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The Better Buildings Bulletin keeps you up to date on partner successes, program updates, opportunities to participate, and more. View the Bulletin online. |
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Dedicated to bringing you the latest actionable insights from leading industry experts on today’s energy efficiency landscape, this ongoing series is a chance to explore the topics, technologies, and trends that affect your organization. The 2020-2021 season includes webinars on portfolio-wide resilience planning, innovative energy efficiency financing for public housing, risk assessments for commercial buildings, and more. View the full schedule and register today.
Through Better Buildings, DOE works with organizations to make buildings and plants more energy efficient. These same organizations can pursue further sustainability and emissions reduction goals by incorporating renewable energy. On-site renewable energy, when paired with energy storage and configured appropriately, can also increase a site’s resilience during a grid outage. In response to partners’ requests, DOE has compiled resources that help navigate renewable energy options and address common challenges.
Have a new building construction project or major renovation coming up in your portfolio? Interested to see what the design would look like if you went zero energy? Work with a collegiate team in the U.S. DOE 2021 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge to receive a basic zero energy design alternative and cost estimate for your project! No risk, tons of fun. Learn more and sign up to participate here or contact Holly Carr at holly.carr@ee.doe.gov.
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Better Buildings Alliance
- Parkland Health & Hospital System
Better Plants Challenge
- Lockheed Martin
- Owens Corning
Better Plants Program
- Archer Daniels Midland
- Boardman Foods
- Southwest Cheese
Better Buildings Residential Network
- Anderson Sustainable Architecture
- Jofforts Computer Industrial
- Washington State Department of Commerce
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Better Buildings Accelerators
Workforce Accelerator
- American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE)
- Association of Energy Engineers (AEE)
- Denver, CO
- International Facility Management Association (IFMA)
- Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
- Milwaukee, WI
- Mississippi Development Authority
- National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
- Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP)
- Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC)
- Roxbury Community College
- The Corps Network
- The Solar Foundation – Puerto Rico
- U.S. Green Building Council
- Veterans Health Administration
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The following Implementation Models, Showcase Projects, and Solutions-at-a-Glance demonstrate the hard work and innovative thinking of Better Buildings partners. Check out these replicable solutions and others in the Better Buildings Solution Center.
New Implementation Models
Armstrong Flooring created the Zero-Kilowatt Challenge campaign to help standardize shutdown procedures and track energy use during shutdown periods while engaging employees in energy-saving efforts. The initial results at the company’s Lancaster Plant demonstrated the potential to reduce shutdown energy by at least 50%. Armstrong has since introduced the challenge at all eight of their manufacturing plants.
Celanese Corporation found that while employees were often eager to contribute to energy efficiency goals, they did not always have enough information to feel like they could effectively participate. Energy Sparks were created as one-page, “Did You Know” fact-sharing tools about energy topics relevant to a manufacturing plant. These tools have initiated company-wide improvements in energy efficiency programs and reduced energy usage at manufacturing sites by promoting knowledge and engagement with on-site operations teams.
DWS created a centralized Risk and Resiliency Checklist to assess properties at risk from the impacts of extreme weather and identify strategies and improvements that would protect occupants, interior systems and equipment, and the physical asset. The checklist resulted in a consistent and cost-effective process that helped to identify short and long-term considerations to mitigate physical risk when an extreme weather event occurs.
To conserve water and reduce costs for both the company and the residents, Foundation Communities developed a water consumption monitoring system and resident education program. The new system has decreased water consumption and costs by monitoring water consumption across seven properties, educating high users in water conservation techniques, and identifying unit equipment leaks early.
General Motors (GM) needed a way for plants to collaborate on finding energy and water saving solutions. GM built a tool to record potential and implemented projects and provide inspiration and guidance for other plants to follow. The Energy and Water Project Roadmap tracks key project information and allows this information to be shared with utility and plant managers at all of GM’s U.S. facilities for research and planning purposes.
Utility incentives to improve store efficiency are often difficult for retailers to apply for when the shopping center landlord owns the utility account. H&M improved store energy efficiency by collaborating with landlords and utilities to apply incentive dollars to retrofit HVAC rooftop units, saving approximately $2,500 per store annually.
