• Ottawa Paramedic Service Headquarters, from which all paramedic operations and training are consolidated in Canada’s national capital.

Meanwhile, the lone Silver recipient is Three World Financial Center in lower Manhattan.

So what, exactly, is this award? It’s based on the BiQ ranking tool, developed by CABA and the BiQ Consortium. Owners and property managers can use the tool to measure a building’s current level of systems intelligence/integration, and they can also use it to weigh options for future retrofits. The profiles and ratings of existing buildings are collected online, which helps develop a fuller relative context for assessing and judging a given building’s level of performance.

Anyway, there’s certainly room for another accessible option to drive smart and efficient building decisions, and you can visit www.caba.org/biq to learn more about this one. Congratulations to all the inaugural BiQ winners.

A PLUG FOR RETROFITS FROM …

… Bill Clinton? That’s right. I’m slowly making my way through the February issue of Esquire, and there on page 69 (in the middle of what you won’t be surprised to learn is an, uh, extensiveinterview), the former President touts the idea of a program that combines guaranteed loans and performance-based savings contracts to open the door to energy efficiency retrofits in any building.

Clinton is talking about residential as well as commercial, but he knows ROI and is optimistic about this not only for the long-term energy savings but also as a job creator in the nearer term. What do you think about this?

YOUR PAPERS: WE’RE CALLING THEM

September may seem a long way down the road, but our High-Performance Buildings event returns to the convenient Westin Tysons Corner near Washington before you know it. And much sooner than that, we want your presentation/topics. Go to www.esmagconference.com and submit your idea for adding to the conversation about practical solutions and examples that can drive high-performance buildings in today’s environment.

From ventilation to metering, from central plants to smart grid, recommissioning to lighting, HPB looks at the full spectrum of targets for improving performance and integrating building systems. Last year’s attendee feedback was the best yet, and the only way to save more money for more facilties is to reach more people. Get this on your calendar while it’s early, to speak or just to attend — and take advantage of a healthy early bird discount as a reward for getting registration taken care of now, too.