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In a recent CleanTechnica article, Joe Wachunas of the New Buildings Institute reports on the rising popularity of heat pump water heaters in 2023. This surge in sales highlights the growing adoption of energy-efficient, low-emission technologies that are both cost-effective...
Sustainable building groups release policy recommendations for new administration to address challenges in commercial real estate
Written by Deisy Verdinez, the U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. has published a policy agenda for the next administration aimed at revitalizing the commercial real estate sector. Responding to challenges like high interest rates, rising construction costs, and increasing climate...
DOE spurs new building energy codes with another $90M
Written by Ysabelle Kempe, The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $90 million in grants to support local implementation of energy-efficient building codes. This initiative aligns with the Biden administration’s goals for decarbonization and energy resilience. Through these awards, DOE...
Comprehensive Guide to Transform Energy Consumption in Sports and Entertainment Venues
Published by Green Sports Alliance: Building on the foundation of the “Building for the Next Generation Playbook” released in 2023, the Energy Decarbonization Playbook delves deeper into sustainable practices related to energy, such as GHG tracking, reduction, electrification, renewable energy,...
Decarbonizing School Buildings a Slow, Steady Process
Published by Facilities Net: The New Buildings Institute (NBI), which despite its name understands that most school districts can’t tear down their old buildings and replace them with new, fully electric ones, recently hosted a webinar to help facility managers transition...
Grunin Prize Winners Played Key Role Creating Calvert’s Cut Carbon Note
Published by Forbes: According to Conway, the Cut Carbon Note removes barriers to participation by property developers, who typically might think that such building would be too expensive. Properties that meet a new low-carbon building standard for efficiency improvements, developed...
One Home Builder Grows the Entire Heat Pump Water Heater Market by 30%
Published by Clean Technica: Sales of heat pump water heaters have grown steadily since becoming certified by ENERGY STAR in 2009. Clayton’s decision to install them in approximately 42,000 manufactured homes a year will be a huge boost.
Preparing a Large Property Portfolio for the Future
Published by NAIOP: The city [of Cambridge] established funding and sent out a RFQ seeking to develop a Municipal Facilities Improvement Plan (MFIP). The partnership of Arup, the New Buildings Institute and Boston-based ICON Architecture had the winning bid.
2024 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon
Published by Oregon Business: New Buildings Institute ranked 42 out of 100 for best green workplaces in Oregon.
Small actions & strong leadership: the call for climate action in museums
Published by blooloop: “It’s through that coalition that we have access to information and partners like New Buildings Institute, which helped us do Culture over Carbon or Rocky Mountain Institute, which helps us in the Helen Frankenthaler project grantmaking. It...
Is Your Building Operating at Net Zero Energy or Zero Carbon?
Published by ASHRAE: In the spring of 2023, ASHRAE published the first edition of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 228, Standard Method of Evaluating Zero Net Energy and Zero Net Carbon Building Performance. It contains a method of evaluating a building, or group...
Why heat-pump water heaters could soon take off
Published by Canary Media: On April 30, the Biden administration finalized efficiency standards — the wonky rules that govern appliances sold in the U.S. — that will supercharge sales of heat-pump water heaters. “This rule will ensure that heat-pump water...
Meet the Nation’s First Zero Energy Outpatient Healthcare Facility
Published by Facilities Net: Pueblo Community Health Center in Colorado achieved what no other facility of its type had before: Its total site energy use is offset by total site energy production, as verified by the New Buildings Institute.
Building Electrification Hastens Clean-Energy Transition
Published by Facilities Net: Ralph DiNola, CEO of the New Buildings Institute, has a bird’s-eye view of how this transformation is going. The institute, based in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit organization working to advance scalable and practical approaches that...
DOE Finalizes Efficiency Standards for Water Heaters to Save Americans Over $7 Billion on Household Utility Bills Annually
Published by Department of Energy: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today finalized Congressionally-mandated energy-efficiency standards for a range of residential water heaters to save American households approximately $7.6 billion per year on their energy and water bills, while significantly...
