Beat Blog
Developed by DOE and its national labs, the Home Energy Score™ provides homeowners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home’s energy use. A new study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has demonstrated the importance of sharing this…
2020 has been the year of “the pivot” – of looking critically at every part of operations and thinking creatively about new approaches to doing business.
Changes that businesses would never have dreamed of a few months ago have become commonplace. News of British shirt factories now producing…
Plug and Process Loads (PPLs) are building electrical loads used by plug-in equipment and appliances as well as processes for cooking, computing, and internal transportation. PPLs consume more than 45% of commercial building energy use, and this number is expected to increase to more than 50% by…
With vacant office spaces as many tenants are working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the commercial real estate sector is presented with unique challenges and an opportunity to conduct preventative maintenance and other energy efficiency projects normally too disruptive to complete during…
If all laboratory buildings in the U.S. improved their energy efficiency by 20%, annual energy and cost savings could reach approximately 40 trillion BTUs and $1 billion. To address this significant opportunity, DOE’s Better Buildings launched the Smart Labs Accelerator to target energy efficiency…
DOE wrapped up the 8-part 2020 Better Buildings Summer Webinar Series with “Succeed with Submetering: How to Make the Business Case,” featuring a panel of experts from the Maryland Department of General Services, Towson University, and Argonne National Laboratory.As Better Buildings partners…
The 10 most-viewed resources from the past month include new solutions from Better Buildings partners Sprint and DWS on waste reduction and resiliency, as well as toolkits on high-efficiency RTU replacements, financing, and more. Check them out!1. Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities (…
DOE’s Better Buildings commercial real estate (CRE) sector hosted a panel to discuss integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into workforce development at the 2020 Virtual BOMA International Conference & Expo held in July. The session focused on how the CRE industry…
This year, 29 organizations, collectively representing more than 1 billion square feet of leased space earned the Green Lease Leader designation. These organizations consist of owners and renters ranging from small and large commercial offices to retail and industrial properties and data…
As a participant in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Reduction Pilot, Sprint (now part of T-Mobile) has committed to tracking its waste reduction progress along with energy performance for the Better Buildings Challenge. As part of its expanded sustainability goals in 2019, Sprint committed to…
The 10 most-viewed resources from the past month include a new resilience strategy for affordable housing from Jonathan Rose Companies, as well as toolkits on financing, Smart Labs programs, high-efficiency RTU replacements, and more. Check them out!1. Finance and Resilience Toolkit for…
After the Better Buildings Summit kicked off on June 8, 2020, partners and affiliates in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector hosted a meet-up to discuss energy efficiency challenges, solutions, and opportunities. Here are some highlights:The program congratulated Nuveen Real Estate on achieving…
Congratulations to Mercy Housing, Corcoran Management, Preservation of Affordable Housing, and Trinity Housing Corporation of Greeley on achieving their 20 percent portfolio-wide energy savings goal within the Better Buildings Challenge. These four Challenge partners serve a combined portfolio of…
In 2011, Cleveland Clinic Foundation became one of the first healthcare partners to join the Better Buildings Challenge, committing to reduce its energy use intensity by 20% by 2020. Right on schedule, in 2020 the organization reached 22% energy savings across 18+ million square feet. Through these…
Developed by DOE and its national labs, the Home Energy Score™ provides home owners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home’s energy use. Three Home Energy Score partners are increasing demand for Home Energy Scores in the housing market from San Francisco to…
Healthcare energy efficiency was a popular topic throughout this year’s Better Buildings Summit. To kick off the four-day Virtual Leadership Symposium, Associate Professor Dr. Joseph Allen of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health highlighted the importance of promoting human health and…
For part 1 of the highlights from the 2020 Better Buildings Summit, click here.Wednesday, June 10Day 3 of the Better Buildings Summit kicked off with five concurrent morning workshops and presentations on solar energy, financing for energy efficiency projects, the formal launches of DOE’s…
This year’s Better Buildings Summit was held as a Virtual Leadership Symposium, and featured interactive online sessions, workshops, plenaries, and sector meet-ups with market leaders and industry stakeholders and experts. Below are highlights from days 1 and 2 of the first ever virtual Summit…
The 10 most-viewed resources on the Better Buildings Solution Center from the past month include a new Finance and Resilience toolkit, guidance for creating a Smart Labs program, and webinars on building operations and efficiency during unpredictable times. Check them out!1. Managing HVAC Systems…
In 2017, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) passed the Carbon Neutral Schools Resolution, committing to eliminate its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. To achieve this goal, the district is improving energy efficiency at existing schools and selected Charles Drew Elementary as the first…