The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Better Buildings Initiative has grown to include more than 900 organizations, which represent 30 of the country’s Fortune 100 companies, 12 of the top 25 U.S. employers, 12 percent of the U.S. manufacturing footprint and 13 percent of total commercial building space, as well as 28 states and close to 100 cities and counties across the nation. Even more impressive is the progress they have made through the program.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Better Buildings Initiative has grown to include more than 900 organizations, which represent 30 of the country’s Fortune 100 companies, 12 of the top 25 U.S. employers, 12 percent of the U.S. manufacturing footprint and 13 percent of total commercial building space, as well as 28 states and close to 100 cities and counties across the nation. Even more impressive is the progress they have made through the program.
The new 2018 progress report reveals that Better Buildings participants have reported 380 trillion BTUs and $3.1 billion in cumulative energy and cost savings since 2011.
Partners are driving the adoption of new energy efficient equipment through targeted technology campaigns, collaborating to overcome market barriers to energy efficiency through a series of focused Accelerators, increasing the flow of financing through specific clean energy investment commitments, improving manufacturing competitiveness and creating jobs through industrial energy efficiency, and leading by example through energy upgrades in local, state, and federal buildings.
Partners in the Initiative are also contributing to the more than 1,500 proven solutions now available online in the newly redesigned Better Buildings Solution Center. When partners share their energy and water savings strategies and results, they demonstrate their collective leadership by making it easier for others to replicate their success.
Through the Better Buildings Challenge, the DOE works with more than 350 market leaders that represent more than 4.4 billion square feet of building space. Partners have reduced their energy intensity by an average of two percent per year, keeping them on track to meet the program’s 10-year, 20 percent reduction goal. Additionally, through the Challenge, more than 40 Financial Allies have extended more than $12 billion in capital for efficiency projects.
Since the start of the Challenge, more than 65 partners and Financial Allies have now met their original energy efficiency, water efficiency and financing goals, all of them ahead of schedule. Many of these goal achievers have publicly committed to new goals, demonstrating that continual energy efficiency improvement is possible even after sizable gains have already been made.
This year, 16 Better Buildings Challenge partners and allies achieved their goals, including: General Motors, Legrand, C. F. Martin & Co., Inc., UW Health, the Columbia Association, Jersey City Housing Authority and North Carolina for energy; Anthem for energy and water; Shari’s Café & Pies for water; and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, EDF Renewable Energy, Metrus Energy, NYCEEC, Pace Equity and Sol Systems for financing.
“Partners in the Better Buildings Initiative are achieving impressive energy savings worthy of celebration,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. “Partners are meeting their savings goals, testing the latest technologies, and sharing their results. Together, they are showcasing a new generation of energy saving solutions.”
Published May 18, 2018 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST