The U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge recently partnered with the City of Reno, Nevada, which is taking a major step towards expanding the adoption of building efficiency strategies. Through its commitments to the Challenge, the City will help reduce associated energy costs and demands while strengthening its economy through the creation of high-skilled local jobs.

This summer, the City recently joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge and in October, launched a new initiative, ReEnergize Reno, to drive local building efficiency actions and achieve its goal of  achieving 20% reduction of water and energy use by 2025. A total of 38 municipal buildings and facilities spanning 1.7 million square feet in private, commercial, multifamily, and industrial buildings are included in this commitment.

Reno joins 45 other leading cities and counties that have stepped up to the Better Buildings Challenge.

The energy profile of the City is an important factor for larger, successful technology companies moving into Reno—recently including Google, Switch, Tesla, and Apple (to name a few)—and the Better Buildings Challenge is helping the community improve its competitiveness by serving as an example of a forward-thinking city.

Prior to joining, the City evaluated a number of buildings challenge programs that other communities were participating in and decided on the Better Building Challenge for a plethora of reasons—notably its timeline and the level of support it offers. The City believes the 10-year timeline provides a stable period to make significant improvements in building performance.

Through the Better Buildings Challenge, the Department of Energy now works with more than 350 public and private organizations. These partners represent more than 4.4 billion square feet of building space across the country. To date, partners have saved more than 240 trillion British thermal units of energy and more than $1.9 billion in energy cost savings.

For more information on the Better Buildings Challenge, visit www.energy.gov/betterbuildingschallenge.