This year at VERGE, the Clean Energy Buyers Association is hosting a session on how energy customers can leverage clean energy to reduce emissions coming from the buildings all around us. The opportunity and path forward is shared here.

Commercial buildings represent more than 1/3 of electricity consumption in the U.S.¹ With changing market and environmental conditions, buildings must operate more efficiently and must use clean energy.

Buildings are the backbone of our society, our homes, schools, grocery stores, and workplaces. They provide stability and comfort but also require energy to operate — nearly three-quarters of the U.S. electricity demand.² We can transform buildings across the United States into models of efficiency, sustainability, and innovation. Imagine a futureare efficient, run on clean energy, and may even be a source of power, while producing 65% less greenhouse gases in the next 10 years as envisioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (ambitious but possible!).³

CEBA envisions a future for commercial real estate decarbonized through five principles:

1. Build collaboration and partnership. Landlords and tenants work together to identify sustainable energy practices.
2. Ensure transparent energy use per tenant. Tenants and landlords alike can make informed decisions about energy thanks to better reporting and data that is available, up to date, and representative of reality.
3. Prioritize energy reduction and efficiency. About 30% of energy that flows to and from commercial buildings in the U.S. is lost.⁴ Tenants and landlords together can implement efficiency measures in building operations. In addition, buildings themselves can be constructed with efficiency and a green supply chain in mind. At Climate Week the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform sent a strong signal for clean steel demand from major building owners, operators, and tenants.
4.  Provide access to meaningful clean energy options. Landlords can act on behalf of their buildings and tenants and provide access to cost-competitive solutions. Such options can provide new energy resources to the grid, emphasize responsible resource use, and promote community development.
5. Engage in public disclosure and benchmarking. Reporting energy performance while setting and disclosing progress leads to a higher standard of energy use while simultaneously rewarding landlords who have set goals and demonstrated an attention to achieving them.

Incorporating new practices for energy efficiency and sorting through clean energy options can be daunting. You are not alone, and there is much you can learn from the experiences of your peers. Therefore, it’s essential to find partners and peers to collaborate with in your journey — such as through CEBA’s Real Estate Working Group — to develop shared solutions. 

VERGE 24 is one such avenue for collaboration. This annual event convenes those committed to improving the way we live and work. Each programmatic track takes attendees through components in our collective journey toward decarbonization. This year, join us for our Leveraging Clean Energy to Combat Building Emissions session at VERGE 2024 on October 29 at 3:15 PM. During this session, we will explore the ways organizations are reducing their building emissions through clean energy procurement with no short supply of creative thinking. Attendees will hear case studies from large energy customers who have gone through the process of evaluating their clean energy needs as well as the perspective of seasoned advisors on how you can join the ranks of those taking action to spearhead cleaner buildings.

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¹About the Commercial Buildings Integration Program | Department of Energy
²“Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector.” United States Department of Energy, 2024. Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050 (energy.gov)
³“Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector.” United States Department of Energy, 2024. Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050 (energy.gov)
⁴https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/publications/pubdocs/C+I_brochure.pdf