EE Noon Event: Promoting Energy Efficiency in Buildings and the Private Sector

On Jan. 26, 2011,two leading energy efficiency (EE) experts came to the Alliance headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss EE in buildings and the private sector: Christian Kornevall, director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Bill Sisson, director of the Sustainability United Technologies Research Center.

The event was part of the Alliance’s “EE Noon” series – monthly seminars designed to share best practices and information from industry leaders in key areas of EE. These seminars are supported by phone conferencing to allow remote users to participate.

Investing in Efficient Buildings

In his presentation “Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Can We Transform the Building Market?,” Kornevall provided insight into why companies should invest in sustainable buildings.

Drawing from the Energy Efficiency in Buildings report – which notes that buildings account for 40 percent of the world’s energy use – Kornevall provided business owners with specific and realistic ways to decrease energy in their buildings.  For instance, Kornevall suggested that business owners should commit to making even marginal changes in windows and insulation, which are more feasible than full building renovations, to save on energy costs.
Kornevall also encouraged business owners to take part in reducing carbon emissions. Citing the report’s finding that buildings have the “greatest potential” to reduce CO2 emissions compared with other energy consumers. Kornevall suggested that business owners  who work efficiently in the office have great potential to enable market change.

To help business owners through the process of saving energy, Kornevall encouraged involvement with the Urban Infrastructure Initiative, which supports cross-sector relationships through collaboration with multiple sustainable corporate entities.

Powering Efficient Space

Adding to the information-sharing on buildings, Sisson discussed “Risks and Opportunities of Energy Efficiency for the Private Sector.”  Sisson said 91 percent of the energy that a building consumes (through air conditioning, heating electricity, etc.) is beyond what people need to stay comfortable and be productive.

Despite taking the best energy efficiency measures at a building’s initial construction, buildings cannot save energy “without a trained and educated workforce,” Sisson said. Given this issue, Sisson suggested buildings have a mandated system that involves everyone – from building developers to purchasers to tenants – in the construction and maintenance, so that all of these individuals abide by a single efficiency plan.

Alliance Communications Intern Rebecca Fleischer contributed to this content.