The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released the “Energy Data Management Guide,” a new resource that provides public-sector organizations with a seven-step approach to establish a robust and sustainable energy data management program. The guide features proven practices from more than 30 Better Buildings Challenge partners that can be replicated to produce positive results across diverse organizations. The partners and organizations featured in the Energy Data Management Guide represent a variety of sizes, staff and financial resources, and geographic distributions, highlighting the applicability of these practices to organizations of all types. For example:
- Aurora Public Schools in Colorado improved energy performance by 14% from 2014 to 2019 and avoided over $1 million in utility costs from 2014 to 2017 through retrofits, improving scheduling, and monitoring after-hours energy consumption by leveraging an energy information system.
- Houston, Texas reduced energy consumption by 15% from 2008 to 2019 by installing more efficient mechanical equipment and implementing lighting retrofits, and recovered $215,000 from inaccurate utility tariff rates by working with a consultant to audit historical consumption information.
- Maryland achieved a 25% cumulative energy reduction from 2008 to 2019 through measures such as lighting retrofits, facility management controls, and mechanical system improvements, and saved $5.65 million in 2019 by leveraging the Maryland State Energy Database to enable its block and index electricity purchasing strategy.
As of June 2019, the Better Buildings Challenge partners featured in the “Energy Data Management Guide” demonstrated average annual energy savings of approximately 2% and an average cumulative energy improvement of 14% compared to their respective baseline years. If all state and local government buildings saved at least 2% annually, the resulting energy and cost savings would be more than 60 trillion Btu and $580 million per year.
Check out the “Energy Data Management Guide” and visit the Better Buildings Solution Center to discover additional case studies from Better Buildings Challenge partners and access energy data management tools and resources that can help your organization reduce its operational expenditures, maximize its energy efficiency, and meet its energy and carbon reduction goals.