Past Webinars: Learn From the Best

Every year, as we read through hundreds of Partner of the Year Award applications, we get to see the very best examples of leadership, innovation, and excellence. Now it's your turn. In the webinars below, award-winning ENERGY STAR partners describe the innovative practices that helped propel them to success.

Energy Management Best Practices

Innovative Technologies

Communications and Engagement

Sector-Specific

Energy Management Best Practices

Mature your Energy Program for the Decisive Decade

This webinar focuses on how organizations can grow their energy management program, regardless of whether they are organizations just getting started in their sustainability transformation or those that have well-established programs pushing the market forward.

Our speakers all bring a deep understanding of sustainability management through their involvement with the ENERGY STAR program. Learn about the barriers faced in the beginning of their programs and how they were overcome to unlock opportunities and create robust energy management initiatives across each of these organizations.

Speakers:

  • Matt Pittinger, P.E., Manager of Energy Advising at Engie Impact
  • Bob Valair, Director of Energy and Environmental Management at Staples
  • Brad Wheeler, Senior Manager of Energy and Planned Maintenance at Best Buy

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Dive into water and waste savings strategies from BOMA’s W2 Challenge Champions

Have you been searching for ways to save water and waste in your commercial buildings? Hear best practices from two ENERGY STAR partners that were champions of The Building Owner and Manager’s Association’s (BOMA) W2 (water and waste) challenge. The W2 Challenge was a two-year program designed to encourage buildings to benchmark water usage and waste output and implement best practices to improve performance. Participants committed to enter water and/or waste data at least quarterly in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® over the 2018 and 2019 calendar years. Nearly 2,000 buildings from more than 400 cities across the US participated, representing nearly half a billion square feet of space. Results from the challenge showed that office sector participants reduced their water-use intensity by 68% and retail and food service participants reduced their waste use intensity by 81%.

Speakers:

  • Madeline O’Donnell, ESG and Operations Analyst at Principal Real Estate Investors
  • Sormeh McCullough, Sr. Manager, ESG at Digital Realty

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The Value of Benchmarking: A Business Case Approach/Engaging Stakeholders in Your ENERGY STAR Process

This webinar discusses strategies and best practices for creating the business case for benchmarking your buildings using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager from two ENERGY STAR partners. Goby, a service and product provider, discusses how to build the business case by developing necessary support and buy-in and engaging stakeholders throughout the process. USAA Real Estate makes the business case for benchmarking and energy efficiency due to benchmarking ordinances and other regulations. In addition to monthly benchmarking energy, USAA Real Estate has been benchmarking water and waste since 2001, all while adding value to real estate investments

Speakers:

  • Jason McIntyre, Director of Real Estate Operations and Sustainability for USAA Real Estate
  • Joshua Schubert, PE, Director of Energy Engineering at Goby, The ESG Platform

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Benchmarking Energy Use and Assessing Energy and GHG Performance During A Pandemic

Are you wondering how to tackle the challenge of benchmarking your energy data during the pandemic due to atypical energy use and occupancy patterns? Curious how to assess your energy and GHG performance for 2020 and 2021? This webinar will give you perspectives from two ENERGY STAR partners.

Barry Abramson from Servidyne, an energy and sustainability consulting firm, discusses the complexity of benchmarking energy use through the pandemic and how to take into account changed occupancy patterns, building operational strategies implemented during low-occupancy periods, and the energy impact of COVID-related measures. He also walks through the thought process of how to assess energy and GHG performance for 2020 and 2021 in comparison to baseline years and targets. Rielle Green from CBRE, a commercial real estate company, shares their perspective including how COVID has changed their building operations, what has been successful, and what has posed challenges.

