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PowerOptions Deploys BETTER to Support Maine Rural Communities.

Oct. 1, 2026

PowerOptions deployed BETTER as part of Maine’s Energy Efficiency Planning for Rural Communities program, funded through the U.S. DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. As the lead technical assistance provider, PowerOptions supported 14 communities in assessing 28 publicly owned buildings. BETTER virtual assessments were conducted alongside Level 2 audits, ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® assistance, and the development of community energy conservation plans. BETTER helped identify potential energy- and cost-saving measures and inform priorities for each community, with its recommendations aligning closely with the on-site audit findings. PowerOptions is also developing a guidebook, expected by the end of 2026, to help other Maine communities replicate the program’s approach.

BETTER Training Delivered to Better Buildings Challenge Partners.

Sept. 3, 2026

On August 12 and September 3, 2026, Berkeley Lab delivered two virtual Group Technical Assistance sessions on BETTER to Better Buildings Challenge partners representing state and local governments, housing organizations, higher education institutions, commercial real estate companies, and other stakeholders. Through presentations, a case study, interactive discussions, and a live demonstration, participants learned how BETTER uses basic building and energy data to benchmark performance, estimate energy and cost savings, identify energy efficiency measures, and prioritize buildings for audits and upgrades. The sessions equipped participants to use BETTER to focus limited resources on high-impact opportunities and accelerate progress toward their energy-reduction goals.

BETTER Analysis Guides Mississippi Toward Low-Cost Operational Energy Savings.

Sept. 1, 2026

Results from Berkeley Lab’s BETTER analysis were incorporated into the Mississippi Development Authority’s (MDA) FY 2025 Annual State Agency Energy Usage Legislative Report. Berkeley Lab reviewed records for 1,026 state buildings and conducted a pilot analysis of 49 office, college and university, and residence hall buildings. BETTER identified approximately 1.4–2.3 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in potential annual savings. The analysis pointed to low-cost operational improvements—including optimizing equipment schedules, temperature setpoints, ventilation controls, and fan operation—as the immediate priority before major capital projects. MDA is now expanding data collection and evaluating these measures in priority buildings, with the goal of applying successful practices across the state portfolio.

BETTER Training Delivered to Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Early Career Professionals.

May 14, 2026

Berkeley Lab delivered training on BETTER to 33 participants in the FEMP Early Career Professionals cohort, including representatives from nine federal agencies and other stakeholders. BETTER supports federal energy management by streamlining the building energy auditing and screening process through automated, data-driven analysis of utility and building data. The platform helps identify operational improvements and technology upgrade opportunities that can reduce energy consumption, lower costs, and support federal energy goals.

BETTER V1.8.2 is online.

May 8, 2026

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.8.2

BETTER V1.8.1 is online.

Dec. 22, 2025

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.8.1

BETTER V1.8 is online.

Aug. 8, 2025

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.8

BETTER V1.7.5 is online.

June 6, 2025

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7.5

BETTER V1.7.4 is online.

May 1, 2025

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7.4

BETTER V1.7.3 is online.

March 26, 2025

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7.3

BETTER V1.7.2 is online.

Oct. 30, 2024

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7.2

BETTER Featured by the Council on Women in Energy & Environmental Leadership (CWEEL).

Oct. 25, 2024

Introductory training and use cases for BETTER were provided to 532 live attendees from 53 different countries at the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) CWEEL webinar in October 2024.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality State Energy Office Trained on BETTER.

Sept. 23, 2024

Energy managers from North Carolina’s state agencies, universities, and community colleges received training on BETTER to help them reach their energy reduction targets.

BETTER V1.7.1 is online.

Aug. 31, 2024

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7.1

BETTER Featured at the 2024 American Council for Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Summer Study.

Aug. 5, 2024

Click here to read the recent paper included in the 2024 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings: New U.S. Data Tools are Playing a Crucial Role in Improving Building Energy Performance at Speed, Scale, and Low Cost. The paper discusses the use of BETTER and the U.S. DOE Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) platform by one of the branches of the California state government to streamline a retrofit program across 455 public non-residential buildings to improve energy performance.

New Data Privacy and Use Terms for BETTER are Released.

July 26, 2024

Visit here to learn about BETTER's new data privacy and use terms.

