50 Multifamily Housing Owners Join Better Buildings Challenge

The US Departments of Energy (DOE) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) expanded the Better Buildings Challenge to multifamily housing and announced 50 multifamily partners – representing roughly 200,000 units and over 190 million square feet – have committed to cutting their energy use by 20 percent in ten years.

In the United States, about a quarter of households live in multifamily housing such as apartments and condominiums. Improving the energy efficiency of these buildings by 20 percent will save nearly $7 billion in energy costs each year, according to DOE.

The Energy Department also launched three new Better Buildings Accelerators to support and encourage ongoing state- and local government- led efforts to cut save money and energy, including:

1. Better Buildings Energy Data Accelerator: More than 30 cities and utilities will develop streamlined approaches to help building owners access whole-building energy use data.
2. Better Buildings Performance Contracting Accelerator: Sixteen states, cities and school districts will enter into $1.2 billion worth of performance-based contracts to increase energy efficiency.
3. Better Buildings Industrial Superior Energy Performance (SEP) Accelerator: Nine U.S. manufacturers and utilities will use a superior energy performance (SEP) certification program to verify energy efficiency improvements and practices.