Speakers:

  • Barry Abramson, Principal of Servidyne
  • Rielle Green, Energy & Sustainability Manager, CBRE

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Discovering Energy Savings with Treasure Hunts

During this webinar, Tyler Puls (Des Moines Public Schools) and Barry Abramson (Servidyne) present on their experiences using Treasure Hunts to engage building staff in finding new ways to save energy. Here’s a recap:  

  • Treasure hunts engage and focus a team on saving energy. EPA’s resident expert on Treasure Hunts, Walt Tunnessen, emphasized that Treasure Hunts aren’t just a walkthrough, they’re a strategy for engaging employees and managers to focus on energy efficiency — to find opportunities to save energy and establish an action plan to ensure the savings measures are implemented.
  • EPA has off-the-shelf resources. EPA has Treasure Maps (i.e., checklists) for specific building types, step-by-step-guides, detail sheets to calculate potential savings, and opportunities for recognition. Download these resources and learn more at www.energystar.gov/treasurehunt
  • Take it one building at a time. Tyler’s team has conducted Treasure Hunts for the past three years, and they’ve found that focusing on one building allowed them to take the time to dig deeper and find items that were missed in the past, like set points off in automation systems and malfunctioning air handlers.
  • Once you start hunting, you can’t stop. DMPS is working toward 100% LED facilities, and Tyler said the treasure hunt energized their building staff to find any remaining lighting that needed to be retrofit.
  • No finger-pointing (or walking the plank). Both Barry and Tyler acknowledged that the emphasis on positivity and collaboration yielded a refreshing approach for everyone involved. Tyler’s teams weren’t caught up pointing fingers for potential mistakes, and Barry could build a stronger relationship with his clients.
  • Example 1: How East High School saved thousands on energy costs. Tyler’s team used EPA’s Treasure Map for K-12 Schools during the walkthrough of East High School. It suggested what to look for and they used it to capture notes. They found that most issues could be corrected immediately and with minimal labor. For example, they found a mini-fridge’s exhaust vent directly next to a thermostat. Ultimately, they identified projects with a simple payback of 2 years (with utility incentives) that will save the school district thousands of dollars.
  • Example 2: The mystery of the similar buildings with different energy usage. Parmenter Realty Partners has eight buildings that are situated in several office parks where all the buildings are nearly identical. Despite this, the buildings differed in their ENERGY STAR scores. To solve the mystery, Servidyne conducted a Treasure Hunt in each building. Most of the fixes involved things that were happening during unoccupied periods. Some of the key opportunities included: AHU schedule adjustments; after-hours mode for minimum chiller load; lighting control repairs; Saturday on-demand HVAC; static pressure and temperature resets; and unoccupied floor setback. By the end, Servidyne found an average of 5% savings and around $21,200 total. In addition, now that their office tenants have largely shifted to telework, Parmenter is expanding their findings to the entire buildings. The team estimates that by applying the strategy to 28 floors, the original savings of $1,700 will be generated every two weeks.

Speakers:

  • Barry Abramson, Principal of Servidyne
  • Tyler Puls, Energy and Environmental Specialist for Des Moines Public Schools

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Strategies for Setting Effective Energy Performance Goals

In this webinar, three partners share the strategies their organizations used to set effective energy performance goals. Here’s a recap:

