DOE’s Better Buildings & Better Plants Initiative Partners Save More Than $24 Billion in Energy Costs, Driving Innovation Across U.S. Economy

DOE today published the 2025 Better Buildings & Better Plants Initiative Progress Update, highlighting the achievements of partners in the Better Buildings & Better Plants Initiative. More than 650 public and private organizations across the U.S. economy have partnered with the program, collectively achieving greater than $24 billion through energy savings.  

Highlights from the past year include: 

• Partner-driven leadership: 13 partners achieved their goals this year in energy and/or water savings, waste reduction, or financing extended, while also sharing their successful pathways. Meet the 2025 Goal Achievers. 

• Measurable impact: To date, partners have saved 3.9 quadrillion BTUs of energy and 25 billion gallons of water, avoided 4.4 million tons of waste, and extended $41 billion in private sector financing for energy efficiency projects. 

• Accelerated emerging technologies: DOE and its National Laboratories partnered with leading organizations to identify, prioritize, and develop cutting-edge technologies through programs such as the Commercial Buildings HVAC Accelerator and the Industrial Technology Validation program. 

• Skilled workforce trainings: In the past year, 16 In-Plant Trainings, 10 Virtual Trainings, and 16 webinars equipped workers with skills to drive energy and cost savings. At In-Plant Trainings, participants identified more than $6 million in cost savings, 780,000 MMBtu of energy savings, 360 tons of waste savings, and 2,950 kgal of water savings. 

• Technical assistance: DOE worked with program partners to address more than 2,700 technical assistance questions this year across the commercial, industrial, and multifamily sectors, helping them overcome challenges related to portfolio retrofit planning, building performance audits and data reporting, financing, high efficiency dual-fuel HVAC, and more. 

• Sharing proven pathways: More than 100 new solutions and resources have been developed in the past year, adding to the more than 3,400 real-world projects, practices, and guidance documents available on the Better Buildings & Better Plants Solution Center.