Goal to Make Buildings More Energy Efficient
WASHINGTON, DC – The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) accepted the White House Better Buildings Challenge (BBC) in partnership with the District of Columbia this month, leading the way to reduce energy consumption in BID-based buildings by a minimum of 20% by 2020.
The BBC is the public-private partnership component of President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative launched last February. It seeks to catalyze private sector investment in commercial and industrial building energy upgrades to make the nation’s buildings 20% more efficient by the end of the decade, reducing energy costs for American businesses by nearly $40 billion and garnering commitments from community leaders to support innovative ideas with action, share successes and create solutions for others to follow.
“The BID is excited to be a featured part of Mayor Vincent Gray’s commitment to this Challenge,” said Richard H. Bradley, the DowntownDC BID’s executive director. “We’re using our DowntownDC ecoDistrict framework to support the Mayor’s goal of making Washington DC the most sustainable city in the country. We are recruiting local properties and portfolios to participate in the BBC and identifying partners with resources and services to assist them in achieving the reduction goals.”
Ten companies within the BID area have made national commitments to participate in the BBC: CBRE, Forest City Enterprises, HEI Hotels and Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Jones Lang LaSalle, RREEF Real Estate, Shorenstein Properties, TIAA-CREF, Transwestern, and USAA Real Estate. Each of these companies has a large footprint in the District of Columbia and the DowntownDC ecoDistrict. In addition, the AFL-CIO has pledged to retrofit its national headquarters building that is located in the BID area.
In the District of Columbia, the built environment accounts for 70% of energy usage and 75% of greenhouse gas emissions. The BID area is comprised of 90 million square feet of publicly and privately held buildings. Both the BID and the District will embrace a multi-pronged action plan to reduce energy consumption in office, hotel, retail, government, residential, civic and cultural institution spaces in the downtown core.
As part of the BBC, the BID will host a 2012 Building Energy Summit on February 16, 2012. The Summit will provide businesses with information and resources they need to help make the 2020 goal a reality.
“Together, the members of the ecoDistrict can reduce energy consumption, cut energy costs and ensure that the city is a national leader in energy efficiency,” said Bradley. “We invite all property owners in the DowntownDC ecoDistrict to accept the Better Buildings Challenge.”
For more information about the BBC and the DowntownDC ecoDistrict, contact Scott Pomeroy, the BID’s sustainability manager, at 202.661.7580.