  • “When there’s a public scoreboard, people play differently.” Ben’s team at Boston Properties recognized the importance of developing the tools for measurement, management, and disclosure to collect the necessary data to set energy and sustainability goals. He added that when that data is widely available and transparent, teams will be significantly more motivated to find and implement solutions to reach those targets.
  • Boston Properties success drivers: things you need to do to achieve your goals. Boston Properties has unlocked savings of $31M in operating costs to date and contributes much of its success to the following methodology:
    •      Maintain detailed historical energy performance information through a tool like EPA Portfolio Manager
    •      Create strong partnerships with operations, property management, and engineering
    •      Gain buy-in from senior leadership to define the purpose and support implementation
    •      Build broad stakeholder support through talking to customers, investors, and partners
    •      Develop a clear and strong business case
  • Reducing carbon emissions requires an evaluation of Scope 1, 2 and 3 sources. Jessica’s analysis found that most of the carbon emissions in the CommonWealth Properties portfolio came from Scope 2 sources, indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. This indicated that the company should focus their performance targets on the efficiency of their buildings and researching utility buying options through Green Power Purchasing plans and Renewable Energy Credits.
  • Setting performance goals is just the beginning. Success is not achieved with the goals alone, and Jessica provided some key insights on what to do next.
    • Find a pathway to achieve your goals – consider local and national incentives, examine where emissions come from and what the company can control, and use ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to target specific properties
    • Implement Programs – measure and verify real-time performance
    • Communicate Results – host events, display emissions posters, develop sustainability leasing flyers, and post elevator and lobby signage
  • When early corporate goals are achieved ahead of schedule, its time to get serious. Jim’s team at Hudson Pacific Properties ran into a similar predicament that many companies experienced in the last few years, that they achieved their first ESG goals considerably ahead of schedule. Instead of resting on their laurels, Hudson Pacific Properties used that as a lesson that it can go deeper. The company expanded benchmarking to 100% of the spaces, invested in RECs, strengthened internal leadership, enhanced internal management, and increased marketing and communication.
  • Achieving performance targets starts with board-level commitments and continues down through the organization. Hudson Pacific Properties developed the following action plan to achieve its goals:
    • Make a commitment from board-level sustainability committee, down through the organization, and corporate and tenant business practices.
    • Assess performance with complete data benchmarking and tenant engagement surveys with ESG questions
    • Set a variety of goals that show progress across key areas, including: portfolio-wide goals, net zero carbon in operations, and net zero waste in operations
    • Create and implement long-term strategies incorporated into capital improvement plans, exploring innovative technologies, energy retrofits in older properties, and sharing of best practices with engineering and property management teams throughout the company
    • Evaluate progress through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to benchmark performance, identify tools for real-time performance monitoring, and solicit tenant feedback and input
    • Recognize achievements to encourage and promote best practices through highly visible internal programs and performance bonuses.

Speakers:

  • Jessica Loeper, Vice President at Verdani Partners
  • Ben Myers, Vice President, Sustainability, at Boston Properties (BXP
  • ​James Soutter, Vice President, Engineering of Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP

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How to Develop Playbooks and Employee Guides for Energy Efficiency

Playbooks and employee guides can be an effective method to convey best practices for energy efficiency as well as listing ENERGY STAR resources that are available. This webinar details how three ENERGY STAR Partners successfully developed employee playbooks and guides. Allergan shares how they developed an employee guide outlining what individuals can do. Lockheed Martin has developed an Energy Playbook program that has been rolled out in 2020 as part of the corporation’s new Go Green goals as a means to identify best practices and opportunities across the enterprise while also measuring success in all matters relating to energy efficiency. The new playbook was utilized for the first time at a large facility in March 2020 with plans to review the ten highest energy use sites over the next three years. Welltower developed the “Performance Playbook: A Guide for Senior Housing Efficiency and Excellence”, a user-friendly guide containing best practices, efficiency measures, and a library of ENERGY STAR tools and resources customized for the senior care industry.

Speakers:

  • Kirby Brendsel, AVP of Sustainability & ESG, Welltower
  • Dave Gontarz, an environmental engineer on the Lockheed Martin Corporate Environmental, Safety, and Health (CESH) energy team
  • Scott Jordan, President of Building Integrated Services
  • Tom Pagliuco, Executive Director, Global Energy Engineering at Allergan

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Lighting up Energy Savings with LED Upgrades

Replacing lighting with efficient LEDs continues to result in substantial savings for commercial buildings. In this webinar, hear from three ENERGY STAR partners who have installed LED lighting and realized savings. 

  • Bimbo Bakeries discusses their journey towards installing LED lighting in 80% of their bakeries, with LED lighting installations planned for the remainder of the bakeries by 2020. The savings from lighting alone account for at least 15% of their electrical consumption. 
  • Food Lion shares how they completed a rollout of LED sales floor lighting by upgrading 163 stores. The savings from the 2019 installs is over 40.6 billion BTUs. 
  • Ozinga Bros, Inc., discusses the lighting retrofits of five maintenance shops with LEDs. The combined projects will save $5,500 per year, and they were able to receive nearly $4,000 in utility rebates. In addition to better energy efficiency, the new lights make their shops brighter and safer.

