Each month we recap the most viewed solutions shared by Better Buildings partners. Check out June's Top-10 solutions below.
1. Energy Data Access: Blueprint for Action Toolkit
The Better Buildings Energy Data Accelerator was a two-year partnership with cities and utilities to improve energy efficiency by making energy data more accessible to building owners. As a result of best practices developed by the EDA, 18 utilities serving more than 2.6 million commercial customers nationwide will provide whole-building energy data access to building owners by 2017. The resulting toolkit describes the best practices that enabled cities, utilities, and other stakeholders to overcome whole-building data access barriers. Read more.
2. 2016 Watch List: Emerging Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies
A panel of DOE experts providesd a sneak peak into cutting edge and emerging clean technologies that will increase energy efficiency in buildings and infrastructure, reduce emissions, and increase the deployment of clean and renewable electrons. Areas of dialogue included adaptive lighting and controls, buildings to grid, HVAC, water heating and appliances, windows and envelope, and sensors, controls and automation. Read more.
3. Financing Calculator for Retail (in partnership with the Retail Industry Leaders Association)
This calculator is designed to help retail professionals understand how they can leverage external financing to fund energy or sustainability projects within their portfolios as well as view basic finance metrics for a specific project. Read more.
4. UC Berkeley - Tying Energy Costs to Building Occupants
The UC Berkeley Energy Management Initiative (EMI) is designed to complement existing campus operations and goals, and broadly consists of four components: the Energy Incentive Program (EIP), Energy Office, Energy Dashboards and Energy Policy. To date, EMI has saved 58.7 million kWh, 893 thousand therms and $6.5 million in the three years since its implementation, relative to the program’s fiscal year 2010/11 baseline. This is equivalent to a 22% drop in energy use intensity over the same period. Read more.
5. Better Buildings Outdoor Lighting Accelerator: Decision Tree Tool
Municipalities, states, and other public and federal agencies are continuously looking for new opportunities to decrease spending on utility bills, improve safety and services, and protect the environment. High–performance outdoor lighting technologies are proving to be a cost–effective energy savings measure, often offering 50 percent or more savings relative to previously installed systems while lasting longer and offering tremendous maintenance and operational benefits. The cost of these technologies can be further reduced for deployment in local communities through collaboration, including volume or bulk purchasing, and customized utility incentives and tariffs. Read more.
6. Greening the Grants Work Session- Increasing Efficient, Effective Use of Federal Research Funding While Minimizing Environmental Impacts
In this two-part session at the 2016 Better Buildings Summit, attendees explored solutions for overcoming barriers and raising awareness to connect efficiency and sustainability to federally supported research. By encouraging actions such as equipment sharing, efficient lab processes, and reducing overhead needs through the grant process, the federal government can shrink its environmental footprint and maximize the effective use of federal research budgets. Read more.
7. Accelerating Access to Energy Data: How Utilities are Helping Building Owners
Utilities across the country are adopting solutions to provide property owners with easier access to whole-building energy consumption, enabling much greater energy efficiency. Speakers discussed energy data access trends, recent accomplishments, and future opportunities, as well as outcomes from the DOE Better Buildings Energy Data Accelerator program. Read more.
8. Appraising Green: Show me the Value!
Commercial building appraisals do not accurately adjust for green building attributes. This 2016 Better Buildings Summit session shared observations from the Better Buildings Alliance working group, as well as, strategies and tactics building owners and lenders can employ to incorporate into business practices. Panelists reviewed benchmarking laws and federal tools that are providing better information about subject buildings and comparison properties. Read more.
9. LINC Housing: Replicable and Scalable Near-Zero Net Energy Retrofits for Low-Income Housing
To strengthen its commitment to sustainability, in 2012 LINC Housing formed SEED Partners, a mission-driven energy and water services company. SEED is focused on sustainable retrofits of LINC’s expanding portfolio, development of renewable energy projects, and enhancing the features of LINC’s properties under development. SEED also offers consulting services to help other owners with retrofitting their portfolio. Read more.
10. Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant Modernization – Oxygen Plant Replacement
The Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant (LAAFP) was completed in 1986 and has a treatment capacity of up to 600 million gallons of water per day. In the mid-2000’s, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) began a comprehensive modernization of the LAAFP with a long-range program to upgrade and replace aging equipment. Energy efficiency was a key component of the program. Replacement of the oxygen plant is one of several projects currently in progress that will help LADWP save energy and money, while improving operations. Read more.