IDEA Public Schools Named National Leader in Efficient and Healthy Schools Program
The Efficient and Healthy Schools Program aims to motivate and empower K-12 schools to reduce energy costs and improve energy efficiency, health, and resilience. The program connects schools with practical solutions and provides technical assistance and resources to improve school...
Efficient and Healthy Schools Program Honors Schools for Improving Energy Efficiency & Learning Environments
Published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Berkely Lab’s Program team works collaboratively with New Buildings Institute to provide assistance to schools and districts in their submissions for recognition. The team also assisted DOE and one of the Program organizing partners...
This new software makes it simpler to crunch the prices of power upgrades
Published by Canary Media: RMI developed The Green Upgrade Calculator in partnership with seven different organizations including New Buildings Institute. Since the calculator’s debut final week, almost 2,000 people have used it to carry out their very own analyses, stated...
Indiana cities receive $500,000 federal grant for climate goals
Published by WISH-TV: The built environment is responsible for about 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to New Buildings Institute, and it’s only predicted to grow in the coming decades as new construction increases to keep up with population...
Heat pumps can replace traditional water heaters
Published by Star Tribune: Heat pump water heater sales grew 26% nationally in 2022 and gas versions fell by 17%, he said, pointing to data collected by the New Buildings Institute.
U.S. DOE Commercial Heat Pump Initiative Brings Together Multiple Partners
Published by Clean Technica: Ralph DiNola, chief executive officer of the decarbonization nonprofit New Buildings Institute, also sees an opportunity for [The Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator] to nudge commercial rooftop heat pump development in directions that will help reduce emissions...
In this Disadvantaged Community, a Proposed Bidirectional School Bus, Microgrid and Resilience Center – and Many Challenges
Published by Microgrid Knowledge: The Wy’East project will provide resilience for a community that not only experiences storm-related outages but is also subject to summer wildfires and public safety power shutoffs… Under the plan, components of the microgrid will be...
Adapting The Nation To Future Temperatures Through Heat-Resilient Procurement
Published by Federation of American Scientists: Code experts such as the New Buildings Institute and Regulatory Assistance Project could identify and modify existing code language to match the needs of federal procurement.
Combatting heat islands with new building codes
Published by ClimateWorks Foundation: Liepa Braciulyte of New Buildings Institute (NBI) describes the issue of urban heat islands and how NBI is developing building and zoning code language to help cities mitigate the urban heat island effect. This effect contributes to...
5 Steps to Decarbonize Facilities
Published by Facilities Net: Since buildings are responsible for 40 percent of global emissions, institutional and commercial facilities play a vital role in achieving that goal, but there are many signs that the U.S. is behind in those efforts. An...
Embodied carbon has been gaining traction in assessing the environmental impact of buildings
Published by Tree Frog News: According to New Buildings Institute, the building and construction industry is responsible for 39 percent of GHG emissions. And “of these emissions, one-third comes directly from the creation of construction products and construction activities.”
3 Energy Efficiency Resources for K-12 Facility Managers
Published by Facilities Net: Efficiency and Healthy Schools provides technical support and resource guidance to help school districts improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and improve energy performance while providing a healthier learning environment for students… Program participants can lean on...
Introducing the 120-volt Plug-in Heat Pump Water Heater
Published by Green Building Advisor: New Buildings Institute published an article about a 120 V plug-in heat pump water heater study and the report on that study. The study is title, Plug-In Heat Pump Water Heater Field Study Findings &...
Illinois to Become Latest State to Release Its Own Stretch Energy Code
Published by Green Building Advisor: the state’s legislature voted last May to extend its adoption period by six months in response to concerns about how the stretch code might hold up against the upcoming 2024 IECC. Turns out this was a...
Army Corps embarking on cutting-edge mass timber R&D
Published by Woodworking Network: As the Army works to meet these goals and accomplish the objectives set in its own Climate Strategy, it has begun to focus more attention on one of its biggest emissions drivers: construction activities related to...