Speakers:

  • Leslie Adebayo, Corporate Sustainability Manager for Bimbo Bakeries
  • Nathan Onchuck, Energy and Sustainability Manager at Ozing
  • Sean Shropshire, Energy Engineer for Retail Business Services (RBS) 

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Discovering Energy Savings with Treasure Hunts

During an Energy Treasure Hunt, groups of people walk around a building looking for opportunities to save energy. Treasure Hunts focus on quick fixes with a short payback period. Hundreds of organizations have used Energy Treasure Hunts to reduce their facilities’ energy use by 7 to 15 percent.

During this webinar, you’ll hear from two ENERGY STAR partners that have used Treasure Hunts as a way to improve day-to-day operations and engage building operators and employees in “discovering” treasure in their facilities. In addition, we provide an overview of resources available from EPA to help your organization plan and host a successful Treasure Hunt.

Speakers:

  • Leslie Adebayo, Corporate Sustainability Manager for Bimbo Bakeries
  • Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications Team, EPA
  • Michael Roberts, Director – Energy Services and Central Energy Plants for Atrium Health

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Innovative Technologies

Virtually Proven: Technology-based Solutions for Remote Energy Management

From video calls to video goggles during the COVID-19 pandemic, ENERGY STAR partners have used technology to improve communication among the on-site staff and off-site experts working to improve the energy performance of buildings and plants. Learn from three ENERGY STAR partners how remote energy management strategies implemented during the pandemic have proven to be effective for ongoing use in building management.

  • Sustainable Investment Group, a building consulting firm, describes their work with a live streaming audio/video tool that is helping to keep projects moving forward during this time of health risks and limited travel.
  • RE Tech Advisors explains their successful Engineer in a Box™ (EiB) model, which involves sending a toolkit, including a smart phone and other engineering instruments, to a property to assist a RE Tech professional engineer conduct a virtual site assessment to help identify and implement energy efficiency strategies.
  • Georgia-Pacific discusses how they’ve used video goggle technology at manufacturing plants to communicate with people such as engineers, electricians, and mechanics who are off-site for improved plant and energy management during the pandemic.

Speakers:

  • Jeff Stewart, Senior Energy Consultant at Sustainable Investment Group
  • Mat Lindquist, Principal Engineer at RE Tech Advisors
  • Jeff Kamenski, Technology Leader for Georgia-Pacific’s Corporate Engineering Group

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Innovative Technologies Part 1: Battery Storage

On-site battery storage systems are becoming a viable option to help commercial buildings manage demand for grid supplied electricity. Hear how two ENERGY STAR partners have implemented battery storage projects at their buildings.

  • Hines discusses their battery-storage system which they piloted at a property in California to help efficiently regulate the energy flow from the grid, avoiding peak rates. Using a financing plan that eliminates upfront costs, they were able to install a 100-kilowatt-hour system, which uses advanced software and data analysis. To date, the system has provided cost savings to the property and the software interface has provided additional tools for their engineering team to further optimize the building’s energy efficiency. 
  • Kilroy Realty Corporation (KRC) has installed 9 battery storage projects, which total 4.3 MW in capacity. KRC installed the batteries to ease strain on the grid as California moves to an all-renewable electric energy portfolio, as well as increase Net Operating Income at their buildings.

Speakers:

  • Sara Neff, Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
  • Gary Petersen, Senior Engineering Manager at Hines

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Innovative Technologies Part 2: Induction Unit Valves and AI

Commercial buildings are implementing a variety of innovative technologies as part of their energy management plans. Hear about the experiences from two ENERGY STAR partners. Vornado shares how they have piloted technologies such as induction unit valves. Yardi discusses how they have achieved cost savings and maximized performance using artificial intelligence (AI) to manage sophisticated building controls.

Speakers:

  • Dan Egan, Senior Vice President for Energy and Sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust
  • ​Randy Moss, Consultant at Yardi 

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Innovation in Energy Management

Commercial buildings are finding creative ways to reduce energy use by encouraging tenants to modify behaviors that impact energy use, installing efficient equipment, and testing out cutting-edge technology. Hear how two ENERGY STAR partners have saved energy through innovative approaches.

