by Rebecca Walker — July 23, 2010—Eight large companies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will participate in a pilot program launched this week by the U.S. and nearly two dozen other countries that promotes energy efficiency in commercial buildings.
3M, Cleveland Clinic, Dow Chemical, Grubb & Ellis, Marriott International, Nissan, Target Corporation and Walmart will take part in the Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership to speed efficiency improvements in commercial buildings and industrial facilities.
It is part of the Global Energy Efficiency Challenge, a series of new green power and efficiency initiatives for buildings, smart grids and vehicles that could save enough energy to avoid the construction of 500 power plants over the next two decades.
The Global Energy Efficiency Challenge was unveiled recently at the first Clean Energy Ministerial hosted by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The collaboration is intended to speed the world’s transition to greener power sources.
The Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership will have three planks: development of a certification process to ensure continuous energy efficiency improvements; promoting the adoption of energy efficient best practices and technologies across sectors, such as hotels; and accelerating the use of energy-savings technologies across sectors, such as cool roofs and combined heat and power technologies.
