Want to cut costs across your portfolio while improving environmental conditions for future generations? Of course you do. You can achieve both when you turn sustainability initiatives into games that get residents and tenants involved. The basic tools below can help you get started today. Gamification: Undercover Education (and Self-Help) Meetings, lectures, and classes on saving energy rarely alter our habits. Feedback, seeing the results of our actions often in real-time, has proven to help to change habits. That’s where gamification fits into your energy-saving strategy. What is gamification? In short, it’s implementing game design elements in non-game contexts. It’s making something that tends to be unexciting and intangible more exciting and interactive. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development in the Netherlands published research on the gamification of energy savings. Researchers concluded that solely issuing smart meters in buildings did not result in optimal energy savings. It was also necessary to change residents’ energy usage behavior. Games proved to be an effective way to heighten awareness and alter user habits. Historically, residents and tenants are slow to change comfortable behaviors even if we know that we can save money. That’s because changing our behaviors takes effort, such as closing blinds before we leave the building to minimize radiant heat or using an app to turn off lights and outlets. None of those tasks takes much effort. But any task is yet another thing to do in a world where we already feel too busy! Gamification helps to take the effort out of changing our comfortable behaviors and makes conserving resources more entertaining. Copernicus Institute details the following components for effective gamification of energy savings. What Makes Gamification Successful? Gamification can be simplified for both commercial and multifamily properties. The American Council for an Energy Efficient...

Yardi didn’t have to venture far recently to share sustainability expertise with an audience eager for innovative energy efficiency ideas. The company provided top-level sponsorship plus an exhibit and speaker for the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference (CHESC), a forum for research and case studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, just a few miles from its headquarters. The four-day gathering included more than 700 California higher education professionals including sustainability coordinators, construction, energy and environmental managers, engineers and facilities directors along with faculty and students. Experts from Yardi shared how the Yardi Pulse Suite, an integrated set of software solutions, supports sustainability efforts by helping reduce energy costs and consumption across all property types. They provided examples of the company’s success in helping property owners benchmark to ENERGY STAR® and make energy efficiency investments, and shared how Yardi promotes energy efficiency and sustainability through webinars, articles in trade publications, educational sessions at industry conferences and other activities. CHESC attendees learned that Yardi further displayed its sustainability sensibilities by achieving ENERGY STAR certification for its headquarters in 2018 and installing a real-time online dashboard that shows consumption data for each building at the corporate campus. In April 2019, the company’s initiatives earned designation as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year. “It is our hope that tools like ours will continue to help property owners and managers be more successful with energy initiatives and comply with new mandates like the California 2030 Green Building Goals,” Lexi Beausoleil, marketing campaigns specialist for Yardi energy solutions, told the conference, adding that technology can be a powerful tool for engaging people to “see the impact of their behaviors and empower them to make better choices.” Other presenters at the conference’s opening session included Dominique Hargreaves, deputy...

Want to make your property more appealing to prospects? Keep their bills low. Senior living clients love to save money. Even more so, they love knowing that their housing provider is taking additional lengths to make saving money easier. By focusing on utility expenses, you’re creating value and enticing customers with cost savings. Cost savings on utilities aren’t traditionally sexy in advertising. It’s hard to make submeter installation look exciting. But money saved has proved to be appealing to seniors, especially when the savings are complemented with improved efficiency and high-quality services. Sustainability Matters Baby Boomers value sustainability. A 2018 High Tide Technologies survey of 2,000 adults discovered that Baby Boomers are more frugal than younger generations. Boomers consume less water and electricity. They’re also more likely to recycle, compost, and be food waste conscious. A separate study lead by Pew Research suggests that 36 percent of Boomers have molded lifestyles that protect the environment “at all times.” Only 12 percent of Gen Xers and Millennials report similar sentiments. The two bodies of research indicate that seniors are looking for more than fancy meal plans. They are seeking housing providers that are concerned about the welfare of their finances and the environment. So how do businesses deliver savings to residents? We sat down with Akshai Rao, vice president of energy and procurement at Yardi, to learn more. The Need for New Strategies While lowering overhead costs benefits businesses, that savings can be passed on to residents. Satisfied residents improve the bottom line, offering a win on two fronts for business owners. “Focusing on reducing consumption doesn’t just affect the bottom line, it may make you more desirable to potential residents,” says Rao. But a recent Argentum survey reveals that 49 percent of executives viewed...

