The ENERGY STAR Challenge: Architects

The 2012 ENERGY STAR Challenge featured the Race to DC as a friendly competition among three U.S. regions – Wild West, Big Easy Central and East Coast. The competition was to encourage A/E firms to submit projects that qualified as Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR.

Only one region could take home the gold! The Big Easy Central region won the Race for the 2nd year by submitting nearly 50 projects; led by the firm of CR Architecture + Design with 10 projects.

The retail and supermarket sectors dominated the Race to DC, representing nearly 60% of all projects with many of the stores located in the Big Easy Central region. Kroger had the most projects with 23 food store projects located throughout the country.

EPA applauds all of the A/E firms and building owners for helping EPA prevent CO2 emissions by designing commercial buildings that will use less fossil fuel energy to operate sustainably and for their leadership in making the commitment to reduce their carbon footprint well into the future.

• Almost 45 different A/E firms participated in the Challenge
• Nearly 100 projects achieving Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR
• Comprising over 10 million total ft2 of commercial building space
• Potentially preventing an estimated 175,000 MMTCE annually
• Saving an estimated $23 million in annual energy costs

EPA thanks these organizations for promoting the 2012 Race to DC by linking its members to the ENERGY STAR Challenge.

• AIA Delaware
• AIA Florida
• AIA Kentucky
• Architecture 2030
• COTEdc

• Delmarva Power C&I Energy Savings Program
• Pepco C&I Energy Savings Program
• Xcel Energy