A Drop in the Bucket or a Pebble in a Pond: Commercial Building Partners' Replication of EEMs Across Their Portfolios

This study presents findings from questionnaire and interview data investigating replication efforts of Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) partners that worked directly with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL partnered with 12 organizations on new and retrofit construction projects as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CBP program. PNNL and other national laboratories collaborate with industry leaders that own large portfolios of buildings to develop high performance projects for new construction and renovation. This project accelerates market adoption of commercially available energy saving technologies into the design process for new and upgraded commercial buildings. The labs provide assistance to the partners’ design teams and make a business case for energy investments. From the owner’s perspective, a sound investment results in energy savings based on corporate objectives and design. Through a feedback questionnaire, along with personal interviews, PNNL gathered qualitative and quantitative information relating to replication efforts by each organization. Data gathered through this process were analyzed to provide insight into two primary research areas: 1) CBP partners’ replication efforts of technologies and approaches used in the CBP project to the rest of the organization’s building portfolio (including replication verification), and 2) the market potential for technology diffusion into the total U.S. commercial building stock, as a direct result of the entire CBP program. Conclusions of this study indicate by 2030, a range of 2,957 to 97,101 buildings will be impacted by the CBP program through partner replication efforts, representing over 22% of all buildings in partner portfolios, and an energy savings potential between 2.3 and 77 trillion Btus annually.