Dive Brief:
- An aging Texas mall has cut its energy costs by around 30% and slashed its monthly energy use by about 5,000 kilowatt-hours since implementing a custom HVAC demand management solution in 2017, the energy management company that worked on the project says.
- The two-level Woodlands Mall near Houston was the flagship site for GGP’s peak demand reduction initiative, which has since rolled out to other properties in the Canadian retail giant’s portfolio. GGP is the new name for Brookfield Properties’ retail division, which it adopted Jan. 5.
- OTI, the energy management company that led the project, said the solution helped Brookfield control energy costs at the facility after Houston-area utilities introduced an energy pricing scheme that charges higher retail rates during peak demand periods. After implementation, OTI collected energy use data from the facility across multiple seasons to incorporate “smarter peak demand prediction and pre-cooling algorithms,” further reducing peak energy demand.
Dive Insight:
Companies in the building management space say integrated systems — including automated HVAC controls — can significantly improve facilities’ energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts without major technological advances or changes in regulation.
For example, “AI-driven HVAC management software” can reduce HVAC systems’ energy use by 25%, PwC and the World Economic Forum said in 2024. The Energy Transitions Commission said in a report published last February that cutting-edge HVAC and building management systems have “a major role to play” in energy-efficiency gains.
Utility rate structures designed to reduce load on the electric grid during peak periods are increasingly common in competitive electricity markets like Texas. In addition, a growing number of local and state governments are implementing regulations that push building owners to track or even reduce their energy use.
Eight states and more than 35 cities and counties require owners of larger commercial buildings to track their intensity of energy use, according to data compiled by Facilities Dive. At least four states and 23 local jurisdictions require owners to take additional actions, such as reducing energy use or conducting audits on greenhouse gas and water usage.
New York City’s Local Law 97, for example, requires owners of buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to reduce their carbon emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2040 or face noncompliance penalties of nearly $300 per excess ton of emitted carbon dioxide equivalent.
In Chicago, the Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance has been in force since 2013. It requires owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to report energy usage intensity, greenhouse gas emissions and energy performance scores — the energy-efficiency metric used by the federal ENERGY STAR program.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a stricter, more comprehensive ordinance in 2024 that would have banned fossil-fuel appliances in most new-construction buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovations while using federal tax incentives and grant programs to incentivize electrification. The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance has not yet passed into law amid a sharp pullback in federal support for clean building technologies.
We’re “making a big impact on energy savings and operational efficiencies across our enterprise,” Jeff Nash, vice president of national operations at GGP, said of the work his company is doing with OTI.
Correction: We have updated this story to correct the name of Brookfield Properties’ retail division to GGP.
