Building Tune-Ups Accelerator
Professional Education || Technical Assistance || Research
The University of Washington’s Integrated Design Lab (UW IDL) has partnered with the City of Seattle to develop and implement a three-year program that supports Seattle’s Building Tune-Ups ordinance, an initiative to roll-out mandatory energy tune-ups for commercial buildings 50,000 square feet or larger, beginning in 2018.
UW IDL’s work with the City of Seattle is part of a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Integration program – a federal effort to significantly cut energy waste from buildings across the nation. The City’s project team – headed by the Office of Sustainability & Environment – was one of six national award recipients and includes the UW IDL, Seattle City Light, the Smart Buildings Center, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The UW IDL will work with the project team to engage building owners, managers and vendors to develop market expertise and accelerate the voluntary implementation of energy efficiency improvements in Seattle’s small and medium commercial building stock – buildings that will be subject to phased mandatory tune-ups beginning in 2020.
The Building Tune-Ups legislation is a key component of Seattle’s Climate Action Plan, a roadmap to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which includes an ambitious target to reduce 45% of commercial building energy emissions by 2030.