To achieve and maintain lasting operational efficiency at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) developed a sophisticated data analytics system named Operations Monitoring and Notification Infrastructure to provide key operational insights about the data centers performance and energy efficiency.
Sprint’s asset types – retail, commercial (including data centers), and network facilities – have differing waste streams and require targeted waste reduction efforts. The company piloted a systematic approach to waste management that improved the recycle rate from 23% to 46%, reduced utility spend by 25%, and resulted in $1.95 million in savings and avoided costs.
New Showcase Projects
The new Central Energy Plant at Ford’s Dearborn Research and Engineering Center delivers significant energy and water savings while supporting the modernization and future expansion of a 900-acre campus. The new plant was completed at the end of 2019 and is projected to achieve a 50% reduction in campus office space energy and water use.
At Lineage Logistics’ flagship facility in Oxnard, California, concerns were raised over lengthy blast freezing times that were driving up energy costs and increasing processing times for cases of perishable food products. The company partnered with customers to redesign both the blast freezer and product case packaging, which reduced freeze times by up to 50% and increased blast-freezing capacity to more than 5 million pounds of product per day at a single facility.
Since the 1990s, LBNL’s enterprise data center, used for in-house needs and scientific computing, has undergone a continuous series of transitions and energy efficiency upgrades to meet increased demand. Over time, improved air management has helped ensure that cooling needs and capacity are in balance; the data center expects to realize a 77% improvement in power usage effectiveness (PUE) by the end of the year.
Ozinga had little visibility into how the various systems at its plants used energy and lacked a system for quantifying the benefits of equipment upgrades and process improvements. Ozinga realized a 73% energy savings by implementing two actions: one, collecting data to better understand energy usage and identify significant energy users; and two, acting upon data logging findings by fine-tuning plant operations and equipment settings.
This affordable multifamily housing complex had several deferred maintenance issues and needed upgrades to outdated lighting, hot water heaters, and HVAC equipment. The Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF) retrofit the property with LED lights, programmable thermostats, and new ENERGY STAR® water heaters. These upgrades resulted in a 29% energy savings.
At its ISO 50001 and LEED Operations and Maintenance Gold certified plant in Middleton, Tennessee, ThyssenKrupp Elevator discovered that the structural oven consumed up to 35% of the plant’s natural gas use. By adding insulation and a rear enclosure to the oven and shutting down one of the exhaust stacks to reduce heat losses, the plant achieved a 35% reduction in oven gas consumption and 19% energy use savings overall.
Waupaca installed a blast air dehumidification system at its Tell City, Indiana plant and achieved significant energy and environmental gains in the cupola melting process, totaling $355,000 in annual energy cost savings. The company plans to install the same upgrades across its portfolio; these improvements are projected to save approximately $2.5 million in energy costs per year.
At Plant 23 in Waupaca, Wisconsin, a high-volume cupola furnace technology is used to cast iron and other metals. The plant melts 700,000 tons of gray iron annually, producing waste heat that is captured and used for space heating. Incorporating new controls and heat recovery technologies, Waupaca implemented an upgrade and expansion of its existing heat recovery system and increased the amount of waste heat recovered by 42%.
Built in the 1980s, St. Joseph Village underwent an extensive renovation and modernization that included multiple energy-efficient measures such as upgrades to outdated lighting fixtures, appliances, windows, and HVAC systems. Wesley Housing achieved a 40% reduction in annual energy use.
New Solutions-at-a-Glance
Kaiser Permanente’s 87,300-square-foot Santa Rosa medical office building is the first to achieve net-zero status and the first demonstrated net-zero healthcare building in the U.S., with the ability to generate its own energy and use as little power as possible.
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Better Buildings Webinar Series
View the full Better Buildings Webinar Series schedule here.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Innovative Energy Efficiency Financing in Public Housing
Learn replicable approaches from three Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) – all Better Buildings partners – for surmounting the financial barriers that often prevent PHAs from pursuing energy and water efficiency retrofits.
