Better Buildings, Better Plants Voluntary Pledge Program

Better Project Award Application

BETTER BUILDINGS, BETTER PLANTS PROGRAM

The Better Plants Program is accepting nominations for the annual Better Plants Better Project Awards. These awards will recognize Better Plants partners for innovative and industry-leading accomplishments in implementing industrial energy and water efficiency projects, as well as, renewable energy and energy resiliency projects. Better Plants intends to award organizations representing a variety of sizes (small, medium, and large in terms of aggregated annual energy consumption¹). To be eligible, projects need to be discrete, innovative, have strong energy savings and are replicable in similar industrial facilities.

Example projects include, but are in no way limited to:

• Large energy-consuming systems (e.g., process heating, process cooling/refrigeration, compressed air, steam, fans, motors, and pumps)

• Innovative and advanced technology (e.g., smart manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and reactive distillation)

• Energy resiliency/security (e.g. CHP, microgrids, energy storage, renewable energy technologies)

• Water efficiency (e.g., water conservation projects and associated water and water cost savings/risk mitigation)

Recognition:

• Award winners will be recognized in person during the industrial workshop at the Better Buildings Summit and/or other appropriate events, e.g. the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC).

• DOE will coordinate with the award winners to publicize the awards through the Better Buildings Solutions center, blog posts and articles in trade media.

• DOE staff will aim to identify speaking opportunities and other special promotion opportunities for award winners during the award year.

• Better Plants will aim to create highlight material (solutions at a glance or showcase projects) for all applications regardless of ultimate award status.

Judging Factors:

• Innovation (e.g. how imaginative, creative, or novel is the project). Extra consideration will be given to projects not currently featured in the Solutions Center.

• Magnitude of energy and energy cost savings.

• Thoughtfulness of project implementation strategy.

• Replicability (e.g. is the project easily replicable to other facilities nationwide).

• Communication (e.g. how well does the application describe the project and results).

• Diversity of technologies (existing industrial systems, renewable technologies, emerging technologies) and partners to be awarded (size [energy consumption] and sector).

Eligibility:

• Any Better Plants company with current data submitted is eligible, e.g., annual report submitted for 2017.

• Awards are intended to recognize partner companies/organizations, and not specific individuals.

• Applications can only be made for projects that occurred in U.S.-based plants.

• Implementation of the project must have occurred within the current or previous calendar year, e.g. 2017.

• Partners may submit as many applications as they wish; however, no partner will be recognized with more than one Better Project award.

Thank you for taking the time to nominate yourself or another outstanding Better Plants partner!

Note: Maximum application length must not exceed four pages. Applications longer than four pages will not be considered. Please e-mail your nomination to: [email protected]

NOMINEE Partner: ____________________________

Contact Name: ____________________________

Position: ____________________________

Contact Info: ____________________________

(E-mail Address)

(Phone Number)

Name of Nominator (if different from Nominee contact): ____________________________

Employer: ____________________________

Position: ____________________________

Contact Info: ____________________________

(E-mail Address)

(Phone Number)

Project Title: _________________________________________________________________________

Brief abstract of project (no more than 300 words):

I. Overview, Goal and Objectives: Describe, in detail, content about the facility and the energy-related components of the project (e.g., why it was selected/implemented? How does it fit into a broader sustainability strategy?), what was the process for identifying the opportunity, defining the project, and deciding to proceed? Also, describe what your organization’s goal or desired outcomes for the project, barrier(s) to implementation and what were your solution(s) to implementing the project? (10% of score)

II. Project Implementation and Execution: Describe, in detail, the timeline to develop/create and implement the project, process changes, the estimated cost/budget to implement, and the staff or outside support required to implement? Please also describe the savings of the implemented project, as well as other relevant technical details. Lastly, please describe any outreach efforts or tools/resources required to implement the project. Note: All projects must be complete by 3/1/18 to be eligible. (20% of score)

III. Outcomes & Measuring Success: Describe, in detail, all of the outcomes and benefits of your project to improve energy or water efficiency at your facility, e.g., energy savings & energy cost savings, energy generation (renewable and distributed generation technologies), water savings/risk mitigation, productivity improvements, maintenance savings, improved safety, etc. Also, include the key success metrics, how your organization is assessing these metrics, and how your organization is encouraging further deployment of the technology. (30% of score)

IV. Sustained Impact: Describe, in detail, how the nominee’s actions have led to plant, corporate or industry replication and have resulted in significant savings, improved productivity or advancement of technology. If possible, please provide quantitative/qualitative measures of these impacts. (40% of score)

1 Small = < 0.2 Trillion Btu/year, medium = between 0.2 and 2.0 Trillion Btu, Large = > 2.0 Trillion Btu

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