WASHINGTON, May 19, 2016 - The Energy Department says its Better Buildings Challenge has resulted in energy cost savings exceeding $1.3 billion since its inception in late 2011, avoiding 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The initiative endeavors to improve the efficiency of American commercial, institutional and multifamily buildings and industrial plants by 20 percent or more over 10 years.
Organizations committing to the Better Buildings Challenge agree to:
- Conduct an energy efficiency assessment of their building portfolio and pledge an organization-wide energy savings goal;
- Showcase an energy efficiency project and implement a plan to achieve lasting energy savings;
- Report results by sharing cost-effective approaches for saving energy and performance data that demonstrates the success.
Since the program’s inception, the number
of Better Buildings Challenge partners and energy efficiency commitments has
increased threefold, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Housing and Urban
Development Secretary Julián Castro said in a release.
Over 60 new partners have joined the Better Buildings
Challenge just this year, and some 310 partners are set to achieve goals of at
least 20 percent energy reduction within 10 years, DOE says.
The partners represent 34,000
buildings and facilities, 4.2 billion square feet, and $5.5 billion
dollars in energy efficiency investment, decreasing energy use on
average by over 2 percent each year.
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“Thanks to a dedicated drive to actively create and share
the best energy efficiency solutions, Better Buildings partners have
dramatically cut their energy waste and saved more than a billion dollars since
the Better Buildings initiative was launched five years ago,” Moniz said. “As
the initiative continues to grow, we are moving the nation forward by reducing
energy costs and carbon emissions through energy efficiency.”
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