Better Buildings Federal Award
Have Questions?
A list of frequently asked questions
contains answers to a variety of Better Buildings Federal Award queries.
The Better Buildings Federal Award recognizes the Federal
Government's highest-performing buildings through a competition to
achieve the greatest reduction in annual energy intensity on a
year-over-year basis. The Federal building that has achieved the
greatest energy savings in that year wins.A list of frequently asked questions
contains answers to a variety of Better Buildings Federal Award queries.The President's Memo of December 2, 2011, challenged the private and public sector to make rapid investments in creating a more sustainable, energy-efficient workplace and set an example to the nation. As part of this initiative, the Federal Government is committed to investing $2 billion in energy-efficient investments that can repay upfront investment with the savings retained from lower energy costs.
As a part of this initiative, the White House
and DOE are challenging Federal agencies to demonstrate their
commitment by nominating competitors for the Better Buildings Federal
Award. DOE will select approximately 10 finalists the first year, based
on submitted applications, in a race to see which building can reduce
its Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 energy intensity (Btu per square foot of
facility space) by the greatest amount.DOE will continue this challenge each year, with each subsequent competition measuring its energy intensity against the previous year.
Competition Eligibility
Nominees must meet the following eligibility requirements:-
Only Federal buildings are eligible to enter.
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Nominated buildings should be among the top performers for the
agency, not only based on potential energy reduction but also on a wide
range of innovative or comprehensive energy management practices
undertaken by the building (e.g., energy-saving projects and
technologies, educational and outreach activities, behavior change).
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Nominated buildings currently must be using Portfolio Manager to
track energy performance data, and must have a complete data set that
includes total facility Btu from all power sources and total facility
square footage for all months of the preceding year (in the first year,
FY 2011), and must continue to use Portfolio Manager for each month of
the competition year.
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Nominated buildings must be willing to share month-to-month
energy performance data entered into Portfolio Manager with DOE as soon
as data is available. Agencies must further be willing to have their
monthly and annual energy intensity metric posted on a public website.
Selection of Finalists
DOE will select finalists for the competition based on submitted applications. The applications should be no longer than two pages and should provide information about past and current efforts taken at the facility that demonstrate leadership and promote ongoing energy savings and sustainability.Specific information should include:
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Energy efficiency measures deployed at the building, including
renewable energy applications, energy management controls, and other
cost- and energy-saving measures.
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Best practices in energy management and building operations undertaken by facility personnel.
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Institutional change programs to encourage building occupants to
participate in energy conservation, including sustainable purchasing
programs, innovative uses of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and
other tools that encourage collaboration in facility sustainability.
Instructions for Entering
All nominations must be approved by the agency coordinator, who will be responsible for vetting and verifying claims made in the nominations as well as for reviewing and approving each nomination. Nominations must be approved and submitted by the agency coordinator no later than April 27, 2012, for consideration. Your agency may have an earlier internal deadline; please contact your agency coordinator in advance to confirm. A list of agency coordinators is available.To enter, each nominated facility should develop a separate written narrative for each nominated facility. Each agency may submit a maximum of five nominations to compete in the challenge based on the eligibility criteria. Based on the information provided in the nominations, approximately 10 finalists will be selected by DOE to compete in the final stage.
The written narrative should be kept to two single-spaced pages. Photographs or other visual depictions of the nominated building are highly encouraged to enhance the quality of the competition website and provide publicity value to the agency. These materials will not be counted against the page limit.
Nominations must include a name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone numbers for a point of contact at the nominated building. Please be sure to include the agency, city, and state where the building is located.
As a general guide, the evaluation of each nomination's written narrative will look for the following:
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Steps taken to improve the nominated building's energy
performance in terms of improvements to the facility, design of the
facility, equipment purchases and upgrades, or building management
systems.
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Programs initiated at the building that encourage building
occupants to become involved in improving the performance of building.
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Best practices in energy management employed at the building.
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Adoption of innovative ways to save energy by building staff or
occupants, which may include innovative use of social media to encourage
greater involvement by occupants or staff.
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From your My Portfolio page, select the facility you would like to share.
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On the facility page, find and select "Add user to share this facility."
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Find the Better Buildings Federal Award's Master Account, titled "Better Buildings Federal Award – DOE_FEMP"
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For nominations, it is only necessary to provide Read Only access.
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Save your selections to share the building.
Please review your applications carefully to ensure the three essential requirements are met:
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Written narrative
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Contact information
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Shared Portfolio Manager data
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