Did you know that adding sustainable features to your property can improve tenant retention? It’s true! If you’ve been brainstorming ways to increase lease renewals and decrease overhead costs, green upgrades may be the answer.  The Benefits of Sustainability Tenants look favorably upon earth conscious workspaces. DTZ, an international leader in commercial real estate services, analyzed responses to the 2015 Kingsley Associates’ tenant survey. Researchers discovered a strong correlation between sustainability and client satisfaction. Respondents expressed greater satisfaction with sites that offered environmentally conscious upgrades and services. Fortunately, there are several sustainable features that you can offer that also benefit you! Check out the suggestions below: Promote paperless services. Online services such as online rent payment, online maintenance requests, and online communication are easy ways to decrease deforestation and keep paper out of landfills. Clients will love that online services are quick, simple, and easy to track. You’re improving efficiency for staff while cutting costs on supplies, printing, and fewer late payments. Implement intelligent utility billing. Catching leaks, billing errors, and monitoring consumption through submetering are just a few benefits of energy management systems. Systems’ automated cost recovery programs can save thousands. Make ride share easier. The share economy is estimated to become a $335 billion industry by 2025. Show that you’re savvy to what clients want by promoting ride share at your property. Designate a few easily accessible spaces for ride share drivers. Shared rides decrease traffic congestion. Conduct an energy and resource audit. No one likes to be audited. Fortunately, this audit is a great way to shave overhead costs and gain points with occupants. Have a third-party conduct a water and energy audit of your property. Professionals can catch leaks and wasted resources to help you save money, and then pass...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects, analyzes and disseminates energy information. The following items are drawn from recent postings on EIA’s Today in Energy news site.               Consumption Rates Slow The EIA’s energy outlook report for 2019 projects that residential and commercial purchased electricity consumption will grow more slowly than the number of households or total commercial floor space. As a result, electricity intensity—the amount of electricity consumed per household or square foot of commercial floor space—will decrease by an average of 0.3% per year and 0.4% per year through 2050 in the residential and commercial sectors, respectively. The number of households will grow an annual average of 0.7% and total commercial floor space by 1% per year during that period. The projected rates are much lower than what occurred from 1990 through 2018, when electricity sales grew at average annual rates of 1.7% in the residential sector and 1.8% in the commercial sector. The growth slowdown stems in part from improvements in technology and federal energy efficiency standards for space heating, cooling and water heating equipment, appliances and items such as light bulbs. Electricity’s New Generation An EIA short-term energy outlook released in January forecasted that wind, solar and other non-hydroelectric renewable energy resources will be the fastest-growing sources of U.S. electricity generation for at least the next two years, Wind generation will grow by 12% and 14% in 2019 and 2020 and utility-scale solar generating units by 10% and 17% over that period. About 23.7 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity will enter the U.S. electric power sector in 2019 alone. Wind accounts for 46% of those utility-scale additions, followed by natural gas (34%) and solar photovoltaics (18%), with the remaining 2% consisting primarily of other renewables and battery storage capacity. New...

Keeping up with utilities and energy costs is a hurdle for most senior living communities. Argentum senior living association recently reported on industry forecasts and trends: about 49 percent of decision makers said energy and utility costs are a moderate challenge for their business. About 5 percent of their peers reported energy and utility costs as a significant challenge. Electricity on the Rise The challenge arises from an increase in energy and utility costs. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that commercial electricity prices increased 3 percent from 2016 to 2017. From 2017 to 2018, businesses witnessed an additional 1 percent increase. In 2019, EIA projects prices to increase an additional .6 percent to 10.86 cents per kilowatt hour. Not all regions are affected equally. The Pacific region may experience a 3.5 percent increase above the national average in 2019. On the lower end of the spectrum, the South Atlantic may experience an increase of only 1.5 percent. Some regions will enjoy a decline in costs. The West South Central may be relieved with a drop of -3.4 percent and New England with a drop of -2.4 percent. Natural Gas Projections The national average for gas prices is expected to average $8.02 per thousand cubic feet in 2019, up 1.5 percent from 2018. Regional variations above the national average include West North Central at 6.4 percent, East North Central at 5.9 percent, and Mountain at 4.2 percent. New England may receive an average price drop of -5.5 percent as well as the Middle Atlantic at -2.7 percent. “The declines won’t be enough to offset the sharp increases registered in 2018,” warned the report. Making Changes Overall, utility costs by square foot varied drastically. Some senior living communities reported costs as low as 69 center...

