CHICAGO - The Steering Committees of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Commercial Building Energy Alliances (CBEAs) - retailer, hospital, and commercial real estate - hosted an HVAC, Refrigeration, and Controls Supplier Summit in Chicago. The summit brought together more than 350 building owners, operators, and suppliers to discuss ways to reduce the buildings sector’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

This was the second CBEA supplier summit. The Retailer Energy Alliance held a supplier summit in June 2008, and the CBEAs are now planning a Lighting and Controls Supplier Summit in New York in May. The summits are designed to allow building owners and operators the opportunity to communicate their energy efficiency needs directly to suppliers of building equipment. In turn, suppliers are challenged to find ways to meet those needs.

The one-day event focused on retrofitting existing buildings and featured sessions on HVAC, refrigeration, building envelope, plug/process, and controls. More information on the summit as well as transcripts of the summit’s sessions will be available for download on the CBEA Website at http://buildings.energy.gov/alliances.html.

The Commercial Building Energy Alliances are informal associations among building owners and operators who want to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The alliances are formed by the DOE but driven and managed by the stakeholders they represent. The Retailer Energy Alliance was launched in February 2008; Hospital alliances and Commercial Real Estate alliances will launch this spring. Other alliances (including colleges and universities, and federal, state, and local government) are planned.

Publication date: 02/16/2009