DOE F 540.13 Better Buildings Better Project Award Application Form

Better Project Award Application

OMB Control No. 1910-5141

Exp. Date 10/31/2022
DOE F 540.13

Nominations for the annual Better Project Awards are now open. These awards recognize partners for innovative and industry-leading accomplishments in implementing decarbonization, energy and water efficiency projects, or waste reduction projects. The Better Project award recognizes partners for outstanding accomplishments at individual facilities. To be eligible, projects need to have significant savings and must be discrete, innovative, and replicable in similar buildings or industrial facilities.

Nominations must be received no later than January 23, 2023.

Any active Better Buildings Initiative partner may apply, and winners will be announced in February 2023. You can learn more about the eligibility and recognition in the Awards Overview. Thank you for taking the time to nominate yourself or another outstanding partner!

Criteria

Award winners will be selected using the following criteria and weighting:

• Magnitude (30%): What's the impact on the organization and the scope of the effort (e.g., a system- wide vs. equipment-replacement approach)? How much energy, emissions, water, and/or waste savings are realized by the project?

• Replicability (30%): Is the project/practice easily replicable to other facilities? Have the results been shared broadly?

• Innovation (25%): How imaginative, creative, or novel is the practice?

• Additional Benefits (15%): What impact does the project/practice have on topics such as occupant health and wellness; workforce development; diversity, equity, and inclusion; community engagement; and other benefits to underserved communities?

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

• Decarbonization, e.g., CHP, microgrids, energy storage, renewable energy technologies, carbon capture

• Innovative and advanced technology, e.g., energy management information systems, additive manufacturing, beneficial electrification

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

• Waste reduction projects, e.g., recycling, remanufacturing, circular economy, or energy recovery

• Industrial systems, e.g., process heating, process cooling, compressed air, steam, pumping, fans, motors

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. Background and Objectives: Describe, in detail, content about the facility, why it was selected, and how the project fits into a broader sustainability strategy. What was the process for identifying the opportunity, defining the project, and deciding to proceed? What were the goals or desired outcomes for the project?

II. Approach and Implementation:

• What measures were taken to implement the emissions/energy/water/waste reduction projects? Include the savings (estimated or actual) of each measure, as well as other technical details such as technologies used, wattage, flow rates, etc.

• What was the project timeline, the estimated cost/budget to implement, and the staff or external support required to implement?

• What barrier(s) to implementation did your organization face, and what were your solution(s)?
  Note: All projects must be complete by 1/23/23 to be eligible.

III. Outcomes & Measuring Success: Please describe, in detail, the outcomes of your solution to improve energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste reduction, and/or greenhouse gas emissions reduction, the key success metrics, and how your organization is assessing these metrics. What other benefits were achieved? For example, occupant health and wellness; workforce development; diversity, equity and inclusion; community engagement; other benefits to underserved communities

IV. Sustained Impact: Describe, in detail, how the nominee’s actions have led to organizational 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.

This data is being collected to support the Department of Energy Better Buildings Initiative. The data you supply will be used for developing best practices to facilitate reductions in energy intensity by commercial, manufacturing, and community organizations.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Office of the Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Policy Development & Implementation Office, IM-22, Paperwork Reduction Project (1910-5141), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20585-1290; and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), OIRA, Paperwork Reduction Project (1910-5141), Washington, DC 20503.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Submission of this data is voluntary.

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