DOE F 540.12 Better Buildings Better Practice Award Application Form

Better Practice Award Application

OMB Control No. 1910-5141

Exp. Date 10/31/2022

DOE F 540.12

Nominations for the annual Better Practice Awards are now open. These awards recognize partners for innovative and industry-leading accomplishments in decarbonization, energy and water efficiency, or waste reduction. The Better Practice award recognizes partners for implementing and promoting practices, principles, and procedures broadly within a portfolio or series of buildings or plants. To be eligible, practices need to have a noteworthy impact on the organization, 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?

Note: Maximum application length must not exceed four pages. Applications longer than four pages will not be considered. Please e-mail your nomination to: betterbuildings@ee.doe.gov.

NOMINEE Partner: ____________________________

Contact Name: ____________________________

Position: ________________________ ____

Contact Info: ____________________________

(E-mail Address)

(Phone Number)

Name of Nominator (if different from Nominee): _____ _______________________

Employer: ____________________________

Position: ____________________________

Contact Info: ____________________________

(E-mail Address)

(Phone Number)

Practice Title: _________________________________________________________________________

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

1. Background and Objectives: Describe, in detail what was your organization’s goal or desired outcomes, the barrier(s) to achieving this goal or desired outcome, and the innovative solution that helped you achieve or deliver that outcome?

2. Approach and Implementation:

• What policies or plans helped drive action, impact organizational structure, influence operations, and increase buy-in?

• What processes (actions taken) were used to implement the policies or plans, including how the solution was financed?

• What outreach efforts were used to gain internal approval and/or outside support?

• What is the estimated cost in terms of budget and staff?

• Please describe the relative ease or difficulty of instituting this practice.
  
  

3. 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 across your organization, 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.

4. Sustained Impact: Describe how the implemented practice has led to corporate or industry change and has facilitated savings (emissions, energy, water, waste), improved productivity, or advanced management practices. 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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