Successful strategies for saving energy and water : The Better Buildings partnership continues to spur collaboration and innovation

In 2015, the US Department of Energy (DOE) published a paper entitled ‘What leading organisations are doing today to drive greater efficiency, and why it matters for tomorrow’ in this journal.1 Since that time, Better Buildings has grown considerably, both in the scaling of its partnerships, adding a number of corporate and other partners, and with its activities, designed to help partners overcome persistent barriers to energy and water efficiency. Through this work, DOE and its partners have generated hundreds of proven energy and water efficiency solutions.2 Sharing these solutions is the primary goal of this public–private partnership and each solution is easily searchable by topic, building type, sector, technology, location and barrier. Ideas are also shared in-person, through an annual event held in Washington DC called the Better Buildings Summit. In May 2017, more than 1,000 industry leaders and national experts came together at the latest summit to learn ‘what’s possible and new’ in world-class energy saving strategies, and to discover ‘what’s next’ in highimpact technologies.