DOE invites Building Owners to Join Commercial Building Partnerships

As part of an ongoing effort to reduce energy use in new and existing commercial buildings, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites commercial building owners, operators, and technical experts to join its Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) initiative.

(www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/commercial_initiative/building_partnerships.html) Three DOE national laboratories—Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)—will manage this new effort, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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In support of this new CBP initiative, the national laboratories will issue two new opportunities for commercial businesses in mid-April 2010. Specifically, they are seeking:

•    Commercial building owners and operators constructing new buildings or retrofitting existing buildings that are significantly more energy-efficient than the current building stock

•    Technical Expert Teams and Measurement and Verification Technical Contractors to assist with CBP. At a minimum, Technical Expert Teams will include architectural, HVAC and controls, daylighting, lighting, energy modeling, building auditing and data collection, cost estimation, and commissioning expertise.

CBP accelerates the deployment of energy efficiency measures by teaming commercial building owners and operators (Participants) with laboratory researchers and private-sector technical experts to provide technical expertise to Participants in the design, construction, and validation of low-energy building designs. Participants benefit by learning about cost-effective energy saving measures that they can apply across their extensive building portfolios. Bringing private-sector consultants into the process to assist Participants further increases the likelihood that the energy efficiency measures and strategies used in CBP projects will move into the marketplace quickly and cost effectively.

In addition, each CBP building project will be documented in publicly available case studies. This detailed documentation will make it straightforward for building owners and operators outside of the CBP initiative to benefit from the work.

Here are the details for building owners, building operators, and technical experts interested in getting involved with CBP.

Call for Energy-Efficient Commercial Building Projects

Commercial building owners and operators can submit planned new or retrofit commercial building projects that will achieve significant energy savings by responding to the Call for Projects. Successful respondents will work with researchers at the national laboratories and with private-sector technical experts under contract to the national laboratories to achieve energy goals. Participants will receive no direct funding, but will have access to the technical expertise of both national laboratory personnel and private-sector consultants.

An online application is expected to be available at www.nrel.gov/cbp on April 19, 2010, and completed applications will be due by May 10, 2010. Those interested in applying are urged to begin considering planned building projects to submit. Note that this is a competitive process and not all projects will be selected.

Learn more about Commercial Building Partnerships and this new opportunity.www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/commercial_initiative/building_partnerships.html