BETTER V1.7 is online.

June 30, 2024

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.7

Mexico’s National Energy Efficiency Commission Endorses Use of BETTER | Mexico to Meet Federal Energy Savings Targets.

May 6, 2024

Building managers and operators of the 7,582 buildings that are part of the Mexico Federal Public Administration Program (APF), which seeks to reduce energy consumption by 3% annually across federal government facilities, can use the BETTER | Mexico toolkit to meet annual energy-saving targets without costly energy audits. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE) comparing the results of energy performance evaluations using BETTER | Mexico and the Mexico national building energy Benchmarking Tool.

Renew America's Nonprofits Program Highlights BETTER.

Feb. 27, 2024

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Renew America's Nonprofits program hosted an informational webinar about the importance of energy efficiency as a first step in preparing nonprofits for solar. The webinar introduced BETTER for benchmarking and identifying low-cost improvements. Access the webinar recording here.

BETTER Enables PowerOptions To Find $2.5 Million in Potential Annual Energy Cost Savings for Its Nonprofit Members.

Dec. 14, 2023

Click on the handout to access the nonprofit case study.

BETTER V1.6 is online.

Nov. 24, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.6

BETTER | Mexico Gains Traction!

Nov. 10, 2023

Since launching in May 2023, BETTER | Mexico has 76 registered users who have entered nearly 500 buildings, covering approximately 90 million square feet.

BETTER V1.5.1 is online.

Oct. 18, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.5.1

BETTER V1.5 is online.

Sept. 15, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.5

Berkeley Lab Introduces BETTER | Tunisia to Fédération Tunisienne d'Hôtellerie (FTH)

July 15, 2023

Berkeley Lab introduces BETTER | Tunisia to FTH, Tunisia's national hotel industry association, and explores opportunities to train its members, managing 70% of all Tunisian hotels, on energy efficiency and net zero energy strategies.

BETTER V1.4 is online.

July 12, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.4

Acciona Pilots BETTER | Mexico to Support Net Zero Energy Retrofits

July 11, 2023

Acciona, one of Mexico's largest energy service providers, pilots BETTER to support net zero energy retrofit analysis in its corporate portfolio.

Five Mexican States Trained on BETTER | Mexico

June 30, 2023

Training was delivered on BETTER | Mexico to building operators in Mexico City, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Sonora, and Yucatan in support of Mexico's energy efficiency goals.

BETTER | Tunisia Goes Live!

June 30, 2023

BETTER | Tunisia is a French translation of the BETTER toolkit and adds a building energy database and benchmarking statistics specific to Tunisia. Support for development and validation of BETTER | Tunisia comes from the National Agency for Energy Management (ANME) in Tunisia.

BETTER | Mexico Incorporated into Technological Institute of Construction (ITC) Academic Programs

June 16, 2023

The ITC, the training arm of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), is leveraging BETTER | Mexico to support ITC academic programs and analyze energy consumption in private buildings. ITC’s training network includes campuses in six Mexican states and 40 learning centers affiliated with CMIC across Mexico.

Video Success Story: BETTER | Mexico Helps Companies Cut Energy Use by 6% in Five Months

June 16, 2023

See how private companies in Mexico, such as Citibanamex, are using BETTER | Mexico to cut energy usage and costs under the Mexico City Efficient Buildings Challenge.

BETTER | Mexico Goes Live!

May 5, 2023

BETTER | Mexico is a Spanish translation of the BETTER toolkit and adds energy database and benchmarking statistics specific to Mexico. Support for development and validation of BETTER | Mexico comes from the Mexico City Secretariat of the Environment (SEDEMA).

BETTER V1.3 is online

May 5, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.3

Government of Ecuador Trained on BETTER

April 28, 2023

Berkeley Lab delivered training on BETTER for the “Talks About Energy Efficiency in Industry, Construction, and Sustainable Public Procurement” seminar series organized by the Ecuadorian Accreditation Service (SAE). The event included the participation of the Ecuador Ministry of Energy and the Ecuador Ministry of Production, Investment, Foreign Trade and Fisheries, among other government agencies, research institutions, and industry entities.

