by Brianna Crandall — June 3, 2015—Besides the new Interior Lighting Campaign (ILC) goals announced last week (see “DOE launches high-efficiency indoor lighting campaign for commercial buildings; honors Advanced Roof-top Unit Campaign partners, Green Lease Leaders, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is expanding the Better Buildings Challenge program even further to include water savings goals. The move is based on progress made working with pilot partners in 2014.
With the announcement, Senior Advisor to the President Brian Deese called on existing partners to recruit one new partner to join the program, and to set a goal of reducing energy use across their respective building portfolios by at least 20% in the next 10 years, effectively doubling down on Better Buildings.
Interested partners can work directly with the Energy Department to advance data collection and analysis practices and share more solutions to common water saving barriers. The Department will coordinate with other federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as well as work with experts from non-governmental organizations, to lend additional technical expertise.
Better Buildings Challenge
The Better Buildings Challenge now has more than 250 partners representing 3.5 billion square feet, 650 manufacturing plants, 50 cities and states, and $5.5 billion in financing investments. In the past year, nine partners have already met their energy savings goals years ahead of the target, including 3M; the City of Beaverton, Oregon; Camas School District; HARBEC; Lend Lease; the State of Maryland; Sprint; Volvo; and the City of West Palm Beach, Florida. Two financial allies—Enterprise and Hannon Armstrong—also met their goals. Since January 2015, 18 new partners have joined the Challenge.
The Better Buildings Challenge is aimed at achieving the goal of doubling American energy productivity by 2030 while motivating corporate and public sector leaders across the country to save energy through commitments and investments. More than 250 organizations are partnering with DOE to achieve 20% portfolio-wide energy savings and share successful strategies that maximize efficiency over the next decade. Across the country, partners have shared energy data for more than 32,000 properties and are reporting energy savings of 20% or more at 4,500 properties, and 10% or more at 12,000 properties.
More information about Better Buildings Challenge partner results, showcase projects and innovative solutions being shared is available in the Better Buildings Progress Report 2015.
