Better Buildings Challenge: Sectors
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Commercial Sector
With 4 million buildings accounting for 56 million square feet of floor space, the U.S. commercial sector—including retail, hospitality, commercial real estate, and healthcare industries—is large, diverse, and represents substantial energy savings potential.
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Data Centers Sector
In the United States, data centers consume over 100 billion kWh of electricity per year, more than 2% of all U.S. electricity use, and are rapidly growing users of energy as more information is shared and stored online. If all U.S. data centers were 20% more efficient, the nation could save more than 20 billion kWh by 2020.
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Financial Services Sector
Financing continues to be one of the top challenges in the marketplace for energy efficiency retrofits and renovations. Through the Better Buildings Challenge, financial allies support energy efficiency investments by making their finance products available and share their successful financing models and strategies publically.
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Higher Education Sector
With more than 20 million post-secondary students, and over 5 billion square feet of floor space, the higher education sector in the United States spends an estimated $14 billion annually on energy costs.
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Energy savings of 20% and more have been demonstrated int he industrial sector signifying potential cost savings of up to $50 billion by 2020. The industrial sector represents 12% of U.S. GDP, and a quarter of all energy consumed in the United States. |
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K-12 School Districts Sector
Energy is an expense schools can reduce to free up educational resources. Energy efficiency offers the potential to redirect significant savings back to educating students, as K-12 schools and higher education institutions respectively spend $8 billion and $6.5 billion annually on energy.
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Local Government Sector
Local government buildings account for 62% of all government floor space and have a savings potential of 260 trillion Btus. Energy efficiency in the public sector reduces costs, enables needed funding for public priorities, and demonstrates good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
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Multifamily Sector
Roughly 17% of U.S. households live in multifamily housing and spend $21 billion on energy annually. An increasing number of studies demonstrate the significant energy savings potential in this building sector.
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State Government Sector
Energy consumption in state and local government buildings totals 980 trillion Btus annually. State buildings could reduce energy use by up to 100 trillion Btus.
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