2021 Summit Sessions

Commercial Sector Meet-up
Watch DOE and partners in the commercial building sector, including commercial real estate, hospitality, healthcare, higher education, retail, food service, and grocery have a panel discussion. We addressed\ key trends in the sectors, new resources and best practices from Better Buildings, and a closer look at the impacts of the pandemic, such as evolving building needs and space types.

• Speakers: Alysson Vogt Blackwelder, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC); Kirby Brendsel, Welltower; Kara Brooks, American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE); Dean Stanberry, International Facility Management Association (IFMA); Mary Evers Statz, UW Health

Industrial Sector Meet-up
The industrial sector meet-up was an opportunity for Better Plants partners and stakeholders to come together virtually and discuss challenges and solutions. Program manager Eli Levine provided an update on new tools and resources and highlighted partner achievements, followed by a fireside chat on the industrial decarbonization challenge.

• Speakers: Diane Bauer, U.S. Department of Energy; Jane Flegal, White House Council on Environmental Quality

K-12 Schools Sector Meet-up
The K-12 Schools meet-up was an opportunity for attendees to connect and exchange best practices with peers and share accomplishments and challenges in a candid, interactive format.

• Speakers: Katy Hatcher, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Anisa Heming, USGBC Center for Green Schools; John Lord, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Local Government Sector Meet-up
The Local Government meet-up was an opportunity for attendees to connect and exchange best practices with peers, as well as share accomplishments and challenges in a candid, interactive format.

• Speakers: Katie Bergfeld, Washington, D.C.; Fernando Berjano, City of El Paso, TX; Adam Guzzo, U.S. Department of Energy; Brendan Hall, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Dominic McGraw, City of Philadelphia, PA; Amy Royden-Bloom, U.S. Department of Energy

Multifamily Sector Meet-up
Multifamily housing peers connected at the Multifamily Meet-up and shared challenges and successes in reaching energy efficiency goals. We heard from HUD’s new leadership on implementing the Biden Administration’s climate and clean energy agenda in affordable housing. An interactive discussion explored how partners can build upon successes in energy efficiency to set and achieve low-carbon goals.

• Speakers: Caitlin Rood, Mercy Housing; Rebecca Schaaf, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future

Five Key Trends in Energy Finance
The energy efficiency and renewable energy finance space is constantly adapting to new market developments and financing innovations. During this session, several market experts weighed in on recent trends in several key financial products, including:

• How self-managed green revolving funds can help institutions recover and finance their energy efficiency/renewable energy retrofits after the pandemic;
• Expansion of efficiency-as-a-service into municipal, university, school, and hospital (MUSH) markets;
• Expansion of energy savings performance contracts (ESPC) into the commercial space;
• Green bond deployment trends; and
• Retroactive commercial PACE (CPACE) financing unlocking capital for businesses during the pandemic.
   
• Speakers: Donnel Baird, BlocPower; Devesh Nirmul, Counterpointe SRE; Mark Orlowski, Sustainable Endowments Institute; Brenna Walraven, Corporate Sustainability Strategies

Commercial PACE Toolkit: New Resources to Propel Your CPACE Program
The Commercial PACE (CPACE) Toolkit for States and Local Governments is a compilation of resources intended to address persistent barriers facing the adoption and implementation of CPACE financing programs. Watch this session to learn how you can put these resources to work in your jurisdiction.

• Speakers: Sam Cramer, National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO); Greg Leventis, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Maryrose Myrtetus, City of Philadelphia, PA

The Anatomy of EaaS: How Efficiency-as-a-Service is Changing the Finance Game
Efficiency-as-a-service (EaaS) is a pay-for-performance financing structure that enables building owners to implement energy and water projects by integrating with a service provider. Along with the growth of this financing model, there has been a proliferation of contract terms and structures. Watch this session to learn about the key differences in service definitions directly from organizations providing EaaS.

• Speakers: Julia Berg, Redaptive; Aaron Block, Allumia

Multifamily Sector Meet-up
Multifamily housing peers connected at the Multifamily Meet-up and shared challenges and successes in reaching energy efficiency goals. We heard from HUD’s new leadership on implementing the Biden Administration’s climate and clean energy agenda in affordable housing. An interactive discussion explored how partners can build upon successes in energy efficiency to set and achieve low-carbon goals.

• Speakers: Caitlin Rood, Mercy Housing; Rebecca Schaaf, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future

Unleashing the Power of Community Solar in Multifamily Buildings
This session surveyed the current regulatory landscape for community solar in multifamily housing and explored promising strategies to overcome barriers. Multifamily partners presented their experiences partnering with local organizations to deliver community solar projects that resulted in utility savings to low-income residents and brought workforce and economic development opportunities to the community.

