The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is inviting industry stakeholders involved in the development, finance, and maintenance of multifamily properties, and others in the home performance industry to review and comment on its Standard Work Specifications for Multifamily Energy Upgrades.

Canadian retailers who adopt sustainable business practices are differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace and also significantly reducing their costs, according to a new report released by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the Retail Council of Canada (RCC).

Bosch Thermotechnology Corp. has announced a new partnership with Serenbe, a sustainable eco-conscious community development, that will be the site of a first-of-its-kind Bosch Experience Center designed to showcase the company’s full-line of residential solutions.

The NW Ductless Heat Pump Project, an initiative of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) in collaboration with local utilities, named its 2011/2012 Contractors of the Year for the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Honeywell has introduced its new Attune™ Advisory Services, a suite of services that combines cloud-based tools and analytics with a global network of operations centers and energy and facility experts, to provide enhancements that the company says can reduce building utility bills and operating expenses up to 20 percent.

EffTec International Inc., provider of a leading water-cooled chiller optimization solution, announced that the company has completed the second add-on installation for a major computer manufacturing customer, bringing the total number of EffTrack™ systems operating at the client’s facilities to three.

The GSA announced that 30 of its federal buildings are participating in a challenge to achieve what it calls “deep energy savings.” The Deep Retrofit Challenge is asking energy service companies to make these buildings significantly more energy efficient using energy service performance contracts (ESPCs).

A number of high-level policymakers, business representatives including some HVACR manufacturers, and nongovernmental organization leaders recently converged in Orlando for the 2012 Energy Efficiency (EE) Global Forum.

The Obama administration announced that nine major utilities and electricity suppliers have committed to providing more than 15 million households with access to data about their energy use with the click of an online “Green Button.”

Within the envelopes of commercial and residential buildings rests the promise of major, new energy efficiencies in the built environment, according to University of Michigan researchers.