Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program

Accelerator Achieves Goal of 100+ Building Tune-Ups!

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Thank you to the owners and managers of the 102 mid-size buildings that completed the Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program that ended in 2019. These buildings all had an early tune-up that met the Building Tune-Ups requirements a couple years before their compliance deadline. Total estimated savings across the 102 buildings are projected at 12.1% annually for energy (67.9 million kBtu/yr) and 12.0% for GHG emissions (EPA emissions factors).  

Program Highlights:

      • 102 mid-size buildings (approx. 100K SF or smaller) or 6.9 million square feet of total space tuned-up.
      • 85 local service providers and/or facility staff attended Tune-Up Specialist trainings.
      • All buildings completed the required Tune-Up measures and 59% indicated that at least one voluntary action was being implemented or planned.
      • Of the voluntary actions underway, 20 are participating in additional utility incentive programs, such as LED upgrades.
      • Five building owners worked with the UW IDL to create "Building Renewal" strategic energy management plans
      • Most common required tune-up measure: adjusting HVAC schedules and most common voluntary tune-up measure: updating inefficient lighting
      • Average cost per tune-up: $0.21 per SF (before City Light incentive).
      • An evaluation completed in 10 buildings found that corrected tune-up measures with few exceptions were still working as intended, showing that tune-up improvements persist.
      • The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) awarded the Program with its 2019 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Innovation.

Get More Details in the Final Report:

Webinar: Accelerating Existing Building Tune-Ups in Seattle, Washington (Held 3/26/20)

In this webinar, held on 3/26/20, Nicole Ballinger, Seattle's Building Tune-up Accelerator Program Manager described the tune-up program, benefits, and best practices discovered through the pilot process. Nora Wang of Pacific Northwest National Lab described the use of the DOE Asset Score tool in building assessments.  

Tune-Up Accelerator Training

If you are interested in learning more about the Tune-Up Accelerator, contact Nicole Ballinger at nicole.ballinger@seattle.gov.

Tune-Up Accelerator Case Studies

Tune-Up Accelerator Program - Archive Documentation

(NOTE: This program is closed and not accepting applications. Documents below are for reference only.)

Sustainability and Environment

Jessyn Farrell, Director
Address: 700 5th Avenue, #1868, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 94729, Seattle, WA, 98124-4729
Phone: (206) 256-5158
maketa.brazier@seattle.gov

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