This episode of REIT Report’s ongoing series “Building to Zero” features Maria Vargas, senior program advisor and director of the Better Buildings Initiative for the U.S. Department of Energy, and focuses on what is driving success, solutions and challenges in the industry. How is it being resolved? level.
Vargas shared his perspective on the importance of industry collaboration over his career, which has included 25 years at the Environmental Protection Agency and the last 13 years at DOE. She explains how the Better Buildings Initiative was designed as a platform to inspire and accelerate the adoption of energy efficiency and other decarbonization initiatives.
“We believe we spend about $200 billion a year to run our commercial buildings in this country. We spend an average of about $200 billion on our industrial facilities. And we know that, on average, 20% to 30% of that energy is wasted.
Since 2011, more than 400 leading organizations have participated in the Better Buildings Challenge to set aggressive portfolio-wide goals to advance energy efficiency, and to share how they were able to overcome some common barriers. Were. She shares how the program has evolved into the Better Climate Challenge, which asks organizations to set a portfolio-wide goal of at least 50% greenhouse gas reduction for Scope 1 and Scope 2 and share those actions. which they are adopting in the buildings and plants and houses which they now control.
Vargas shares that the Better Building Solutions Center’s website contains all the resources shared by challenge participants, so building owners can search for a specific challenge or obstacle. “Our role at DOE was not only to convene partners to exchange that type of information, but to help them accelerate the work that partners are doing and overcome barriers.”
She shares the DOE National Blueprint, recently announced at the Better Buildings Summit, which defines a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. buildings by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050.
