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Yale students John D’Agostino, James Santana, and Michael Puckett present their solution for the EEB Hub case study to Mona Khalil (U.S. DOE), Casey Bell (ACEEE), Mark Stutman (EEB Hub), Laurie Actman (EEB Hub), and Kenneth Starr (Montgomery County, PA).

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City of Fort Worth, Texas judges Councilmember Joel Burns (City of Fort Worth), Jeffrey Harris (Alliance to Save Energy), Sarah Zaleski (U.S. DOE), and Councilmember Danny Scarth (City of Fort Worth) weigh in during the question and answer portion of student proposals.

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Babson College students Kevin Loos, Savitha Sridharan, Alexandra Coleman, Yair Gross, and David Stempler present their solution for the City of Fort Worth case study.

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“The Everything Store” judges Tari Emerson (Kohl’s Department Stores), Bob Valair (Staples), and Pat Maher (Burton Energy Group) take a moment to celebrate and deliberate over student proposals.

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Students enjoy an informal discussion about “The Everything Store” case with judges Paul Torcellini (U.S. DOE), Nandini Mouli (Maryland Energy Administration), and Claire Ramspeck (ASHRAE).

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Judges Ron Hachey (VA Dept. of Mines, Minerals and Energy), Kinga Porst (U.S. GSA), and Marshall Duer-Balkind (DDOE/IMT) watch intently alongside UC Irvine students Jeremy Pearson and Bogdan Rusu as their team presents their proposal for the U.S. GSA case study.

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Panelists Claire Ramspeck (ASHRAE), Scott Williams (Target), Dorothy Robyn (U.S. GSA), Nick Sinai (U.S. OSTP), and panel moderator Tim Unruh (U.S. DOE) discuss transformational technologies in the commercial buildings energy efficiency field.

Image of group of people outside on top of building

Panelists Jonathan McCracken (Sen. Sherrod Brown), Duane Desiderio (Real Estate Roundtable), Robert Diznoff (Sen. Jeanne Shaheen), and panel moderator Michelle Moore (U.S. OMB) discuss the potential role of energy efficiency in upcoming legislative and executive branch activities.



Better Buildings Case Competition

As part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the DOE engages collegiate students through the Better Buildings Case Competition. This competition provides the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs and policymakers with skills and experience to start careers in clean energy and generates creative solutions to real-world problems to be used as models by businesses and other organizations across the marketplace. Through the Better Buildings Case Competition, the DOE seeks creative and innovative solutions for energy efficiency that could be implemented by the commercial industry, thereby serving as "models for success".

Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu and Assistant Secretary Dr. David Danielson officially launched the second annual Better Buildings Case Competition in Fall 2012. On Friday, March 8, 2013, students from 14 university teams presented their solutions to a panel of DOE and industry experts for the City of Fort Worth, the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub, the "Everything Store", and the U.S. General Services Administration. These case studies and other materials are available in the 2013 Resources box on the right of this page. Please direct all inquiries to BBCC@ee.doe.gov.

The inaugural Better Buildings Case Competition was held on Friday, March 2, 2012 at the White House campus. Students from 19 universities traveled across the country to compete in an all day workshop. The student teams competed to find the best solutions to the energy efficiency challenges presented in real-world case studies for the City of Houston, the District of Columbia, HEI Hotels and Resorts, and Cassidy Turley.

2013 PARTICIPANTS

Babson College
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
The George Washington University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tufts University
University of Chicago
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University

City of Fort Worth

Students developed strategies to help the City of Fort Worth and local utilities and industry work together to achieve the Better Building Challenge goal to make commercial and industrial buildings 20% more energy efficient by 2020.

2013 Winners:

winners

Best Proposal

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zachary Accuardi, Ryan Cook, Defne Gurel, Wardah Inam, Christopher Jones, Ryan Sheinbein, Dania El Hassan, Yuanjian Li, Kaitlin Goldstein, Mehmet Onbasli

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winners

Most Innovative

Carnegie Mellon University
Zhun Min Adrian Chong, Chao Ding, Alan Jenn, Donald Johnson, Jie Yee Chan, Allison Weis, Mili-Ann Tamayao

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View the Presentation

Energy Efficient Buildings Hub

Students examined strategies for the EEB Hub to help Montgomery County, Pennsylvania complete a renovation that achieves significant energy savings in a publicly-owned, multitenant office building.

2013 Winners:

winners

Best Proposal

Yale University
Laura Franceschini, Vijeta Jangra, John D'Agostino, Michael Puckett, William Miao, Kristen Demeter, James Santana, Jessica Aldridge, Caren Perlmutter, Carol Rosenfeld

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winners

Most Innovative

University of California-Santa Barbara
Harry Bergmann, James Choe, Jason Dale, Michael Georgescu, Martin Harrison, Jacob McConnell, Melanie Jones, Alexandra Kovalick, Justin Lichter, Benjamin White

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"Everything Store"

Students recommended criteria for selecting among potential options to increase cooling efficiency in big box retail stores by upgrading rooftop unit technology.

2013 Winners:

winners

Best Proposal

Carnegie Mellon University
Zhun Min Adrian Chong, Chao Ding, Alan Jenn, Donald Johnson, Jie Yee Chan, Allison Weis, Mili-Ann Tamayao

Read the Paper
View the Presentation

winners

Most Innovative

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zachary Accuardi, Ryan Cook, Defne Gurel, Wardah Inam, Christopher Jones, Ryan Sheinbein, Dania El Hassan, Yuanjian Li, Kaitlin Goldstein, Mehmet Onbasli

Read the Paper
View the Presentation

U.S. General Services Administration

Students proposed strategies for energy metering and measurement to meet federal savings goals in government buildings across the United States.

2013 Winners:

winners

Best Proposal

Yale University
Laura Franceschini, Vijeta Jangra, John D'Agostino, Michael Puckett, William Miao, Kristen Demeter, James Santana, Jessica Aldridge, Caren Perlmutter, Carol Rosenfeld

Paper Coming Soon
Presentation Coming Soon

winners

Most Innovative

University of Chicago
Jorge Caraballo, Evan Johnson, Alexander Frank, Patrick Woods, Shruti Mathure, Jessica van der Vooren, Hans Stege, Ben Mactiernan

Paper Coming Soon
Presentation Coming Soon

2013 Resources

2012 Highlights

2012 PARTICIPANTS

Georgetown University
The George Washington University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Tufts University
Harvard University
Babson College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dartmouth College
Yale University
Columbia University
Duke University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of California, Berkeley

University of Southern California
University of California, Irvine
University of Colorado, Denver
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Vanderbilt University
Texas A&M University