Energy Efficient Buildings Hub

Location: Philadelphia , PA

Website: www.eebhub.org

The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) was established in Philadelphia by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as an Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) on February 1, 2011 with a unique dual mission of improving energy efficiency in buildings—literally re-energizing them for the future—and promoting regional economic growth and job creation from our headquarters in Philadelphia's Navy Yard, one of the nation's largest and most dynamic redevelopment opportunities.

Federal funding for the EEB Hub’s first five years of operation comes primarily from the Department of Energy (DOE), with additional contributions from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is providing separate funding for EEB Hub facilities, while EEB Hub participants will also make cost-sharing contributions.
Our energy efficiency goal is ambitious: to reduce energy use in the regional-Philadelphia commercial buildings sector by 20 percent by 2020.

To reach this goal, our efforts are concentrated on accelerating the adoption of Advanced Energy Retrofits of average size commercial buildings. An Advanced Energy Retrofit is one that makes use of new but proven technologies, systems and processes to achieve significant energy and, ultimately, economic savings.

We must therefore design, demonstrate, and deploy customized retrofits that are both technically sound and financially feasible in the Greater Philadelphia region. That is why a major initial activity of the EEB Hub is the Advanced Energy Retrofit of Building 661 at the Navy Yard, a former U.S. Navy recreation building.

This project will demonstrate that innovative energy saving technologies will:

- Achieve high performance outcomes,

- Save considerable money over time,

- Create value for building owners, and

- Enhance the comfort and productivity of occupants.

The EEB Hub will achieve its goal through informed people, validated information, and proven technologies.

Our objectives are:

- To develop and deploy to the building industry a state-of-the-art modeling platform to integrate design, construction, commissioning, and operation

- To demonstrate the market viability of energy saving technologies for whole building system solutions at the Navy Yard and elsewhere in the region

- To identify policies that accelerate market adoption of energy efficient retrofits of commercial buildings and support policy makers in the development of such policies in the Greater Philadelphia region

- To inform, train, and educate people about proven energy saving strategies and technologies whether they design, own, construct, maintain, or occupy buildings

- To help launch business ventures that will exploit market opportunities for providing whole building energy saving solutions

- The EEB Hub will also help foster job creation in the commercial building energy retrofit sector in the Greater Philadelphia region. In addition, our work will further develop the Navy Yard as a global center for energy efficient building research, development, demonstration, and deployment.

As the EEB Hub’s consortium of leading scientists and engineers collaborate to overcome critical energy challenges, we will identify new retrofit service and technology opportunities and support emerging business models for new ventures that leverage these opportunities for providing new and comprehensive retrofit solutions.

As initially configured, the EEB Hub included 22 performer organizations made up of research universities, DOE laboratories, industrial firms, economic development agencies, and community and technical colleges. Rather than a closed consortium, however, we are a dynamic association of members unified by the vision and mission of enabling the nation to reach the national goal of cutting energy usage in commercial buildings by “20 percent by 2020."

The EEB Hub is responsive and performance-driven, so we have the flexibility to modify and refine objectives, and reset milestones to provide the nation’s building sector with the best set of deliverables possible.

The EEB Hub is engaging key stakeholders in the retrofit decision process to serve as an informational, motivational, and practical resource for the various constituencies that will help carry our vision forward.

We facilitate education, cross-pollination and collaboration among:

- Commercial building owners, operators and occupants,

- Architects, engineers, construction firms and building system suppliers,

- Policy-makers and economic development organizations, and

- Workforce development organizations and educational institutions.

Energy independence is a goal widely supported for both economic and security reasons. Just imagine: the commercial building sector uses approximately 20 quadrillion BTUs annually. (1 quadrillion BTUs is equal to the annual energy output of forty 1,000 megawatt power plants!) A 20 percent reduction can dramatically and quickly help move the nation closer to its energy independence goal. The strategies and programs of the EEB Hub can have a transformative effect on how energy in this country is used, allowing energy management to become an operating reality for the commercial real estate sector. We are part of the solution. And we invite you to take part with us.