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Would you allow another facility
team to poke around your building
and shine a light on energy waste?
A fresh set of eyes could uncover valuable saving
opportunities that your department has missed. Enter
the Better Buildings SWAP, a reality TV show-inspired
collaboration among Better Buildings Challenge
participants. The exchange encourages idea sharing
between organizations that are already energy and
sustainability leaders.
“The U.S. spends about $200 billion each year just
to power commercial buildings. The SWAP demon-
strates that even the most energy conscious facili-
See how Hilton and Whole Foods uncover saving opportunities in each
other’s buildings
FACILITY TEAMS
Get Swapped
for Better Buildings
Challenge
ties have room for improvement,” says Maria Vargas,
Director of the DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge.
“Efficiency ideas can come from all building types.
The SWAP shows how any property can follow these
replicable and scalable solutions.”
Hilton Worldwide and Whole Foods were the first
volunteers to allow other property managers to take
a behind-the-scenes look at their operations. These
national companies are working toward a 20% energy
reduction by 2020 as part of their Better Buildings
Challenge commitment.
“It was really fun to have Whole Foods here to
look around,” says Brian Mork, Director of Property
Operations at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
“You feel vulnerable because we all have things to
improve. But there’s
pride in it as well
because we were able
to show off what we’ve
already achieved.”
Each team was
given only basic
details about the
other property, such
as size, location and
employee headcount.
The walkthrough took
a day and a half and
representatives were
given free rein to poke
around with little
direction from the
host team. Everything
from refrigeration and
MARIA VARGAS,
director of the
DOE’s Better
Buildings Challenge, welcomes
the first pair of
SWAP teams:
Hilton Worldwide
(left) and Whole
Foods. The two
crews investigated
each other’s buildings and found
several opportunities for energy
savings.