The Balance Sheet compiled prognostications on some key energy issues: Coal stays stable. After a two-year decline, global demand picked up in 2017 and 2018. China accounts for about half of the world’s consumption, and growing demand in India and Asian countries is offsetting declines in the U.S. and Western Europe. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that the country’s electricity generation share from coal will average 26% in 2019, down from 30% in 2017. Oil retreats. The International Energy Agency and OPEC cut their forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2019, reflecting lower economic growth assumptions. The last time world oil consumption fell was in 2008-09, driven by surging prices and the recession. U.S.’s natural gas role grows.  New liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia are scheduled to come online, doubling U.S. LNG exporting capability. China is a key driver of demand as the world’s largest gas importer. EIA expects the share of U.S. total utility-scale electricity generation from natural gas-fired power plants to be 35% in 2019, up from 32% in 2017. Politics play out. Climate politics will ramp up in the U.S. as the 2020 presidential election campaign gears up. In December 2018, leaders in the House of Representatives announced plans to establish a new panel, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. ‘Smart’ gets bigger. Investors and building managers will continue making green practices a core part of their business. “’Smart’ buildings are becoming more common because of new technology, which impacts building operations, and provides both efficiencies and connectivity which is increasingly being sought by tenants,” says the Counselors of Real Estate, an international property professionals organization. The Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit research and education group, adds, “Real estate has been proactive...

Look up and there’s the sun, whose rays can be captured and converted into electricity. Peer down and see fossil fuels, the engine for much of the world’s economy. You need to burrow even further to find another key source of energy, one that’s driven by the molten essence of the Earth. Geothermal energy originates from the heat at the planet’s center. It can be captured as a source of electricity to heat and cool buildings with geothermal heat pumps, which transfer heat to buildings by pumping water or a special fluid through pipes just below the Earth’s surface. Geothermal energy can also generate electricity through geothermal power plants using wells drilled 1 to 2 miles deep into the Earth to pump steam or hot water to the surface. Tapping the Earth’s internal heat dates back thousands of years, with Roman, Chinese and Native American cultures using hot mineral springs for bathing, cooking and eating. The first geothermal plant, built in Italy in 1904, used steam to turn a turbine that powered five light bulbs. Today, more than 20 countries generate geothermal energy, according to National Geographic. Iceland and the Philippines meet nearly one-third of their electricity demand with geothermal energy, while18 power plants at the Geysers Geothermal Complex north of San Francisco comprise the world’s largest geothermal installation. The U.S., the global leader for installed geothermal capacity, provides more than 3.7 gigawatts to the national grid, according to the U.S Department of Energy. Although geothermal offers an environmentally friendly, renewable, reliable and stable energy source with the smallest land footprint of any major power source, it does have its drawbacks. These include the risk of releasing greenhouse gases that tend to congregate near geothermal power plants, power plants’ effect on fragile land stability, high...

While offering mountains of fun in a winter wonderland, ski resorts also take sustainability seriously. Almost 200 resorts, more than 75% of the U.S. total, have endorsed “Sustainable Slopes,” the National Ski Areas Assn.’s (NSAA’s) Environmental Charter that incorporates principles for ski area planning, operations and outreach. As climate change concerns and consumers’ environmental awareness grow, NSAA and other ski resort stakeholders are devising strategies to “help ski resorts transfer the concept of sustainability from one involving a few disparate energy and efficiency projects to a comprehensive a holistic way of doing business, and one that will seriously enhance the long-term prospects of the areas that adopt them,” as described by the ski magazine Powder. The latest annual report from NSAA, a trade association for alpine resorts, summarizes progress in water conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste reduction and recycling made by more than 300 ski areas that responded to a survey. One destination highlighted in the NSAA annual report, Boreal Mountain Resort & Soda Springs in California, has pledged to reduce its 2011 emissions levels by 25% by 2020. Resort managers retired less efficient vehicles, retrofitted night lighting infrastructure and installed solar panels that will generate 325,000 KwH annually. Another resort, Montana’s Bridger Bowl, offers free electric bus service on weekends as an alternative to single-occupant vehicles. And Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Frisco, Colo., installed electric vehicle charging stations, commingled recycling, composting and scrap steel recycling, and completed a building lighting retrofit. Opportunities for sustainability extend to a ski resort’s sine qua non: snow. An NSAA fact sheet notes that while snowmaking isn’t considered a consumptive act—most of the water diverted from streams for snowmaking returns to the watershed—opportunities abound to execute the process more efficiently: employing efficient snow-guns to increase the...

