The L.A. Better Building Challenge has honored the properties and developers making the biggest strides in efficient and green building practices at the fourth annual Better Building Challenge awards. The event awarded the Museum of Contemporary Art with the Energy Efficiency Project of the Year; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center received Water Efficiency Project of the Year; Brookfield Properties received Portfolio Project of the Year; and Los Angeles World Airports received the Walk the Walk Award. All winners and nominees participate in Los Angeles' sustainable city plan to incorporate "cutting-edge energy and water efficiency" into new and existing projects. "The event was packed. We did not have a free seat, and we even had people kindly standing in the back," David Hodgins, the executive director of the L.A. Better Buildings Challenge, tells GlobeSt.com. "It was by far the most competitive event that we have had, and we continue to grow this event each year. The winners turned out in force, and the finalists were excited about competing next year. We are really pleased with the event, and we are looking forward to next year." The winners made significant strides in energy reduction. MOCA reduced its energy consumption at its Grand Avenue location in Downtown Los Angeles by more than 50% by installing new air conditioning units, LED lighting and a digital energy management system. Brookfield Properties made efforts to reduce energy across its portfolio by incorporating LEED-certification requirements, like LED lighting and drought-resistant landscaping. The result was a savings of five million kilowatt hours last year. Other efforts were even more pioneering. Cedars-Sinai implemented the first Groundwater Resuse System in Los Angeles, a system that captures groundwater otherwise lost in storage drains and repurposes the water to cool the property. The system saves 27 million gallons of water per year. LAX focused its efforts on central utility and HVAC improvements, which boosted efficiency by 20% and saved 5 million kilowatt house of energy. Improvements to the central utility plant at LAX led to a 20 percent increase in HVAC efficiency, saving approximately five million kilowatt hours of energy annually. "We are seeing more creative ways of reusing and being really efficient with water. We had two projects that were groundwater reuse projects," says Hodgins about this year's projects. "That is something that every building that is having issues with groundwater should be looking at. There are really cost-effective solutions for that. Drinking water should be for drinking, and we can now use non-bottleable water for cooling and irrigation. We also saw a trend of continuous improvement and the importance of doing regular audits to track the projects that you have already done and to continue to uncover new opportunities. That is something that our portfolio finalists do on a regular basis." The nominations for next year open on June 5, 2018. Scroll through the slideshow above to get an inside look at the awards ceremony.