BETTER Adds French and Spanish Language Toggles

April 28, 2023

BETTER is now available for use in French and Spanish.

BETTER Adds Net Zero Energy Analysis Capability

April 19, 2023

Thanks to a new application programming interface (API) connection with National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s PVWatts® Calculator, BETTER now assesses both energy savings through energy efficiency upgrades and the electricity generation potential from installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels to quickly and easily target buildings for net zero energy retrofits.

Quintana Roo, Mexico Hotels Pilot BETTER

April 9, 2023

With support from The Secretariat of Tourism, Quintana Roo hotels used BETTER to identify energy efficiency measures that will result in economic and environmental benefits. The analysis was the first of its kind to engage the hotel industry in Mexico and demonstrated how implementing energy efficiency measures under a high ambition scenario could cut annual energy costs by 40% (13 gigawatts), equivalent to the energy used to power 9.7 million houses for one year.

The Efficient Healthy Schools Campaign Trains U.S. School Districts on BETTER

March 14, 2023

To help K-12 school districts in the United States reduce energy waste, Berkeley Lab partnered with the New Buildings Institute (NBI) to provide training on using BETTER to identify cost-saving energy efficiency measures in school buildings. Click here to access the recording of the training. This outreach is supported by DOE through the Efficient Healthy Schools Campaign.

BETTER V1.2 is online

Feb. 17, 2023

Visit the Changelog to learn about new features in V1.2

Fibra Uno Pilots BETTER to Accelerate Net Zero Energy Retrofits

Jan. 13, 2023

Fibra Uno, Latin America and Mexico's first and largest Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), with a real estate portfolio accounting for roughly 30% of all properties belonging to REITs in Mexico, is piloting BETTER to accelerate energy efficiency retrofits for nearly 100 of its properties across Mexico. A 10 percent reduction in Fibra Uno's energy consumption will demonstrate an approach for improving energy performance in real estate investment portfolios at speed, scale, and low-cost for 2,000 REIT properties in Mexico.

BETTER Includes New Heuristics and Measures to Improve Window Energy Performance

Nov. 18, 2022

New heuristics and resources have been added to BETTER to improve the targeting and implementing of solutions to improve window energy performance in buildings. This includes adding new heuristics and resources to identify and implement upgrades to windows to reduce solar heat gain (e.g., adding secondary glazing systems) and to improve thermal efficiency of windows (e.g., increasing window insulation).

International Climate Development Institute (ICDI) Leverages the BETTER Source Code

November 17, 2022

ICDI, a Taiwanese think tank, is leveraging the BETTER open-source code for development of an online tool to serve as an instrument to evaluate the energy consumption of Taiwanese buildings.

Training Sessions Held on the Use of BETTER to Advance Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Mexico

Aug. 9, 2022

Berkeley Lab held a virtual training session for the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE) on the use of BETTER. The session was attended by the CONUEE Director who indicated that BETTER will be used to conduct a test to analyze energy performance by public buildings in Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Another training session on BETTER was held in a hybrid format on August 10, 2022 for participants of the Efficient Building Challenge, an initiative led by WRI Mexico and the Mexico City Secretariat of the Environment (SEDEMA) aimed at reducing energy consumption in public and commercial buildings in Mexico City. This session included a live demonstration and a review of energy saving recommendations generated by BETTER.

BETTER Continues to Gain Traction

Aug. 3, 2022

Since the launch of BETTER V1.0 in July 2020, more than 4300 buildings, covering approximately 350 million square feet of floor space across 50 countries and 16 sectors have been entered in BETTER. On a monthly basis, approximately 25 new users register and enter an additional 360 buildings and 30 million square feet of floor space.

BETTER Supports A Pilot Project for Clean Development in the Hotel Industry in Quintana Roo, Mexico

July 15, 2022

As part of an ongoing engagement and collaboration with the Secretariats of Ecology/Environment and Tourism of Quintana Roo, Mexico, Berkeley Lab is providing technical assistance to support a pilot program for clean development of the hotel industry in the state, which receives 47% of all international tourists in Mexico. Hotels participating in the pilot program will provide energy consumption data to be uploaded in BETTER to analyze energy consumption patterns and identify low or no-cost energy efficiency measures that will result in economic and environmental benefits. An informative session held on July 14, 2022 with Berkeley Lab and hotel facilities operators provided details on the use of BETTER and opened the registration period to participate in the pilot program.

