The U.S. Department of Energy and 19 commercial real estate companies launched the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance Thursday to link building owners to the latest efficiency research and technologies from the agency’s laboratories.

With commercial buildings comprising roughly 18 percent of the country’s energy consumption, commercial holdings represent a large opportunity to cut usage. Best practices will be shared and the alliance could serve as an industry voice to advocate for more energy efficient equipment from the nation’s building materials suppliers.

It’s the second real estate-focused alliance to be created by the DOE; companies including Wal-Mart, Target and Macy’s joined the agency’s newly-formed Retailer Energy Alliance last year. Both alliances are part of the DOE’s Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative targeting zero-energy commercial buildings by 2025.

“The deployment of new energy efficient technologies and adoption by both public and private sectors are vital to achieving substantial change in building energy use throughout the U.S.,” Scott Hine, acting program manager of DOE’s Building Technologies Program, said in a statement.

The new alliance members include: CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Grubb & Ellis, Hilton Hotels Corp., Jones Lang LaSalle, MGM Mirage, Transwestern, U.S. General Services Administration, USAA Real Estate Company, The Walt Disney Company, Wyndham Hotel and Resorts, American Hotel and Lodging Association, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Building Owners and Managers Association, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, International Council of Shopping Centers, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and the Real Estate Roundtable.

"Office building" -- CC licensed by Flickr user Joshua Davis (jdavis.info).