. Mr. Muniz has joined the SmartWatt staff as a Project Associate on their lighting engineering team and Mr. Navarro has joined the SmartWatt staff as a Project Associate on their integrated solutions engineering team. Both will serve in mentorship roles for future interns. CCC Energy Corps interns are selected by SmartWatt based on a cover letter, resume, writing sample and formal interview process. Upon selection, they are enrolled in a formal training program at SmartWatt, designed to provide a broad context to the industry and SmartWatt's role in it, in addition to hands-on training with engineering calculation tools, software modeling programs and technical writing.
ABOUT SMARTWATT ENERGY
SmartWatt Energy develops customized sustainability projects for businesses, schools and government organizations. Their energy efficiency and clean energy projects meet the highest engineering standards, while their innovative project management makes the upgrade process easy for customers. SmartWatt Energy's multi-disciplinary teams are passionate about delivering quality, savings and customer satisfaction.
- Commercial, Industrial and Institutional Division customers look to SmartWatt Energy to provide large-scale savings and manage the entire process−from energy auditing through performance assurance. This integrated approach streamlines the customer experience and ultimately makes the upgrades more affordable.
- Utility Programs Division customers look to SmartWatt Energy to implement commercial energy efficiency programs with their streamlined direct install program model. Our program management software, AMP®, supports thousands of projects each year and provides our utility partners a real-time view of their program's energy savings.
With a focus on expansion with continuous improvement, SmartWatt Energy has won several Inc. magazine "Hire Power" awards and has been named one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in the United States" on the magazine's annual 5000 list multiple times. They serve customers from their offices across the United States. For more information, visit www.smartwattinc.com.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA CONSERVATION CORPS ENERGY CORPS
The California Conservation Corps (CCC) launched the "Energy Corps" in 2013. This was a major energy program effort funded through the "Clean Energy Job Creation Fund," or Proposition 39. The goal of Energy Corps is to be a defining, compelling and sustained youth development program in the energy efficiency industry. The CCC provides energy opportunity surveys that meet industry standards, retrofit services, educational presentations and internships to schools.
SOURCE SmartWatt Energy
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