Best of B3 2015

Best of B3 Recognition 2015

The State of Minnesota is leading the nation in requiring 70% more energy efficient State buildings in an effort to have all State construction carbon neutral by 2030. Designed to increase energy efficiency and sustainability, the State of Minnesota’s Buildings, Benchmarks, and Beyond (B3) programs were developed for and are required on State-funded projects in Minnesota. On September 23, 2015, the first annual Best of B3 Recognition Luncheon were held at International Market Square in Minneapolis to recognize the achievements of B3 program participants. Three nominees were recognized in each of six Best of B3 categories.

Best of B3 Design: The Minnesota National Guard’s Austin National Guard Armory Renovation is exceeding its targets for all areas of performance in the B3 Guidelines. Notably, the designed energy use intensity for the project exceeded the energy standard for a new building even though it is a renovation project.

Best of Sustainable Buildings 2030: The University of Minnesota Morris’s Green Prairie Living and Learning Community is a high performance building that uses the simple and straight-forward strategies of increased insulation and heat recovery to achieve a design EUI of 65 kBtu/sf. The project, which has also achieved LEED Gold certification, is a demonstration of the campus’ commitment to sustainability.

B3 Benchmarking: Award winners have been have been benchmarking millions of square feet of buildings for over ten years, continue to keep their data current, and integrate the information with operational improvements.

Public Schools: South Washington County Schools

Local Government: The City of Woodbury

State Agencies/Higher Education: Minnesota Department of Administration

Best of B3 Leadership – Agency: The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources won in the leadership category for their timely submission of many successful projects over the years. The department’s mission and goals align with those of the B3 program, and these goals are consistently communicated to their building teams whether the project is designed by the DNR or by consultants

Other Years

Finalist Selection Process

The Best of B3 nominations were awarded to organizations and projects that have shown leadership in building energy efficiency through their participation in the B3 programs.

The B3 Benchmarking nominations were based upon the length of time the organization has been benchmarking their buildings and how up-to-date they keep the information.

The SB 2030 nominees are projects that were designed to be among the most energy efficient of the projects that have gone through the program in comparison to the SB 2030 Energy Standard requirements

B3 Guidelines project nominations were based upon the overall project performance in areas other than energy.

B3 leadership agency nominations were based upon the agency’s support of the program, timely submissions from their project teams and the limited use of variances.