• Speakers: Darien Crimmin, WinnCompanies; Jenny Heeter, National Renewable Energy Lab; Christopher Jedd, Denver Housing Authority

A New Frontier: Electrification in Multifamily Housing
There is a growing trend toward all-electrification of new and existing buildings in multifamily housing as a means to achieve significant cost savings, reduce carbon pollution, and improve indoor air quality and public safety. This session addressed programmatic and technological approaches to going all-electric in multifamily housing, explored current challenges in domestic hot water, technologies for space heating using heat pumps, and more.

• Speakers: Rory Christian, New York City Housing Authority; Jordan Dentz, The Levy Partnership; Andrew McNamara, Bright Power; Edwin Mendez, New York City Housing Authority; Julie Klump, Preservation of Affordable Housing

Balancing the Benefits of Community Solar in Multifamily Housing
Multifamily housing providers and tenants can both benefit from the deployment of community solar projects. These projects can create direct electricity bill savings as well as indirect community or workforce benefits. Watch DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and Better Buildings partners for a discussion about balancing the financial viability of solar projects with meaningful direct and/or indirect benefits to tenants. Multifamily housing providers explored implementation pathways for various approaches and lessons learned from the field. The panel was followed by a facilitated workshop where attendees will consider different approaches for balancing building owner and tenant benefits when designing community solar projects.

• Speakers: Jeffrey Cook, National Renewable Energy Lab; Ian Fischer, Urban Ingenuity; Kranti Malik, BRIDGE Housing Corporation; Andrew Martin, National Housing Trust; Nicole Steele, U.S. Department of Energy; Christopher White, New York City Housing Authority

COMMUNICATIONS

Workshop Your Voice: Successful External Communications
From crafting a compelling narrative to sharing data-driven results, how you talk about your efficiency work matters. Hear from the Better Buildings communications team to learn best practices for external communications – like writing for your audience and finding a media hook – and even workshop some common but tricky scenarios yourselves. Watch this session to strengthen your PR chops and get your projects the recognition they deserve.

• Speaker: Bryan Cohen, C+C

Making the Case for Energy Efficiency
The benefits of conducting energy efficiency (EE) upgrades in buildings and manufacturing plants may seem obvious to some; however, this is not the case for many who are unaware of the non-energy benefits, including enhanced building performance and productivity, that result from such improvements. This session focused on the most effective ways to sell and communicate EE-related projects internally. It also explored how active partners identify the multiple benefits of EE upgrades and train energy consultants in conducting energy assessments.

• Speakers: Andrew Hejnar, 3M; Erin Hiatt, Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA); Scott Moline, Energy Strategist

Energy Efficient-SHE
Women leaders in the energy and sustainability industries shared their perspectives on workplace diversity, mentorship, and the challenges and opportunities in being a woman in the buildings space.

• Speakers: Paula Glover, Alliance to Save Energy; Alexandra Harry, Catholic University of America; Sara Neff, Kilroy Realty; Susan Rochford, Legrand North America

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Workforce Accelerator Meet-up
Better Buildings Workforce Accelerator partners shared best practices for developing the energy efficiency workforce through three key areas: Building Interest, Streamlining Career Pathways, and Improving Skills.

• Speakers: Adele Ferranti, NYSERDA; Frank Mruk, Roxbury Community College; Mary Ellen Sprenkel, The Corps Network

Addressing Energy Burden and Workforce Development in Low-Income Communities
Low-income households face a disproportionately higher energy burden, three times higher than for non-low-income households. Watch this session to learn from organizations within the Better Buildings Initiative and beyond that have successfully targeted low- and moderate-income energy initiatives through innovative methods, including using DOE’s Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool and offering workforce development opportunities to low-income residents.

• Speakers: Tonya Gayle, Green City Force; Vlada Kenniff, New York City Housing Authority; Kenya Stump, Commonwealth of Kentucky; Yasmin Yacoby, State of Rhode Island

Leading the Way to a Diverse and Qualified Workforce
In this session, Better Buildings Workforce Accelerator leaders shared their best practices for developing a diverse and qualified building efficiency workforce that enables high-performance buildings. Learn how these leaders are developing new workforce programs, engaging underrepresented communities, and creating new resources such as curricula, trainings, websites, and education modules.

• Speakers: Aneysha Bhat, Perennial Culture; Roger Ebbage, Lane Community College; Teresa Piazza, Association of Energy Engineers (AEE); Erick Shambarger, City of Milwaukee, WI