Fifth Third Bank was Awarded for the 2021 Battle of the Buildings Competition in the Financial Institution Category

Fifth Third Bank was established in 1858 as a community staple, and has continued their work to improve their community even since then. With a strong commitment to environmental leadership and sustainability within their communities, Fifth Third has purchased 100% renewable power since 2019 and achieved carbon neutrality for their Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 (Business Travel) emissions since 2020. The Bank continues to work towards more sustainable business practices and a more sustainable future for their community. Fifth Third’s Gibraltar branch is an exceptional example of such initiatives.

The branch was able to accomplish a 29.86% energy reduction through LED upgrades as well as a network enabled building management system. The lighting upgrades were made to the building's exterior and included updates to the lighting controls to minimize lighting use.

The building management system is part of a portfolio wide effort to implement advanced building control technology and reduce energy use. As Vice President and Director of Operational Sustainability, Jeremy Faust explained that the Bank’s traditional controls included stand-alone manual thermostats, which did not allow for unoccupied setback temperatures for nights, weekends, and holidays. In addition, many locations had independent auxiliary heating and cooling units with separate manual controls causing wasteful electrical usage by being utilized in the off seasons and adding to the load on the main HVAC systems. The new building management system implements controls that “remotely monitor, adjust, and triage and correct operating parameters of connected systems and devices to optimize mechanical system performance and functionality.” These systems include fully programmable thermostat controls with remote access command, monitoring and alerts, commissioning and performance optimization of all HVAC equipment and controls upon installation of the new controls, and active real-time analytics, monitoring and alerts. These improvements and systems are the foundation of energy efficiency and reduction for the bank as a whole, and have exhibited their effectiveness in the energy reduction accomplished by Fifth Third Bank Gibraltar.

We were thrilled to celebrate Fifth Third Bank’s (Gibraltar) accomplishments in energy efficiency on June 15, 2022 at our 8th Annual Michigan Energy Summit, where they were awarded in the Financial Institution Category.