Initiative will introduce open-source software for commercial and public building retrofits

A partnership composed of Johnson Controls, CBRE, World Resources Institute (WRI), and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was recently launched to test and deploy an open-source, web-based energy analysis tool to identify energy efficient retrofit opportunities in commercial buildings.

Johnson Controls developed the LEAN energy analysis technology over the past eight years, and has used the tool to analyze retrofit opportunities in over 700 buildings. Berkeley Lab is working with Johnson Controls to automate and improve the tool and create an open-source version for public use.

CBRE will be an initial deployment partner, using the tool to help their enterprise customers target cost-effective energy efficiency retrofit opportunities across their real estate portfolios. WRI will use the open-source tool to help local governments around the world target the best opportunities for retrofitting public and private buildings within their jurisdictions.

“We believe this initiative will help drive greater investment in energy efficiency by turning readily available, monthly building energy consumption data into specific, cost-effective recommendations for improvement,” said Clay Nesler, vice president, global sustainability and regulatory affairs, Johnson Controls. An alpha version of the open-source LEAN energy analysis tool is available on GitHub at https://github.com/LBNL-JCI-ICF/better.