by Jbs120908c3 — December 15, 2008—The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Program currently is requesting submissions from groups seeking to be formally recognized as members of the High-Performance Green Building Partnership Consortia. DOE will formally recognize those groups from the public and private sectors that meet specific qualifications and that promote high-performance green buildings and net-zero energy commercial buildings.
The Partnership Consortia are part of DOE’s Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI), the Building Technologies Program’s umbrella initiative that aims to achieve marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025 to meet requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). DOE will post the name, contact information, and membership of each formally recognized Partnership Consortia member on its Web site and use information provided by each consortia to develop a report to Congress on the status of CBI.
In accordance with section 421 of EISA, DOE is seeking groups that include representation in the following areas:
- Design professions and national associations of architects and engineers;
- Development, construction, financial and real estate industries;
- Building owners and operators from the public and private sectors;
- Academic and research organizations;
- Building code agencies and organizations, including model energy code-setting organizations;
- Independent high-performance green building associations and councils;
- Experts in indoor air quality and environmental factors, intelligent buildings and integrated building information systems, and the public transportation industry;
- Utility energy efficiency programs;
- Manufacturers and providers of equipment and techniques used in high-performance green buildings; and
- Non-governmental energy efficiency organizations.
The 4.7 million commercial buildings in the US have a collective footprint of approximately 74 billion square feet, notes DOE. The energy demand from commercial buildings, including lighting, heating, cooling, water heating, ventilation, and electronics, reportedly consumes 18% of the nation’s primary energy and 35% of its electricity. Commercial buildings in the US consume 18 quads annually–a total annual “utility bill” of more than $155 billion, adds DOE.
The CBI is designed to overcome the technical challenges, market barriers, and institutional constraints inhibiting rapid and broad adoption of technologies, tools, processes, and practices required to achieve net-zero energy performance levels in commercial buildings. To the extent resources are made available, DOE’s CBI will engage in cost-shared research, development, and demonstration activities, engaging and leveraging the capabilities in the private sector through national energy alliances, national accounts with significant building portfolios, and partnerships with standards and code-setting bodies, as well as with state and local governments.
The Request for Submissions was published in the December 2 Federal Register (.pdf 61 KB).