Register Here ⇒
Tuesday, October 6, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
CPACE Financing Turns 10: Impacts, Challenges, and What Comes Next
Explore the impacts and success stories of commercial property assessed clean energy financing, better known as CPACE, over the last 10 years. Attendees will hear about new research and find out what the future may hold for CPACE financing.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Wastewater Treatment 2.0: The Next Phase of Energy Efficiency and Recovery
Wastewater treatment is a very energy-intensive process. This webinar will spotlight the latest effort to help water resource recovery facilities achieve energy savings and implement advanced technologies, introducing the Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future (SWIFt) Initiative – SWIFt 2.0.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Planning for Resilience in Multifamily Housing: A Portfolio-Wide Approach
This webinar will provide participants with real-world resiliency planning frameworks that can serve as models for property owners and managers. Panelists will discuss how to minimize risk and maintain business continuity through energy efficiency and using new technologies.
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Scaling Impact: Multi-Building Approaches to Zero Energy Ready
Hear about pioneering developments that are integrating energy efficiency, waste heat, renewable energy, and grid interaction across multiple buildings. This webinar will explore best practices on achieving cost savings and carbon reductions at scale.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2021: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET
Beyond Energy Savings: Quantifying the Additional Benefits of Energy Efficiency
Energy-saving projects can yield extra benefits like reduced maintenance, improved productivity, waste reduction, and more. Join this webinar to learn about a new methodology for quantifying these benefits.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2021: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
David & Goliath: Financing Energy Retrofits from the Tiny to the Giant
This webinar will explore the successful implementation of two energy efficiency projects, one small (<$150,000) and one large (>$10 million); there will be a facilitated discussion to compare and contrast the characteristics of each.
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Tuesday, February 2, 2021: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Risk Assessments: Evaluating Buildings Sites for Portfolio Resilience
This webinar will explore a variety of strategies commercial building owners can use to address climate-related risks and identify cost-effective strategies and improvements to protect occupants and assets from short and long-term risks.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2021: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Perspectives on Resilience: Insurance and Credit Underwriting
This webinar will examine how resilience risk impacts organizations through insurance, credit underwriting, and credit ratings. Attendees will get insights from industry practitioners on interpreting risk and what building owners can do to improve performance.
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Tuesday, March 2, 2021: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Smart Tools for Smart Labs
This webinar will share publicly available tools for turning your laboratory into a Smart Lab, as well as a case study from a university that successfully implemented a Smart Labs program. Attendees will also learn what the future holds for laboratory efficiency.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2021: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
You Have a Data Center – Now What? Stories from the Field
Hear from Better Buildings partners about experiences implementing energy efficiency projects within small, co-location, and enterprise data centers. Learn how you can leverage energy efficiency to streamline operations, cut operating costs, and increase data center resiliency.
Register Here ⇒
Better Plants Online Learning Series
View the full Better Plants Online Learning Series schedule here.
Thursday, September 17, 2020: 1 - 2 p.m. ET
Energy Management During a Pandemic
The pandemic has had wide-ranging impacts on how we manage energy, find opportunities, and implement projects. During the 2020 Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit, numerous partners shared the challenges and opportunities they were facing; Better Plants captured these lessons learned and compiled them into a new report. Join us as we release our summary report on the topic and highlight how various companies are strategically modifying their industrial energy management programs and systems to be successful going forward.
Register Here ⇒
Thursday, September 24, 2020: 1 - 2 p.m. ET
MEASUR Tool Suite
Join us to learn about DOE’s free, open-source MEASUR software tool and how you can begin analyzing and optimizing your own facility systems. The MEASUR software is a technology- and vendor-agnostic software tool that allows you to quickly calculate the energy savings for a wide variety of opportunities found in your facility. During this webinar, we will walk through the software to give you an introduction to the tools various capabilities so that you can start moving projects from identification towards implementation today.
Register Here ⇒
Thursday, October 1, 2020: 1 - 2 p.m. ET
Process Cooling
Chillers and cooling tower systems are necessary for keeping our products, equipment, and staff cool throughout the year. This webinar will provide an overview of these systems and cover the various technologies, control strategies, and opportunities to optimize your process cooling systems.
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Technology Webinars
Wednesday, September 16, 2020: 2 - 3 p.m. ET
De-Mystifying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Improving Building Performance
With claims that building diagnostic software uses artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) becoming commonplace, what does this really mean to building operations? In this webinar, the Energy Management Information Systems Technology Research Team will provide an overview of AI and ML techniques and discuss the most promising applications in commercial buildings.
