'	LEARN MORE AT
energystar.gov
Energy Efficiency Initiatives
Commercial and Industrial Case Study
Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
BetterBricks ENERGY STAR® Initiatives
<
The Company
NORTHWEST
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ALLIANCE
The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) is a
non-profit organization working to encourage the
development and adoption of energy-efficient products
and services. NEEA is supported by the region's electric
utilities, public benefits administrators, state
governments, public interest groups, and efficiency
industry representatives. BetterBricks is the commercial
building initiative of NEEA.
Goals and Objectives
The goal of BetterBricks is to improve energy
management business practices that result in lasting
energy savings in commercial buildings in the
Northwest.
Description
BetterBricks advocates for best practices in energy
management which includes benchmarking buildings and
the purchase of energy-efficient equipment. By
educating building professionals in using the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Portfolio
Manager dittos ://www. energy star, gov/istar/pmpam/) for
benchmarking and promoting ENERGY STAR Product
Purchasing	Guidelines
flittp://www.energvstar.gov/index.cfm?c=bulk purchasin
g.bus purchasing! BetterBricks aims to accelerate
energy-efficient business practices in the market.
~~ Target Customers
BetterBricks targets the following:
o Real Estate Owners and Managers
o Hospitals and Healthcare Executives and Building
staff
o New Construction building professionals including
architects and engineers
o Building operation professionals including building
operators and service contractors
o ENERGY STAR 4.0 qualified desktop computers
~~ Marketing and Outreach
o Building performance contests target real estate
professionals to accelerate use of benchmarking as
an energy management
vvEPA	practice. Marketing efforts
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
include the promotion of engineering services for
the building to earn the ENERGY STAR label,
outreach by utility partners, educational programs,
and BOMA training programs for real estate
professionals
ditto ://www.boma. or g/T raining AndEducation/BEEP
/Page s/default, aspx).
o Outreach to hospitals and health care facilities is
directed to convince executives, facility managers,
and other key decision makers that energy efficiency
directly supports organizational goals and needs,
o Educational promotions were developed for
architectural and engineering firms for the New
Construction and Integrated Design Lab initiative,
o Educational promotions are used to market
ENERGY STAR 4.0 qualified desktop computers
with messaging for manufacturers, and consumers.
~~ Process
All BetterBricks commercial building programs promote
ENERGY STAR tools and strategies to address high
performance building energy management. BetterBricks
actively educates and trains building professionals about
benchmarking with Portfolio Manager and integrates
EPA performance ratings and labels as key elements for
successful energy management practices. BetterBricks
assists market actors in developing programs to
progressively integrate ENERGY STAR's whole
building energy performance strategy over time. Target
markets promote ENERGY STAR tools as described
below.
Portland and Seattle Office Real Estate
Benchmarking Competitions
Implementation is achieved by:
o Building awareness of energy management
opportunities as they relate to business objectives,
o Emphasizing market leaders' visibility with success
stories, awards and events to encourage peers,
o Creating building performance contests as a vehicle
to accelerate adoption of benchmarking
o Training real estate office owners and managers in
benchmarking energy use though Portfolio Manager
o Funding engineering services for verification of
ratings to earn the ENERGY STAR label.
BetterBricks and BOMA BEEP Trainings
The BOMA Foundation created the BOMA Energy
Efficiency Program (BEEP) in partnership with
September 2009

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Commercial and Industrial Case Study
ENERGY STAR. The training is designed for property
owners, building managers and building operators and
focuses on the economics of energy efficiency and how
to build and operate buildings more efficiently. BEEP is
also used to promote an industry best practices guide for
operational excellence, and to document success through
recognition. Regional utilities offer incentives to
customers who attend BEEP trainings.
BetterBricks Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities
Strategic Energy Management Plans
In the healthcare market, BetterBricks works to develop
program strategies to progressively integrate whole
building energy performance through a Strategic Energy
Management Plan (SEMP). SEMP is a long-term plan
that addresses: staffing, training, procurements,
budgeting, construction of high performance buildings
and enhanced building operations. ENERGY STAR's
Portfolio Manager, Target Finder, procurement and
whole building performance are promoted. The goals are
to:
o Convince executives, facility managers and key
decision makers that energy efficiency directly
supports organizational goals and needs,
o Develop strong relationships with trade
organizations like the state hospital engineers
(SHEs) and state hospital associations (SHAs).
o Deliberately leverage successes and publicize
through stories, articles and awards.
BetterBricks New Construction and Integrated
Design Labs
BetterBricks developed its Integrated Design Labs and
programs for new construction to educate and promote
integrated design to the industry. Energy goal setting is
key with EPA's Target Finder as the primary tool for that
strategy (www, energy star, gov/targetfinder). The goals
are to:
o Educate Northwest architecture and design firms on
the benefits of high performance buildings,
o Communicate success stories through case studies,
o Develop criteria and metrics for carbon reduction
projects for the AIA COTE annual design award.
BetterBricks 80 PLUS/ENERGY STAR 4.0
BetterBricks leveraged the ENERGY STAR 4.0
specifications to support acquisition of 80 PLUS power
supplies and to promote ENERGY STAR products.
BetterBricks:
o Secured participation of regional utilities that
provided funding to support acquisitions,
o De v elope d and im plem ented m arketing m aterials.
o Recruited power supply manufacturers and
developed a test protocol for power supplies,
o Developed the website: www.80plus.com to educate
consumers about computer equipment selection.
Results
Portland and Seattle Office Real Estate
Benchmarking Competitions
o 20% of the market, including 67 buildings and 23
organizations participated in Seattle's competition,
o In 2008, the Portland competition benchmarked over
7 million square feet; the Seattle competition
benchmarked over 21.5 million square feet,
o Free engineering to earn the ENERGY STAR label
resulted in 40 new labeled buildings,
o Independent verification for 8 months report weather
normalized savings from . 185aMW to ,370aMW.
BetterBricks and BOMA BEEP Trainings
o BetterBricks trained 919 building professionals in
benchmarking through 2008.
o The BEEP training led to additional expanded
trainings to support regional BOMA groups.
BetterBricks Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities
Strategic Energy Management Plans
o Facilities that were benchmarked account for 25% of
the region's beds,
o Five market specialists were trained so they can train
facility staff at targeted hospitals in the future,
o 30% of the Northwest Hospitals are working to
establish energy efficient purchasing policies.
BetterBricks 80 PLUS/ENERGY STAR 4.0
o Ten utilities provided $1.2 million for computer
equipment acquisitions,
o 20,000 80 PLUS power supply units were
purchased.
o Over 46,600 power supply units were purchased in
2008. 25,000 units met ENERGY STAR 4.0 criteria.
Contact Information
For more information visit www.betterbricks.com.
Jack Davis
NEEA
(503) 827-8416 ext. 235
JDavis@nwalliance. org
Tracy Narel
U.S. E.P.A.
(202) 343-9145
narel .tracv@epa. gov
For general questions please contact:
com m ere ialprogr am s@,ener gy star. gov
vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
September 2009

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