ated with transportation and simplifying
facilities management and infrastructure
logistics.
On the whole, the built environment is
responsible for one of the largest fractions
of global energy consumption and, with it,
anthropomorphic climate change, a result
of the emissions associated with power
generation. The importance of the built
environment to the energy sustainability
equation becomes more evident when one
also considers the energy required to de-
sign, fabricate, transport and construct the
materials necessary to bring new building
stock online. Through careful planning,
collaboration and a holistic approach to
building design, the built environment can
achieve unprecedented energy efficiencies
and strongly contribute to global carbon
management.
As Executive Vice President and Chief of
Innovation at Environmental Systems Design,
Mehdi Jalayerian provides worldwide consulting
services for major super-tall and high-rise buildings, assembly venues, convention/hotel facilities,
mission-critical facilities, as well as healthcare,
education and central plant projects. Tyler Jensen
is a Senior Associate, Project Manager and
Mechanical Engineer in Environmental Systems
Design’s High Performance Buildings Group.
Rock the Watt energy-conservation campaign logo.
Image: Cortland Johnson, PNNL
Institutional change and continuous improvement cycle.
By: Kathleen Judd, Senior Research Scientist,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
In 2014, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)’s Sustainabil- ity Program team launched Rock
the Watt, a three-month energy-conservation campaign to promote
sustainable behavior in lab and office
spaces. The campaign involved more
than 1,000 occupants in 14 buildings
and building‐level volunteers. It was
led by a cross-functional team of
subject matter experts in building
performance, communications and
facilities operations.
The project design was rooted
in behavioral science methods
compiled by the U.S. Dept. of
Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (see Institutional
change and continuous improvement cycle). It started with an
effort to understand opportunities
for change through lab sustainability assessments, metering of
select equipment and observation.
Behavior change actions were then
defined for office and lab users.
Examples of actions targeted in
offices included choosing energy-saving computer power settings
and eliminating personal refrigerators and printers. Example
actions targeted in labs included
installing timers on equipment
and increasing the set-points of
ultra-low-temperature (-80 C)
freezers.
The project action plan outlined
a number of strategies that would
be used to influence behavior. A
The team supplemented these efforts
through campus-wide messages.
To evaluate the impact of Rock the
Watt, actions taken by the BSCs and
occupants were considered. Most BSCs
followed through on requests to email
messages and talk informally with occu-
pants; they were less likely to complete
checklists during walk-throughs,
making documentation of
actions taken challenging. About
250 occupant actions were doc-
umented in the 14 participating
buildings, and were estimated to
save roughly 115,000 k Wh when
annualized. This likely represents
the minimum impact as not all
BSCs documented actions, and
it doesn’t account for post-cam-
paign changes. For example, the
number of freezers with warmer
set-points increased from three
at the end of the campaign to
27 six months later, prompted
by the early adopters. Another
benefit of the campaign was that
occupants offered over 50 unso-
licited suggestions to their BSCs,
many of which resulted in direct
savings (for example, de-lamp-
ing over-lit hallways).
Several lessons learned were
identified to help organizations
enhance behavior change campaigns. The first is to manage behavior change initiatives like an
energy-conservation measure—
take the time to plan, implement
and measure results, and expect
an ROI. The second is know
your audience and what drives
their behavior by observing and
assessing opportunities and
barriers. This allows planners to
call for actions that are specific and relevant to occupants,
Rock the Watt