Register Here ⇒
Thursday, October 8, 2020: 2 - 3 p.m. ET
Future-Ready Lighting
Imagine integrating your lighting system with other smart building aspects such as building management systems or HVAC, asset tracking, space utilization, or possibly COVID-19 contact tracing – there are many high-value opportunities with Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Join us as leading experts from the IoT-Upgradeable Lighting Challenge share their insights and discuss opportunities for greater energy efficiency and cost savings within IoT-Lighting applications.
Register Here ⇒
Tuesday, October 13, 2020: 3 - 4 p.m. ET
Building Envelope Campaign Update
Join this webinar for an update from the Building Envelope Campaign team on their first several months of work. Whether you are new to the campaign or an active Participant or Supporter, there will be useful information to share, as well as a Q&A session.
Register Here ⇒
Wednesday, October 28, 2020: 1 - 2 p.m. ET
Final Results on Energy Savings, Costs, and Benefits from the Smart Energy Analytics Campaign
The Smart Energy Analytics Campaign will present the results on the use, costs, and energy savings from the 104 participants implementing energy information systems and fault detection and diagnostics. The four years of data collection from campaign participants represents the largest dataset gathered to-date on the use of these tools and technologies in commercial buildings.
Register Here ⇒
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DOE’s Better Buildings Commercial Real Estate (CRE) sector hosted a panel at the July 2020 Virtual Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International Conference & Expo on how CRE is addressing the building efficiency skills gap and attracting talent through targeted workforce initiatives. Better Buildings partners CBRE and Lendlease shared their perspectives and information on their internal programs to attract new talent, train and promote from within, and strengthen corporate values.
With vacant office spaces as many tenants are working from home, the CRE sector is presented with unique challenges and an opportunity to conduct preventative maintenance and other energy efficiency projects normally too disruptive to complete during normal occupancy. Two Better Buildings Challenge Partners from the CRE sector, Kilroy Realty and LBA Realty, are using this time to complete such measures and advance energy efficiency.
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. While some companies have had to make significant cultural changes to adapt their output, creative and innovative thinking has driven the success of Better Plants partners for years. So, as the pandemic shook our lives and economy, partners like General Motors and L’Oréal USA did what they always do – adapted.
This year, 29 organizations representing more than 1 billion square feet of leased space earned the Green Lease Leader designation. These organizations range from small and large commercial offices to retail and industrial properties and data centers. The 2020 Green Lease Leaders were recognized at the Better Buildings, Better Plants virtual leadership symposium.
Recent news articles featuring Better Buildings partners are listed below.
For a full listing, please visit the Better Buildings Partners in the News page.
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Better Buildings Accelerators: What's New
This fact sheet highlights the results of the Better Buildings Smart Labs Accelerator. Over three years, 17 Accelerator partners successfully implemented their own Smart Labs program and performed a series of low- and no-cost energy efficiency measures. Partners are on track to surpass the Accelerator’s goal of 20% energy reduction in 10 years.
Better Buildings Alliance: What's New
By designing lighting systems with one overhead light fixture per workstation and sensors and dimming control at the fixture level, illumination is provided when and where it is needed. Lighting energy is significantly reduced by the reduction in lighting fixture density and by fixture operation over time.
By installing desktop task lighting in office workspaces, it is possible to significantly reduce output from overhead light fixtures while maintaining acceptable levels of light distribution. Plug load occupancy controls may be included so that all non-critical equipment (including task lighting) is controlled based on occupancy.
Perimeter shading system operation can be automated with controls that use a sun position algorithm and local radiometric sensor inputs to manage glare. Automated shade controls maximize the utility of natural light while preserving occupant visual comfort. Admitting more natural light enables daylight dimming controls to save lighting energy with an added benefit of savings in cooling energy.
The Plug and Process Loads (PPL) Technology Research Team released a guide to help office building owners and energy managers reduce PPL energy use. It includes a process for developing a PPL control strategy for office buildings.
The PPL Technology Research Team released a guide that describes the process needed to cost-effectively reduce PPL energy impact in retail buildings. It includes general and appliance-specific PPL control strategies. To learn more, check out the recent Beat Blog post.
Oak Ridge National Lab developed this fact sheet for grocery store operators to help them minimize the risks of airborne disease transmission. It covers various systems within a grocery store including HVAC and refrigeration and suggests best practices and behaviors.
