Midtown Alliance joins Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge

In support of the Midtown Eco-District initiative, Midtown Alliance has officially joined the City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress, and others as a Founding Partner of the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge (ABBC). 

The Better Buildings Challenge is a national competition launched by President Barack Obama in early 2011 to catalyze private sector investment in making America’s commercial buildings more energy efficient. 

Atlanta is competing against cities such as Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Houston. The initial phase of the ABBC targeted Downtown buildings but through the Alliance, the program is now being offered to Midtown buildings.

Participating buildings pledge a 20 percent reduction in energy and water use by 2020 and receive a free building assessment, public recognition, technical assistance, and connections to vendors and best-practices. 

Several buildings in Midtown have already committed to the challenge including Ten Peachtree Place, Technology Square Research Building, Ponce City Market, Georgia Tech’s Lamar Allen Sustainable Education Building, Emory University Hospital Midtown, One Atlantic Center, 100 Colony Square, 1100 Spring Street, Colony House Condominiums, and the Biltmore House Condominiums. 

Nationally last year, the buildings in which we work and live used roughly 40 percent of the energy in the U.S. economy at a cost of more than $400 billion. Through a variety of efficiency improvements (e.g. new lighting, greater insulation, more efficient heating and cooling) and proven approaches (clear information, access to financing, energy efficiency investment criteria), the goal is to make these buildings more energy efficient and better places to live and work while creating jobs and building a stronger economy.

At this month’s Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable meeting, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed reaffirmed his desire to make Atlanta as green as possible. Atlanta came in 18th in the most recent national rankings of sustainable cities and the mayor wants the city to be among the top 10.

There will be a networking Meet Your Match event on June 20 that will allow community members to connect with building owners, service providers, vendors and other industry professionals participating in the ABBC.

For more information about the ABBC, please contact Shelby@MidtownAlliance.org or visit www.atlantabbc.com.

- Midtown Alliance contributed to this story