BUILDING A GREENER AMERICA to warrant at least two more series .
“ Lots of people have been covering it , which is a microcosm of what my challenge is for energy efficiency ,” says Vargas . “ All these partners are doing great things but if nobody knows about it , we ’ re not changing anything . Part of the SWAP is about educating and engaging . The smartest people you ’ ll ever work with are the ones who admit they don ’ t know everything , the ones who will openly state that they want to learn and be better . The Better Building Initiative as a whole encourages that .”
The group of over 300 companies already taking part in the Better Buildings Challenge have saved billions of dollars between them , but in Vargas ’ s words , “ the biggest savings come from this leadership group ’ s ability to motivate and accelerate change ”. On the commercial buildings side alone , this project could save £ 80 billion every year . The businesses involved view energy efficiency as not only something they should be doing because their competitors are , but as something they should do and can do easily . The main goal of the initiative is to transform the US market and the way energy is thought about country-wide .
“ That ’ s our hope and our belief , that people will see the savings and the impact these organizations are making , and be inspired by it . This is something that will snowball from here , and from one company to another too . It ’ s fascinating to watch this internally , seeing some companies make their first forays into energy efficiency , and others being inspired by their peers to expand their efforts .”
Vargas and the SWAP teams
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