The National Renewable Energy Lab developed this fact sheet for hotel operators to help optimize the use and function of building systems, guest rooms, and common areas to keep airborne disease transmission to a minimum.
Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) developed this HVAC fact sheet and checklist for commercial office space operators to help minimize airborne disease transmission and mitigate the potential side effects of operational changes that result from those efforts.
PNNL compiled recommendations and guidance for retail store operators trying to minimize disease risk to staff and customers. This fact sheet reviews HVAC system operations, exhaust systems, elevator controls, and building automation systems, as well as space uses and occupancies.
In Case You Missed It: Better Buildings Webinars on Demand
Explore more on-demand Better Buildings webinars, including the 2020 Summit sessions, here.
This webinar explored how different state and local governments are developing and planning their communities to improve energy efficiency and bolster resilience. Attendees discovered how energy efficiency and renewable energy act as resilience measures for mitigating the impacts of natural disasters.
Organizations of all shapes and sizes can benefit from a more detailed understanding of their energy usage. Partners discussed how to make a compelling business case for the value of submetering to decision-makers while also sharing the link between submetering, benchmarking, and other data management efforts.
Learn how to make the business case for energy efficiency in data centers. This webinar helped participants identify key stakeholder interests, underlying drivers, and institutional and technical barriers to consider and gave attendees an overview of the technical concepts and relevant tools and resources involved.
DOE's Plug and Process Load Technology Research Team and the National Renewable Energy Lab hosted a technical presentation about a statewide plug load strategy developed by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services and the Oregon Department of Energy.
In this webinar, panelists presented case studies of innovative partnerships between affordable housing providers, public health, and building science stakeholders to advance energy + health initiatives and shared experiences pursuing the FitWel® certification for healthy buildings.
Leading cities deploying the next generation of building performance policies highlighted their strategies for policy design, implementation challenges and successes, and early policy impacts.
Re-opening buildings in the wake of the pandemic creates a never-before-seen challenge to building owners and operators; every system in the building must be considered in a new light. Commissioning experts discussed recent activity and lessons learned from the buildings they are helping to re-open.
For states, local governments, and K-12 schools seeking to reduce costs and meet efficiency goals, financing needs to be customized and simplified through technical assistance. Speakers discussed how various financing products can address public sector barriers when paired with effective technical assistance.
This webinar highlighted examples of low-income renewable energy programs, including the Solar in Your Community Challenge and the Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities Accelerator, best practices, and DOE’s new National Community Solar Partnership.
Speakers from LBNL and Kaiser Permanente discussed best practices for integrating and optimizing the performance of renewables, thermal energy storage, and battery energy for load flexibility.
Better Plants Online Learning Series:
This webinar introduced process heating and energy saving measures for industrial process heating equipment. Attendees learned about performing a heat balance for a heating system, overall waste heat opportunities in various industries, and typical waste heat recovery methods.
This webinar reviewed system basics, fundamentals on understanding how these pump and fan systems operate, and most importantly how to ensure they are optimized and operating efficiently.
Speakers from Tyson Foods and EPA’s ENERGY STAR for Industry highlighted the many resources available to companies for hosting their own Treasure Hunt activities.
Better Buildings Residential Network
The Solar Decathlon’s new webinar series begins September 16, 2020, with diverse topics ranging from innovative housing designs and the rise in zero energy ready homes to clean energy careers. Offered at no cost, these webinars are available to the public and targeted to all who are interested in viewing state-of-the-art homes, from homeowners to contractors.
DOE’s 2020 Housing Innovation Awards recognize the very best in innovation on the path to Zero Energy Ready Homes. The 2020 ceremony is happening at the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) Virtual High-Performance Home Summit, taking place September 29 - October 9, 2020. DOE will recognize one Grand Winner in each category, as well as a Grand Award for the Most Homes Certified. A panel discussion with the Grand Award Winners will follow as they explore insights about preparing for an uncertain future.
Archived Peer Exchange Calls/Lessons Learned
Review past peer exchange calls from the Better Buildings Residential Network. Key takeaways from these presentations are outlined in one-page "lessons learned" fact sheets. View the latest fact sheets and the full archive here.
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Is there something we missed?
Tell us! We want to promote partner successes in our newsletters, emails, social media, and of course the Beat Blog. You can reach us at:
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