Energy Efficiency for Commercial Buildings in Focus

The Existing Commercial Buildings Working Group of the State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network (SEE Action) has developed best practice recommendations to improve energy efficiency in public and private commercial buildings through whole-building approaches. These best practices can save energy, save money, and create jobs. For example, retro-commissioning offers 10% to 30% energy savings, dollar savings of 2 to 10 times the cost, and can add up to millions of dollars saved across a building portfolio. Retro-commissioning programs create an estimated 5 to 15 green jobs per $1 million invested. SEE Action fact sheets are available on:

• Energy benchmarking to measure the energy performance of buildings, improve information transparency in the market, and identify good candidates for energy audits and upgrades.
• Strategic energy management to reduce upgrade costs across a portfolio of facilities and institutionalize practices to sustain long-term savings.
• Retro-commissioning to “tune up” a building’s equipment to increase efficiency without a major capital investment.
• High performance leasing to overcome the “split incentive” problem faced by tenants and property owners by incorporating energy efficiency benefit- and cost-sharing practices into lease terms.

About SEE Action

SEE Action is a state- and local-led effort to achieve all cost-effective energy efficiency by 2020. Facilitated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), SEE Action offers knowledge, resources, and technical assistance to state and local decision makers as they advance energy efficiency policies and programs in their jurisdictions.