BETTER Introduced to Mexico’s Federal Energy Efficiency Agency

July 7, 2022

Berkeley Lab delivered a virtual workshop to officials at the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE) on the properties and functionality of BETTER. The agenda of the workshop included a discussion of the potential adoption of a customized version of BETTER for Mexico to support CONUEE’s data gathering efforts and program design targeting private and public buildings. The partnership with CONUEE and the development of a customized version of BETTER will help in creating the data infrastructure needed to expand technical assistance activities to increase energy efficiency uptake in Mexico’s building sector.

The Efficient Buildings Challenge in Mexico City Utilizes BETTER

May 26, 2022

World Resources Institute (WRI) Mexico and the Mexico City Secretariat of the Environment (SEDEMA), with support from the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Berkeley Lab launched the second phase of the Efficient Buildings Challenge (EBC) in Mexico City this week. BETTER will be among the software tools utilized in the second phase of EBC to assist buildings to reduce energy usage by 10 percent annually.

BETTER Introduced to the National Agency for Energy Management in Tunisia (ANME)

January, 2022

Berkeley Lab introduced BETTER to a group of local experts from public and private institutions in Tunisia. As a result of the webinar, ANME will collect a set of data to work with Berkeley Lab in order to customize and pilot BETTER for Tunisia’s hotel sector.

A 'BETTER' Way Forward for Low-Cost, Accessible Retrofits

Nov. 8, 2021

BETTER is helping state agencies and school districts to improve energy efficiency in their buildings while saving taxpayers money.

BETTER Low-Cost Energy Retrofits

Nov. 5, 2021

BETTER is being used to identify buildings in New England’s underserved neighborhoods that are most in need of energy improvements through a program called Rapid Retrofits

BETTER V1.0 is online

July 30, 2021

BETTER V1.0 is live!

BETTER Garners Award, Avid Interest

June 23, 2021

Learn why approximately 400 organizations are turning to BETTER to improve energy efficiency in their building portfolios.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Launches New Building Performance Tools Website Featuring BETTER

June 11, 2021

A new U.S. DOE data tools website for cities interested in pursuing building performance standards (BPS) features BETTER.

Energy Management During COVID-19: Utilizing Benchmarking Tools to Target Cost Savings Opportunities

April 27, 2021

Berkeley Lab and Energy Resources Integration (ERI) presented at the CxEnergy virtual conference on how BETTER is being used to assess a portfolio of 450 California state agency buildings, target buildings for audits, validate audit findings, and perform longitudinal benchmarking.

BETTER is a Semi-Finalist for the 2021 EarthX Climate Tech Prize

April 26, 2021

BETTER was named a semi-finalist for the 2021 EarthX Climate-Tech Prize – an award which connects early-stage developers with investors

BETTER and Pathways to Energy Efficiency

April 26, 2021

Berkeley Lab presents at the Woodrow Wilson Center China Environment Forum webcast on BETTER and the evolution of building energy efficiency benchmarking and analysis tools to improve energy performance of existing buildings in China and the United States. Click here to listen to the recorded session.

Berkeley Lab Delivers a Guest Lecture on BETTER at Fanshawe College

April 7, 2021

Berkeley Lab delivered a guest lecture on BETTER to graduate students in Fanshawe College's Building Energy Modeling Course as part of Johnson Controls' Global Sustainability Network Earth Month outreach activities.

Data Tool Gets BETTER Results, Gaining Accolades for Innovation

Dec. 10, 2020

BETTER wins the 2020 R&D 100 Award

Oct. 1, 2020

The R&D 100 Awards have served as the most prestigious innovation awards program for the past 58 years, honoring great R&D pioneers and their revolutionary ideas in science and technology. BETTER won the award in the Software/Service category. Click here for more.

BETTER wins the 2020 LBNL Director's Award

Sept. 4, 2020

BETTER wins the 2020 LBNL Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement in Technology Transfer which recognizes the BETTER team's exemplary efforts in building relationships with industry to advance the science of data-driven, remote building energy analysis to improve building energy efficiency at speed and scale worldwide.