The energy industry is reinventing itself in combined efforts to limit as much as possible the effects of climate change. Evermore photovoltaic farms emerge around the world, evermore wind projects spring up onshore, offshore near shore, and even air borne—the industry is still in perfecting mode, new ideas turning into new ways to harvest green energy. There’s one more breakthrough in the solar energy world, coming from the scientists at the University of British Columbia. The Canadian researchers managed to develop a bacteria-powered solar cell that can convert light to energy, regardless of the weather, working as efficiently in dim and bright light, which could be a step forward in places like British Columbia and parts of northern Europe where overcast skies are common. Called biogenic cells, these solar cells made of living organism, are intriguing. This new cell generated a current stronger than any previously recorded from such a device. This is the first time when researchers connected nine biological-solar (bio-solar) cells into a bio-solar panel, in an attempt to replicate photosynthesis—the natural way to convert light energy into chemical energy that is later released to fuel the organism’s activities. Previous endeavors were centered around extracting light-sensitive dye from genetically modified bacteria, but the process proved to be quite costly, complex and also not quite safe as during the extraction process, the dye was often damaged by the solvents used. The Canadian team tried something different—they used E.coli genetically engineered to produce ample amounts of lycopene—the molecule that gives tomatoes their orange-red tint. Now, some of you might startle at the sight of E.coli, but this bacteria was chosen for cloning due to its low mutation and recombination rates. Lycopene is considered an excellent natural dye and is fantastic at harvesting sunlight. Their...

Though energy storage is a relatively new addition to the property operations toolkit, it offers vast potential. Battery systems have demonstrated multiple ways to enhance sustainability, cut costs and supply reliability. A key tactic is load shifting, the process of obtaining power during off-peak hours and storing it for use during costlier peak hours, noted Elliotte Quinn, an energy and construction attorney with Charleston, S.C.-based law firm Parker Poe. Batteries offer an alternative backup strategy to diesel generators, and can store solar power for use at night or on overcast days, Quinn noted. Earlier this year, The Irvine Co. launched a multi-property storage strategy at 21 office towers in Orange County, Calif. When requested by local utility Southern California Edison, the buildings switch their power source from the grid to a storage system that’s powered by Tesla batteries (pictured above). The office portfolio becomes a “virtual power plant that can be used to take the load off the grid instantaneously,” explained Susan Kennedy, CEO of San Francisco-based Advanced Microgrid Solutions, the system’s designer and manager. Shifting to battery power reduces the load by 10 megawatts for as long as four hours to help SCE balance the grid. Wholesale Changes An order issued this year by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should make it easier for property owners to sell energy into the wholesale market, but there is a hitch. “If you do that, you’re making yourself subject to federal regulation,” said Quinn. Wholesale selling is likely to be the purview of larger owners, he predicted. As is generally the case with newer technology, battery storage remains a work in progress. By most estimates, costs are dropping, yet the difficulty of predicting payback periods presents a challenge for owners that need to make a multimillion-dollar...

In July, parts of the U.S. saw record demand for electricity, driven by higher temperatures pushing up power usage. Pennsylvania-based regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection LLC reported 144,557 megawatts of demand on July 3, the highest level in almost two years. Power usage in New York City reached its highest level since 2013 the previous day, July 2. On the other coast, more than 80,000 Southern California residents lost power on the July 7-8 weekend as a heat wave caused problems with distribution system equipment. Meanwhile, ERCOT, the grid operator for most of Texas, expects to set a new peak demand record this summer. Resource capacity should allow the grid to operate reliably, but unexpected outages to major generators could prompt demand-side management measures, including potential emergency load shedding. Strain on the grid has obvious implications for property managers, since the residential and commercial sectors account for about 39% of total U.S. energy consumption and more than two-thirds of the electricity used nationwide. Summer heat and havoc it wreaks on the power grid is one reason many property owners seek to incorporate energy efficiency as a core business tenet. One resource in that effort is the Green Lease Leaders program, which encourages lease terms that give both landlords and tenants a stake in adopting building efficiency practices and investments. The Institute for Market Transformation, which administers the Green Lease Leaders program with the U.S. Energy Department’s Better Buildings Alliance, estimates that green leasing could help reduce utility bills by up to $0.51 per square foot (22%) in U.S. office buildings alone; if all leased office buildings executed green leases, the market could achieve over $3 billion in annual energy costs savings. In June, IMT and Better Buildings Alliance recognized companies that incorporated innovative energy...

