Playbook for Green Buildings + Neighborhoods | Types | Act | Buildings | New Commercial

Local governments can also target improved energy performance by promoting complementary initiatives, including:

Alley24, a LEED Gold project in Seattle, WA is the first project in the city to demonstrate that building energy efficiency targets set out by the 2030 Challenge are achievable today. Photo Credit: NBBJ Architects

Energy Star Challenge. This program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a call to action to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and industrial buildings by 10 percent or more. If the challenge is met, businesses would save $20 billion a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to equal those from 30 million vehicles.

Challenge participants are encouraged to measure and track energy use, and develop and implement an energy improvements plan. The US EPA Energy Tracking Tool for commercial buildings has been updated to include greenhouse gas emission factors, enabling users to estimate the carbon footprint of their commercial buildings.

The 2030 Challenge. Architecture 2030 issued this call to action, which is aimed at achieving immediate and ongoing fossil fuel reductions for buildings, with a goal of having all new buildings be carbon-neutral by 2030. The challenged is based on a realization that 75 percent of the buildings in the United States in 2035 will have been built or renovated over the next three decades.

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey database will serve as the baseline for measuring compliance with the 2030 Challenge’s targets for reducing emissions. The Energy Star Target Finder is one tool readily available to help with the calculations.

Green Guide for Health Care

Closely modeled on LEED the guide is a self assessment tool

Laboratories for the 21st Century

Greening laboratory facilities.

Architecture 2030 Challenge

Challenge for Carbon Neutral Buildings. Resources, analysis and call to America for low carbon build...

ENERGY STAR Challenge

US EPA

LEED Green Building Rating System

Third party rating system information for buildings

In the United States, commercial buildings provide approximately 78 billion square feet of floor space. These buildings can save 35% or more on annual energy costs through energy-efficient upgrades, creating more than $25 billion in annual savings. (USEPA)