Speakers:

  • Gregg Fischer, Director of Energy Systems under the Design + Construction Sustainability and Utilities division of Tishman Speyer
  • Al Scaramelli, Managing Director at Beacon Capital Partners

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Communications & Engagement

Working Together to Save Energy: Employee Engagement Strategies from ENERGY STAR Partners

Hear from two ENERGY STAR partners on how they have successfully engaged employees in their energy management plans. Nissan shares how they educated employees about savings at home and work through a phone app, a newsletter, and videos as part of their “Save at Home! Save at Work!” campaign. JCPenney discusses how empowering their employees with the right information on energy and environmental management, along with fostering a culture that values energy conversation and environmental stewardship, has delivered long-term sustainable results.

Speakers:

  • Chris Goddard, Regional Energy & Environmental Manager, Nissan U.S. and Canada 
  • Kyle Wilkes, P.E., Director of Energy and Facility Maintenance at JCPenney
  • Charley Haupt, President of New Energy Technology (NET).

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Communicating Your Energy Plans and Achievements

Communicating your energy plans and achievements both internally to employees and externally to the public can be informative, motivational, and fun. Hear how and why three ENERGY STAR industrial partners implemented creative communications plans. CalPortland shares how they’ve implemented a variety of effective forms of communication, including training videos about their energy management plan, plant tours, an ENERGY STAR Showcase, K-12 school outreach, community fairs, advertising at a rodeo, sponsoring a crash derby car, and more. Celanese discusses Energy Sparks, an energy training tool developed for communication to sites to motivate discussions and their Energy Small Bites program which they developed to promote Earth Day and energy awareness. Raytheon Company shares their employee engagement videos, Virgin Pulse “Save Energy” Challenge, and monthly energy outreach to inspire employee action on energy and water conservation.

Speakers:

  • Steve Coppinger, Vice President of Engineering Services for CalPortland Company
  • Tracy Fialli, Senior Principal Energy Engineer working at Raytheon Technologies
  • David Reid, Senior Manager, Global Energy and Productivity for Celanese

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Celebrate Earth Day with Energy Efficiency Education

Are you looking for ways to educate your building or facility occupants about saving energy? Are you trying to get the word out about your building’s energy efficiency improvements? Hear from two ENERGY STAR partners with successful energy education strategies.

Speakers:

  • Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications team, EPA
  • Jessica Loeper, Vice President at Verdani Partners and Director of Sustainability for CommonWealth Partners
  • Kelly Stemcosky, Communications Specialist for Sustainability at Corning Incorporated

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Sector-Specific

How to Leverage Brokers to Promote Energy Efficiency

Training brokers to promote the energy performance and sustainability achievements of your buildings is key to attracting clients and executing green leases. Three ENERGY STAR Commercial Real Estate Partners share how they provide energy efficiency training for brokers and recognize their accomplishments.

Speakers:

  • Jennifer Leitsch, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility at CBRE
  • Sara Neff, Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
  • Rachel Schiftan, Sustainability Project Manager for Cushman & Wakefield

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Success Stories on Holding ENERGY STAR Competitions

Are you looking for a fun way to engage your building occupants? Hear from two ENERGY STAR partners that have successfully run internal energy efficiency competitions. We also review off-the-shelf, co-brandable tools and resources that EPA has created to help you “Build Your Own Battle.”

Speakers:

  • Crystal Frost, Sustainable Behaviors and Conservation Program Leader at The Boeing Company,
  • Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications Team
  • Sean Shropshire, Energy Engineer for Retail Business Services (RBS)

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Engaging Commercial Tenants in Energy Efficiency

The people who work in your office building, retail store, warehouse, or other commercial building can make or break your efficiency strategy – after all, they often consume most of the energy. Learn how two ENERGY STAR partners engage tenants and occupants to save energy. 

Speakers:

  • Christopher Cayten, Principal at CodeGreen Solution
  • Dan Egan, Senior Vice President for Energy and Sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust
  • Cindy Jacobs, Senior Advisor in the Commercial and Industrial Buildings Branch, within the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at US EPA
  • Craig Haglund, Program Manager for Commercial Real Estate and Multifamily, in the Commercial and Industrial Buildings Branch, within the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at US EPA

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