Clinton Foundation Focuses on Existing Buildings

Allyson Wendt

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) will undertake a global project to encourage retrofitting buildings with energy-efficient technologies, former President Bill Clinton announced in May 2007 at a New York meeting of representatives of the world’s 40 largest cities.

The program brings together several energy service companies and banks to help initiate and finance retrofit programs in 15 cities around the world, including Chicago, Houston, New York, and Toronto. The energy service companies have agreed to perform energy audits and building retrofits, while the banks have agreed to provide a total of $5 billion in financing for the retrofit projects. CCI hopes the retrofits will lead to energy savings of 20 to 50 percent in each building. According to a spokesperson for CCI, the program will initially focus on commercial and municipal buildings, but a residential program should be announced soon.

Several organizations—including the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the World Green Building Council (WGBC)—have pledged support of the program.

According to Terry Townsend, PE, president of ASHRAE, his organization plans to support CCI’s efforts with a new guide, the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Existing Buildings, which is tentatively scheduled for release in fall 2008. The guide will demonstrate to building owners how to reduce building energy use by 30 percent through retrofits. “Most guidance developed for the industry focuses on new construction, said Townsend, who continued, “We must broaden our focus to include existing buildings,” which represent a large portion of the built environment.

Michelle Moore, vice president for communications at USGBC, noted that the CCI retrofit program presents an opportunity for education. “A lot of efforts will be locally driven,” she said, noting that USGBC will work with ASHRAE on the design guide and will also work with local organizations in participating cities to bring educational opportunities to contractors. Moore also expects that the program will bring more applications, both from participants in the CCI program and from other building owners, to LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB), which, she said, “provides a roadmap and a checklist for approaching energy efficiency.” Retrofitting existing buildings, however, is “a process, as opposed to the event of new construction,” said Moore. This process can require a large investment of time from USGBC staff, who often work with building owners before a LEED-EB application, during the renovations, and through the measurement of results.

While ASHRAE and USGBC are playing an educational role in the CCI program, WGBC hopes its role in fostering green building councils throughout the world will support educational efforts similar to those of USGBC, according to Guido Petinelli, director of council development for WGBC. In participating cities in countries without developed councils, Petinelli said, WGBC would work more closely with CCI to develop its own educational programs.

In a related announcement, CCI and Microsoft Corporation have entered a partnership to develop a suite of tools to help cities monitor and compare greenhouse gas emissions. The Web-based tools, which will be compatible with existing emissions reduction tools, will be provided free of charge to cities and are expected to be available by the end of 2007.

For more information:
Clinton Climate Initiative
Clinton Foundation
Little Rock, Arkansas
www.clintonfoundation.org

This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com

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