Dan Young Dixon

In August 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI). The initiative is designed to explore and develop new approaches to significantly reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings.

With an ultimate goal of achieving net-zero energy buildings by 2025—meaning that buildings produce as much energy as they consume—DOE selected 21 companies from across the United States in September 2008 to participate in the first stage of the program. The agency budgeted $15 million over five years for the companies to work with two of DOE’s National Laboratories—Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)—in a cost-sharing collaboration. Each participating company will work with one of the labs to help identify and model innovative green technologies that will be incorporated to achieve increased energy savings.

Selected companies will design, build, tune and operate at least one new prototype building and retrofit an existing building, achieving 50 percent and 30 percent energy savings respectively, compared to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2004.

The companies selected to participate in the CBI include retailers, financial institutions and commercial real estate firms. The Opus Group is one of 11 real estate companies selected to participate. Other companies taking part in the initiative include Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), CB Richard Ellis (NYSE:CBG), JCPenney (NYSE:JCP), Macy’s (NYSE:M), Ryan Companies, SuperValu (NYSE:SVU), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Toyota (NYSE:TM).

A Green Opportunity
The greatest opportunity provided by the Net-Zero Energy CBI is the chance to move the needle forward on sustainability. Through its implementation of this program, the government is demonstrating its commitment to green building and energy savings within the commercial sector. Working with partners in the private sector will “accelerate the adoption of clean, energy efficient technologies,” according to John Mizroch, DOE acting assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Another goal of the CBI is to promote collaboration and information exchange between the participants. For example, one of the retailers may partner with one of the real estate developers to build a new facility or retrofit an existing facility that achieves the enhanced energy savings goals. Although some of the participants are competitors, each will work together in the spirit of sustainability to push the industry forward.

The Challenging Economy
The most significant challenge facing the initiative is the current economic climate. Given the global credit crisis, new construction starts have decreased dramatically. While there is confidence that the market will turn within the five-year timeframe planned for phase one of CBI, the current downturn may make it difficult for participants to select a project that is a good fit for the program. For its part, DOE is responding to the economic uncertainty by increasing the flexibility of the Net-Zero Energy program and allowing it to continually evolve.