A recent report presented by Better Buildings®, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), an association dedicated to assessing and improving the sustainability performance of real estate assets, offered insight into the impact of sustainability certifications on commercial properties’ business performance in Los Angeles. David Hodgins, executive director of Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge, presented findings showing that Class B buildings in Los Angeles with ENERGY STAR scores of 75+ achieved significantly higher occupancy rates and rent per square foot than non-certified Class A buildings there. Better Buildings’ findings were based on data from 263 ENERGY STAR-certified buildings and 526 LEED Certified buildings that illustrated the impact of ENERGY STAR benchmarking and certification on building occupancy and rental income. Co-presenter Dan Winters, head of Americas at GRESB, indicated the numbers are similar in other cities where studies have been done. Among the other Los Angeles findings: The average occupancy for ENERY STAR-certified buildings is 90%, vs the 84% current overall occupancy rate, which generates substantial gross annual rent increases The gross current asking rent per square foot (PSF) for ENERGY STAR buildings is $2.15, vs the current asking rent of $2 which also generates substantial gross annual rent improvements Los Angeles is benchmarking its most energy-intensive facilities and has pledged to reduce the energy intensity for 30 million square feet of city-owned and private buildings by 20% by 2020. More than 25 owners of large commercial buildings joined the challenge and report their results annually to help others save money and energy. The Los Angeles Existing Buildings Energy and Water Efficiency ordinance (EBEWE) has made energy efficiency a high priority in the city. This focus is paying off in multiple ways. The city ranked No. 1...

The Home Depot employees are known for their “orange blood” but they will now be known for their green hearts. Yardi Marketplace partner The Home Depot will receive a green facelift at several of its locations across the United States. The updates will help the world’s largest home improvement retailer reach its sustainability goals. Atlanta-based The Home Depot committed to a goal of 135 megawatts of clean power by 2020. As part of this pursuit, The Home Depot has teamed up with General Electric Current and Tesla Inc. The energy duo will install solar systems at 50 Home Depot stores. In turn, The Home Depot will buy the power output generated. The stores receiving solar systems are located in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and California. Each solar rooftop will reduce the stores’ utility demand by one third. The precise terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. So far, only six locations will receive Tesla storage batteries along with GE solar panels. The Tesla Powerpack batteries will permit The Home Depot to store excess power generated during peak hours for future use. In addition to solar systems and batteries, The Home Depot has installed a 30,000-acre wind farm in southern Texas. The wind farm hosts 125 turbines and generates enough power to fuel 100 Home Depot stores. The project has provided $150,000 in community benefits while decreasing the company’s carbon emissions. More than 170 Home Depot sites have received Bloom Energy fuel cells that generate 85 percent of the energy that each store needs. Powered by natural gas, the fuel cells efficiently generate electricity with less carbon emissions than other techniques. There are more than 2,200 Home Depot stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Since 2010, Home Depot’s American stores have...

In 2015, flights produced 781 million tons of CO2 worldwide. This is barely 2 percent of all human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Globally, humans produced over 36 billion tons of CO2. And here’s a really fun fact: data centers emit more CO2 than the global airline industry. Overheated Data Centers Every laptop owner (especially those who also own cats) knows that computers produce a lot of excess heat. Data centers, comprising tens of thousands of servers, waste massive amounts of energy and money trying to keep them cool. Throughout time, various strategies were tested, including moving facilities near the Arctic Circle (Facebook) or submerging servers underwater (Microsoft). While Facebook’s decision to build its first data center outside of the US in northern Sweden uses the -4F outside air to keep temperatures constant, a Dutch company took the reverse method: it uses the heat generated by servers to heat people’s homes. Repurposing Heat from the Cloud Back in 2015, Nerdalize worked with Eneco, a Dutch utility company, to test a heating system that feeds on residual heat of computer servers. Watch a video about the test. Their year-long pilot ran in five households. Each home had a server installed on the premise, powering a standalone wall heater. The heaters were slow, took about one hour to warm up and were also weak, able to provide sufficient heat only for a small room. But the fact that they worked encouraged them to explore the idea further. And an interesting idea it is—instead of paying for high-energy usage to cool the servers, they save households around $336 a year on their heating bills, while also cutting back on CO2 emissions. Per a company press release, each installation takes three tons of CO2 away from a household’s carbon footprint....

