by Brianna Crandall — February 29, 2016—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently unveiled the Better Buildings Challenge SWAP, designed to help companies move toward the Challenge objective of reducing energy intensity across their building portfolios and sharing successful strategies with their peers. The first SWAP involved Hilton Worldwide and Whole Foods Market swapping energy management teams at their facilities in San Francisco for a hands-on evaluation of each other’s energy practices.
As part of the SWAP, each team identified innovative ways to save energy in Hilton San Francisco Union Square, a 1.8 million square foot hotel, and Whole Foods Ocean Avenue, a 25,600 sq. ft. grocery store. A reality-style Web series, including behind-the-scenes footage, featuring both energy teams is now available on the Better Buildings Web site.
Lynn Orr, under secretary for Science and Energy at DOE, commented:
Healthy competition, along with a free exchange of ideas, has long been an essential part of energy innovation. Such an exchange created by the Energy Department provided a way for these leading corporations — which are already accomplished in energy management — to rethink some of their standard practices and push each other to do even better. A fresh set of knowledgeable eyes would likely help us all to be more efficient. That approach will help us address our world’s most pressing energy challenges, and I thank Hilton Worldwide and Whole Foods Market for taking part in this effort.
Hilton Worldwide
In line with the Challenge objective of helping companies reduce energy intensity across their building portfolios and share successful strategies with their peers, Hilton Worldwide has made significant progress toward reaching its Challenge commitment across 90 million sq. ft. of hotel space. Hilton recently became the first hospitality company to have hotels, including Hilton San Francisco Union Square, certified to the DOE’s Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program, points out DOE.
As a result of the SWAP, the Hilton Worldwide team has already started implementing several recommendations, including LED (light-emitting diode) lighting upgrades, door gasket replacements, and the phase-out of less-efficient appliances within refrigerated containers at Hilton Union Square. The Whole Foods team is exploring the implementation of employee engagement strategies inspired by what they saw at Hilton Union Square.
Whole Foods Market
Also in line with the Challenge objective, Whole Foods Market has employed a range of strategies to advance environmental stewardship across its portfolio of 370 buildings or nearly 13 million sq. ft. and is already achieving 7% energy savings toward a 20% goal. During the SWAP, the Hilton Worldwide team uncovered lighting fixes, refrigeration savings through doors on cases, and heat recovery improvements that could net positive energy savings at the Whole Foods Ocean Avenue store.
Tristam Coffin, sustainable facilities coordinator at Whole Foods Market, added:
It’s exciting to be a part of the inaugural Better Buildings Challenge SWAP. While it’s easy to think you’ve covered all the bases in your own facility, there is so much more to gain when you compare strategies and lessons learned with a team from a completely different line of work. Sharing best practices doesn’t get more hands-on than this.
Better Buildings 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 285 organizations are partnering with the Energy Department 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.
Stay tuned to the Better Buildings Beat Blog for updates.
