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Macy’s in one of the companies signed up to the energy department’s challenge for greener buildings. Photograph: PCL / Alamy/Alamy
Macy’s in one of the companies signed up to the energy department’s challenge for greener buildings. Photograph: PCL / Alamy/Alamy

Facebook, Bank of America and others commit to cutting their energy use 20%

This article is more than 9 years old

As a new crop of companies pledge to use less energy under the US Better Buildings Challenge, here are 11 companies that have already made the cuts

Tech giants, fast food chains and financial institutions are the latest companies to commit to improving their energy efficiency, according to the US energy department. Facebook, Arby’s and Bank of America, among others, have taken up the challenge to reduce their energy use over the next decade, the department announced Thursday.

The Better Buildings Challenge is a voluntary program in which the participants commit to cut their energy use by 20% over 10 years and provide progress reports on how they are reaching that goal. The energy department offers technical assistance and matches participants with financial institutions that have agreed to help them carry out their energy reduction plans.

The program now has over 200 members, including businesses, public agencies, schools and multifamily housing owners and operators. Commercial buildings, including schools, gobble up about $200bn worth of energy each year, the energy department said. Yet technology and building management approaches are available today that could cut that spending by at least 20%.

The metrics used by the vast majority of the companies in the challenge is called “energy use intensity,” which refers to the per square foot consumption of energy (in BTU) over a year. Some businesses, such as hospitals and grocery stores, typically have higher energy use intensity numbers than, say, an office or school.

Here is a list of top 11 corporate members who are farthest along in achieving their 20% energy intensity reduction goals, based on data posted on the energy department website. The list doesn’t include those new members announced today.

1. Best Buy

Target: 20% energy reduction on 47.8m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 24%

The electronics retailer gets a gold star for already reaching its goal. It relied on energy management monitoring and analytics software to spot wasteful consumption, upgraded its heating and cooling equipment and used skylights and dimmable bulbs to reduce the amount of artificial lighting it needed.

2. Sprint

Target: 20% total energy use on 15m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 19%

Sprint wants to play it differently by showing the reduction in its total energy use rather than energy intensity, but it has accomplished quite a bit by either metric. The company says it has upgraded its wireless network with more energy efficient technology, installed LED lighting and created energy management plans and goals for different business units.

3. Schneider Electric

Target: 25% on 9m sq ft by 2019
Cumulative reduction achieved: 18%

Schneider Electric has a leg up over other program participants – it sells energy tracking and management software and a wide range of equipment, from lighting control to cooling systems for data centers, as part of its core business.

4. Macy’s

Target: 20% on 173m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 16%

You can imagine the important role that lighting plays for a retailer like Macy’s. The department store cut its energy use by retrofitting lighting systems, upgrading heating and cooling equipment and use analytics software that collects data in 15-minute intervals in order to figure out ways to reduce wasteful energy consumption.

5. Lend Lease

Target: 20% on 61m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 16%

The real estate development and management company aims to reduce the energy footprint of a collection of military housing communities. Its approaches included fixing leaky ducts, improving building insulation and creating better ventilation to reduce air conditioning use.

6. Staples

Target: 25% on 45m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 12%

The office equipment retailer created an Eco-Treasure Hunt program that brings together energy management experts and staff at some of its fulfillment centers to carry out energy audits and educate employees about energy efficiency practices.

7. Wyndham Worldwide

Target: 20% on 10m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 12%

The hotel chain created a mandatory green building certification program for all of its vacation resort properties. Those resorts carried out retrofit projects to upgrade its heating and cooling equipment, lighting and appliances, and improve its building insulation.

8. Kohl’s

Target: 20% on 112m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 12%

Replacing old, inefficient rooftop air conditioning systems and interior and exterior lighting systems, and using energy management software to better control consumption, are part of the department store’s energy reduction plans. Putting someone from the finance department on its energy management team makes it easier to demonstrate energy savings and securing money for retrofit projects, the company says.

9. Ascension Health

Target: 20% on 35m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 10%

The Catholic nonprofit runs many hospitals and other healthcare facilities across the country. It has created master plans that include energy saving requirements, a protocol for evaluating projects and a maximum budget of $3m for each approved project. The projects included upgrading the electric motors of its fans and air conditioning chillers and replacing inefficient light bulbs.

10. The Tower Companies

Target: 20% on 2.8m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 10%

The commercial and residential real estate developer includes a clause in new leases and renewals that requires its tenants to improv energy efficiency if they plan to renovate their space. The company also uses energy monitoring software and efficient lighting, as well as more efficient heating and cooling controls systems, at its properties.

11. Whole Foods Market

Target: 20% on 12.9m sq ft by 2020
Cumulative reduction achieved: 10%

Whole Foods worked with one of its main utilities, NSTAR, to figure out how to best use the available energy efficiency incentives, which sometimes are crafted in ways that don’t really apply to grocery stores. They worked out a plan that made it more economical for Whole Foods to upgrade lighting and refrigeration equipment, and monitor its energy use more closely.

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