Want to cut costs on energy? The National Apartment Association (NAA) Education Conference session entitled Return On Energy: Sustainable Case Studies for Catching Up offered several helpful tips for keeping costs low and residents happy. The session featured Martin Levkus, Regional Director, Yardi Energy; Tom Turnbull, Senior Engineer, JDM Associates; and moderator, Erin Hatcher, LEED Sustainability Manager & Development Associate with AMLI. Hatcher kicked off the session with a question to the audience: “in-house or out-of-house?” Some multifamily owners and operators, like AMLI, have the infrastructure in-house to do their own sustainability and energy efficiency projects. Others, need to outsource to experts if they don’t have the personnel or expertise to do it all themselves. Although both methods have pros and cons, there are some key tips that either method can use to help your properties operate optimally. Data + Analysis = Cost Savings You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Yardi has helped numerous businesses decrease utility expenses with the help of software and Levkus’ advice: “It all starts with a utility bill.” Before you can take down the low hanging fruit, you need to use data to identify it. Levkus referred to a case study including 14,600 units across 260 properties. The organization spent $50,000 – $100,00 in late fees each year. With better bill processing integrated into one software solution, they reduced late fees for roughly $75,000 in annual savings. Beyond paying the utility bills on time, you also want to make sure the bills have accurate charges. A separate Yardi study revealed that for a residential property management business spending $32 million per year on utilities across 63,000 invoices, there were significant billing errors by the utility company equallying $388,000 across two years – 0.55 percent of spend. Yardi’s goal...

Transparency Market Research reports that the global energy management systems (EMS) market continues to grow. The market will show an estimated compound annual growth rate of 13.4 percent between 2015 and 2023, leading to a valuation of $36 billion by 2024. The estimate reflects ongoing confidence in the benefits of sustainable initiatives. Increasing Demand Several factors contribute to the rising demand for EMS. Current fossil fuel sources lack security and sustainability. The long-term projections by the International Energy Agency forecast a rise in such energy costs. As a result, organizations—particularly office, retail, and industrial spaces– strive to mitigate rising expenses by decreasing dependency on non-renewable fuels. Data gathered by EMS highlights opportunities for organizations to use less energy while maintaining optimal site performance. Smarter energy use will minimize waste and keep operating costs low. EMS also contribute to higher property values. The value of buildings with sustainable features exceeds the value of conventional structures by a median increase of 7 percent, reveals a joint study conducted by Dodge Data & Analytics, United Technologies Corporation, and World Green Building Council.  The Drive Toward Healthier Buildings report states that 73 percent of green building owners are able to increase their leasing rates and 62 percent achieved higher asset values. EMS help buildings achieve and maintain the standards needed for green building certifications, increasing the ability to lease and resale sites with higher value and fewer concessions. The drive for increased productivity, employee satisfaction and retention also contributes to the increasing demand for EMS. Research points to occupant health as a component of employee satisfaction and retention. In The Drive Towards Healthier Buildings, 79 percent of respondents believe wellness-focused buildings will lead to improved employee satisfaction. Business owners listed products that enhance thermal comfort, such as EMS, among the...

Solar power installations marked a new high in 2016. The U.S. now has 42 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic energy capacity, sufficient to power 8.3 million homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 52.3 million metric tons annually. The solar capacity grew by 55 percent year-over-year, according to an analysis released by Environment America Research and Policy Center. The report, “Shining Cities: How Smart Local Policies Are Expanding Solar Power in America,” shows that the top five positions are occupied by San Diego, Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Jose and Phoenix. An impressive number of American citizens have invested in their own solar projects in their communities, while many more are ready to enroll. In 2016, just the top 20 cities accounted for as much solar power capacity as the entire country had installed in 2010, nearly 2 gigawatts. There is also a new number one solar-powered city, San Diego, which is replacing Los Angeles. But even though the industry marked such great progress last year, there are still vast amounts of untapped solar potential. San Diego, for instance, has developed less than 14 percent of its technical potential for solar energy on small buildings. “San Diego is setting the standard for other cities across the country when it comes to protecting our environment and creating a cleaner future,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. “This new ranking is a testament to the many San Diego residents and businesses harnessing our natural resources as we march toward our goal of using 100 percent renewable energy throughout the city.” In order to shift the U.S. toward an economy powered by 100 percent renewable energy, officials must continue to adopt a series of pro-solar policies. “Cities are recognizing that clean, local and affordable energy just makes sense,” said...

