Better Buildings Challenge Partners strive to decrease portfolio-wide source energy use intensity (EUI) and to increase the percent improvement compared to a set baseline. In addition to a commitment of over 250 corporate restaurants, The Wendy's company is the first Better Buildings Challenge Partner to encourage franchisees to take on the Better Buildings Challenge. To date, 15 franchisees representing over 1,000 restaurants  have committed to reducing energy use by 20% per transaction, over a 2013 baseline. Represented here is data from five franchisees (Carlisle Corp., Hoover Foods, Pennant Foods, Wendco Group, and Wendium of Florida), covering over 750,000 square-feet. These resturants have achieved a combined saings of 6% over three years, setting them on track to achieving their Challenge goal. Energy savings have been achieved by remodeling restaurants, installing LED parking lot lighting, interior LED lighting, walk-in cooler/freezer motor upgrades, and an energy awareness program focused on low-cost opportunities for savings. The Wendy's Company's efforts to engage franchisees through internal benchmarking goals, technical assistance and support have been documented in a Better Buildings Implementation Model.

Looking at the percent improvement in energy performance across all facilities can provide insight into how an organization is saving energy. Wendy's franchisee restaurants have achieved energy performance improvement of greater than 10% at more than 80 of their restaurants through implementation of energy upgrade projects. Further energy reduction is expected with continuing remodeling of restaurants and energy upgrades. 

Property-level energy performance metrics, including EUI and percent improvement to date, are critical to track progress over time and identify opportunties for additional energy savings. Wendy's portfolio consists of properties with a wide range of baseline EUI values, most of which are from 10 to 40 kBtu/transaction. The majority of properties have shown energy improvement since 2013. The properties located near or below the 0% axis may present good opportunities for further savings.