Energy Matters

Strategy for Senior Living

By Nik Edlinger on May 27, 2020 in Energy, News

As the COVID-19 crisis drives up labor and equipment costs in senior living, providers are looking for sure-fire ways to save without sacrificing on care or quality. One avenue that few providers have pursued is energy management.

Not considered a significant challenge by many, utility spend actually ranks as the third highest expense, after payroll and food. It’s also much easier to tackle from a cost-control perspective than you might think. Yes, swapping in LED light bulbs is one way to shrink the energy bill, but the real advantages (and savings) start with just knowing how much energy is used. By benchmarking your communities’ energy consumption, and you open up many possibilities to conserve.

There’s more value in a cohesive energy strategy than just saving money, too. Many residents appreciate and look for a building that follows sustainable practices. In fact, the baby boomers are more eco-conscious than their Gen X and millennial counterparts are. Those over 65 are three times more likely to say they live in environmentally friendly ways “all the time.”

If that weren’t reason enough to revisit your energy approach, consider that state, county and local jurisdictions are increasingly asking real estate operators — senior housing included — to record and report on their usage.

Take Seattle for example. Back in 2013, the city passed a resolution in pursuit of carbon neutrality that requires non-public buildings larger than 10,000 square feet to disclose their utility benchmarking data. For Merrill Gardens, based out of Seattle, that meant they had to quickly roll out centralized utility tracking.

So how’d they pull it off? And what benefits have they seen since?

Join us on Tuesday, June 16, at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) for a live webinar with McKnight’s Senior Living to find out. Our own Randy Moss, team lead for ENERGY STAR® benchmarking at Yardi, along with Christopher Wright, facilities & fleet manager for Merrill Gardens, will discuss Merrill’s success in energy management, as well as recent trends and opportunities for not only saving money but supporting your long-term sustainability goals.

Here’s a quick overview of what the webinar will cover:

• The importance of measuring utilities at all levels
• How to tackle your utility spend in incremental steps
• What you can do with your ENERGY STAR benchmarking data
• Ways to offset the costs of efficiency upgrades

Benchmarking your energy usage and identifying areas to save isn’t as daunting as it may seem. So reserve your seat today to learn how you can cut costs, enhance efficiency and improve NOI at your own organization. We hope to see you there!