Currently, over 45% of the US commercial building market uses the ENERGY STAR®, the US EPA’s voluntary certification program designed to measure energy efficiency and improve resource management. At the heart of ENERGY STAR® lies the ability to track energy usage data to reduce energy consumption and improve building performance. “It all starts with taking a look at what you have and seeing what [information] you’re tracking and what data is available,” Craig Haglund, Program Manager, for the US EPA’s ENERGY STAR program, said in the National Apartment Association’s recent webinar, Financial Success with Energy Benchmarking. With comprehensive data collection and analytics capabilities, US EPA’s Portfolio Manager works in concert with ENERGY STAR for complete resource management oversight. “They say ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure,’ which is 100% true,” Haglund continued, “but that misses what you can do with all that data.” Whole Building Consumption For building owners and managers interested in tracking their energy, water and waste metrics, ENERGY STAR provides an easy, comprehensive management tool: Portfolio Manager. With Portfolio Manager, building data can be tracked and analyzed. Users can create customized reports and monitor changes in energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions and more. “Portfolio Manager literally includes hundreds of measurement metrics,” explained Haglund. “Standardized reports can help users assess portfolio performance and share that information or integrate it into other presentations.” Those measurement metrics can be applied to any sized property portfolio, from one building to, in the case of East Coast real estate services firm Bozzuto Management, 63,000 units spread out over 220 communities and representing 2.1 million square feet of mixed-use development. “We have been using Portfolio Manager since 2012,” said Bozzuto’s Director of Sustainability, Peter Zadoretzky. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve gone from a messy,...

Late last month, Southern California Edison switched on its newest substations, an 80MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility that will manage peak demand and improve grid reliability. Just off Interstate 15, nestled in the heart of California’s Riverside County, one of the world’s biggest energy storage projects recently roared to life. Part of a collaboration between Tesla and Southern California Edison (SCE), the installation at the Mira Loma substation will be used to manage peak energy demand and stabilize the grid. “Upon completion, this system will be the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world,” declares a Tesla blog post announcing the project. “When fully charged, this system will hold enough energy to power more than 2,500 households for a day or charge 1,000 Tesla vehicles.” Managing Peak Energy The Mira Loma project is one of the first to use Tesla’s new Powerpack 2 for utility-scale energy storage. With an 80 MWh capacity, the 400 Powerpacks will allow SCE to manage energy use during peak hours. The Powerpacks will be charged with electricity generated during off-peak hours and then supplement demand during periods of peak demand. This process will not only save energy; it will allow SCE to maintain grid reliability, deliver better power quality to customers and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. “The system will charge using electricity from the grid during off-peak hours and then deliver electricity during peak hours to help maintain the reliable operation of Southern California Edison’s electrical infrastructure which feeds more than 15 million residents,” explains the Tesla statement. “By doing so, the Tesla Powerpack system will reduce the need for electricity generated by natural gas and further the advancement of a resilient and modern grid.” Future Expansion Larger utility-scale energy storage projects are already in the works...

In preparation for Earth Day on April 22, we are exploring a few ways to celebrate that can benefit your business while promoting sustainability. More than 190 countries celebrate Earth Day every year. Individuals, families, and organizations combine efforts to support sustainable initiatives. Aside from employee participation and donations, businesses largely miss out. The sustainable programs below offer notable benefits to for-profit entities. Yardi Smart Energy Suite Yardi Smart Energy Suite includes products for total insight and management of your energy consumption and costs, including REC purchases and Yardi E2 Insight. Combining your energy initiatives into one platform for utility billing recovery, paperless utility invoice and payables processing, HVAC optimization and smart thermostats, let’s you leverage the data with your property management information for better results. The mobile-ready stack of energy management solutions can be customized to meet your needs and facilitate the greatest cost savings for your company–without sacrificing tenant or employee comfort. Yardi E2 Insight You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Yardi E2 Insight collects cost and usage data down to the individual building meter. The reports generated allow you to precisely measure and moderate your energy usage. Program analytics can be adjusted to account for seasons, building size, occupancy, and other factors to ensure that you report the true performance of your assets. Modules within Yardi E2 Insight dashboard facilitate easy benchmark reporting. Get effortless access to the data that you need to complete complex reporting requirements. Such reports can help your company qualify for portfolio-wide certifications issued by GRESB and ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. For more on Yardi E2 Insight, call (800) 866-1144 or request more information online. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) It is now cheaper than ever to offset the harmful emissions that your company generates. The prices...

