Johnson Controls, a technology company, announces its partnership with Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE), World Resources Institute (WRI) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to test and deploy LEAN, an open-source, web-based analysis tool that identifies energy efficient building retrofit opportunities.
The new initiative is part of the Johnson Controls and CBRE Innovation Lab, established three years ago to evaluate, connect and leverage products, services and energy data to create value for occupiers and investors of real estate, according to the company.
Johnson Controls developed the LEAN energy analysis technology over the past eight years and has used the tool to analyze retrofit opportunities in over 700 buildings.
“This is a big step forward in providing commercial, institutional and government building owners and managers with open-source, easy-to-use tools to target building efficiency improvement opportunities,” says Clay Nesler, Johnson Controls’ vice president, global sustainability and regulatory affairs. “We believe this initiative will help drive greater investment in energy efficiency by turning readily available, monthly building energy consumption data into specific, cost-effective recommendations for improvement.”
Berkeley Lab will automate and improve the LEAN tool and create an open-source version for public use.
CBRE will be an initial deployment partner and will use the tool to help their customers target cost-effective energy efficiency retrofit opportunities.
WRI will use the open-source version of the tool to help local governments target these retrofit opportunities in both public and private buildings within their jurisdictions.
An alpha version of the open-source tool is available on GitHub.
