DOE's Better Buildings Neighborhood Program hit the ground running in summer 2010. Since then, more than 40 partners launched local programs—testing a wide range of program delivery business models in their communities. The ultimate goal was the same across all partners: to make energy efficiency more accessible to homes and businesses from coast to coast.

Learn About Partners’ Accomplishments

In less than four years, Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners have:

  • Upgraded more than 100,000 residential and commercial buildings to be more energy efficient
  • Developed sustainable energy efficiency upgrade programs, approximately three-fourths of which will continue through at least 2014 without additional DOE funding
  • Saved consumers $730 million in estimated lifetime energy savings, in addition to improving the comfort of their homes and buildings
  • Trained more than 5,000 home performance workers to enhance their skills
  • Completed more than $740 million worth of energy upgrades
  • Leveraged more than $400 million in private capital and federally funded revolving loan funds.
Line graph: Residential building upgrades performed October 2010 - September 2014.
Line graph: Commercial building space upgraded in square feet October 2010 - September 2014.

Read the Program Summary

To learn more details about program results and lessons learned, read Better Buildings Neighborhood Program Summary of Reported Data From July 1, 2010 – September 30, 2013. The corresponding program dashboard summarizes reported data and includes outlays, leveraged spending, number of assessments and upgrades completed by sector, and annual estimated energy savings. Better Buildings partners’ individual data are available.

Building project data for 75,110 single-family homes upgraded between July 1, 2010, and September 30, 2013, are available below.  Reported data for some elements have been transformed, and to protect privacy, data for some upgraded homes have been omitted.

Read more about the program’s history.

Explore the Evaluation Reports

Following are independent evaluation reports released in June 2015 discussing the direct impacts, lessons learned, and market effects of the DOE Better Buildings Neighborhood Program. Review the related recording for more information, and read the text version.

Papers discussing the evaluation analysis are listed below:

Additional reports provide more details about program successes:

Read Partner Case Studies

The following case studies describe successful program design, marketing and outreach, workforce development, and financing approaches implemented by Better Buildings partners:

Find more solutions like these in the Better Buildings Residential Program Guide.

Watch the Video

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Learn how Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners have trained and expanded their local contractor workforce while supporting professional jobs in their communities. View the text version of the video.

U.S. Department of Energy