On December 28, 2009, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed Local Law 84 (LL84), mandating annual energy reports for any privately owned buildings over 50,000 square feet. (In October 2016, the city expanded LL84 and LL88 to include buildings 25,000 Sq. Ft. and higher, though, this doesn’t officially go into effect until 2018.) Enacted as part of the city’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan (GGBP), LL84 was designed to help building owners not just measure energy use, but to develop actionable energy efficiency strategies based on that data. By the time the first benchmarking report was released in 2012, the city had gathered energy usage information from 1.8 million square feet of commercial and residential space, making it one of the largest accumulations of benchmarking data gathered for a single jurisdiction. “Buildings account for 75 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in New York City, yet many property owners and managers do not know they [can] be a part of the solution and save money by making their buildings more energy efficient,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a statement after the first benchmarking reports were released in 2012. “This benchmarking report will help us understand where we can act most quickly to significantly reduce GHG emissions and achieve our PlaNYC goals.” Lights, Meters, Action Often considered the low-hanging fruit of energy efficiency implementation, improving a building’s lighting system can dramatically reduce energy consumption. In New York City, roughly 18% of energy use in non-residential buildings can be attributed to lighting, which also accounts for 18% of the city’s carbon emissions. With the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% within the next 15 years, Local Law 88 (LL88) was designed to address the need to encourage lighting upgrades for improved energy efficiency and reduced...

With the ability to collect, analyze and communicate real-time energy information, Pulse Energy adds the power of data to Yardi Energy arsenal. The Power of Data Over the last few years, Jeff Rambharack and the Pulse Energy team have worked to collect data on over a million businesses throughout the US and Canada. That data drives the company’s overall approach and helps provide Pulse clients with strategies tailored to their unique challenges. The company works with utilities and individual businesses, focusing on solutions specifically for different industry segments. “We provide personalized messaging for individual businesses,” explains Rambharack. “We support over 130 different verticals for businesses segments, and we provide personal messaging within each segment. We recognize that every business is different, and we work to identify sources of energy consumption and provide targeted recommendations layered on top of our in-depth analytics we’ve developed to analyze each business’s energy consumption.” Rambharack believes the biggest benefit of this data aggregation is that it allows an energy usage analysis at every level of a company’s organization. By being able to provide personalized insights about of those levels of aggregation, Pulse clients can pursue more effective energy management policies and procedures to reduce energy waste and improve energy efficiency. “Just being able to provide insights and say ‘Hey, you should go look at building X, because we think it has some efficiency problems,’ is so valuable to our clients,” says Rambharack. “Maybe we discover that they are leaving their systems on at night or running their AC and heating simultaneously. Our analytics and extensive database help us detect these sorts of oversights and provide valuable energy consumption insight to our customers.” Tracking Usage against the Baseline One of the most valuable tools for energy management involves developing an accurate...

Innovations in wastewater treatment improve energy efficiency through resource recycling and energy production. Restrictions on water use and carbon emissions require companies to get creative with resource management. Companies that simultaneously seek ways to cut overhead costs have two unique solutions from which to choose: Cambrian Innovation reports that the United States spends about 3 percent of its energy use in treating wastewater. Rather than letting the wastewater go to waste, the company has discovered a low-cost, low-energy method to recycle it. The Boston-based company created the EcoVolt Reactor, a wastewater treatment system. The process results in potable water with minimal energy use. Natural methane gas, which can be used for fuel, is a byproduct of the treatment. EcoVolt Reactors give old technology a fresh, efficient twist. In traditional setups, energy is used to create bubbles that oxygenate and disperse microbes through wastewater. The microbes remove contaminates at the expense of high energy usage. The EcoVolt Reactor uses a different family of microbes that does not need air to work. As a result, users do not need to use energy to produce bubbles and agitate the water. Instead, the wastewater is poured through a filter that contains the microbes. Methane gas (and carbon dioxide that is converted into methane) are released through the chemical process. The fuel is trapped and used for other operations in the building. EcoVolt Reactors generate anywhere from 40KW to 300KW of energy depending on the number of modules that are linked together. Cambrian Innovation Founder and CEO Matt Silver estimates that a chain of reactors could provide nearly 20 percent of the energy required by the average American company. There are currently ten active EcoVolt Reactors throughout the US. In Scotland, Sharc Energy Systems produces clean, hot water using...