Goals and Objectives

Photo of the exterior of a building. The left wing appears to be two stories tall and the façade is all glass with a curved roof. The right wing appears to be just one story, is more rectangular, and has a glass façade.

Zion National Park's Visitor's Center uses primarily daylighting to light the interior and thermal mass flooring for heating in the winter.
Courtesy of NREL/Robb Williamson

The U.S. Department of Energy's Commercial Building Initiative collaborates with the private sector, national laboratories, other federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations to advance energy-efficient and green commercial building technologies. Here you'll find information about the Commercial Building Initiative's (CBI) goal and objectives, key activities, and the Multi-Year Program Plan.

Commercial Building Initiative's Goal

CBI's goal, as set by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Technologies Program, is to significantly improve the efficiency of new and existing commercial buildings to reduce national energy demand. Section 2.2 of the Building Technologies Program 2008 Multi-Year Program Plan discusses this goal and the strategies to achieve it (PDF 1.4 MB). Download Adobe Reader.

CBI focuses on two key areas. First, CBI is conducting research to dramatically improve the efficiency of existing buildings. Key to this research is identifying the most cost-effective retrofitting strategies that also improve the safety and comfort of existing buildings. Second, CBI is looking toward the future by developing strategies to construct new, marketable buildings that achieve 50% to 70% whole building energy improvements, relative to Standard 90.1-2004.

To reach these efficiency goals, CBI is working with DOE national laboratories to improve how U.S. commercial buildings use energy. DOE has also established alliances and partnerships that bring together private-sector industry leaders to determine ways to reduce energy consumption, energy costs, and environmental impacts of commercial buildings.

Objectives

CBI strives to do the following to support and achieve the goal of maximum efficiency in buildings:

Promote technology research and development
Sponsor pilot and demonstration projects across multiple climate zones
Provide technical assistance to encourage widespread technology adoption
Develop training materials and programs for builders
Promote consumer-focused education that makes clear the need for efficiency in new and existing buildings
Work with code-setting bodies to ensure technologies are properly deployed
Analyze and propose incentives for builders, landlords, and tenants to ensure that cost-effective investments are made on a life-cycle basis
Develop targeted tools for measurement and verification of energy savings.

Multi-Year Program Plan

Learn more about the goals and objectives for energy-efficient commercial buildings in the Building Technologies Program Multi-Year Program Plan.