Better Buildings is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designed to improve the lives of the American people by driving leadership in energy innovation. Through Better Buildings, DOE partners with leaders in the public and private sectors… Read More »Improving Lives by Driving Leadership in Energy Innovation
Extreme weather events, exacerbated by rising temperatures, as well as mounting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have underscored the urgency of the climate challenge and the vital need for energy efficiency. We know that efficiency can halve emissions by… Read More »Scaling Cost-Effective Energy Efficiency
You are likely already paying for them, and you have been doing so for years. Do I have your attention yet? Take a look at your monthly utility bill and you will likely find something called a Systems Benefit Charge… Read More »Energy Incentives are a No-Brainer
When my kids were younger, the question “why” was both never-ending and very important. It was important as it helped my kids learn and it fueled their ever-inquisitive minds. As we get older, we tend to ask why less and… Read More »Why is Data important?
Energy efficiency investments are often not implemented in commercial buildings due to a combination of various factors and barriers faced by the stakeholders involved. Even for buildings that are subjected to mandatory audits or regulatory deadlines, the recommendations are often… Read More »Creating a Culture of Energy Efficiency
Expectations of buildings and places in terms of health and wellness are higher than they have ever been. The heightened expectations were already happening before COVID. The largest working generation are Millennials, and with the exception of family, Millennials value… Read More »Improved Wellbeing, Cognitive Function, and Productivity
Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) is the process of uncovering errors in physical systems while attempting to identify the source of the problem. For most building owners, fault detection requires making judgment calls based on incomplete data. In a good… Read More »Uncovering Building Systems Problems and Root Cause Analysis
Savings (noun) is defined as “an economy of or reduction in money, time, or another resource”. Waste (noun) is defined as ”an act or instance of using or expending something carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose”. While most people love… Read More »Savings or Waste – Which is More Compelling?
Preventive maintenance (PM) is the regular and routine maintenance of equipment and assets in order to keep them running and prevent any costly unplanned downtime from unexpected equipment failure. A successful PM strategy requires planning and scheduling maintenance of equipment… Read More »Preventive Maintenance, the #1 building energy efficiency measure
People and how you execute enable building owners to outperform almost any technology. Building Automation Systems (BAS) have been around for years. A BAS utilizes a control system to automate the control of various building systems (mainly HVAC). A BAS… Read More »What really matters is the people and the processes
Building owners all recognize that costs have increased for everything – energy, consumables, contractors. Sure, building owners can pass many of these costs on to tenants but are there proactive steps building owners, their tenants, and their contractors can take… Read More »How to Offset the Increasing Cost of Everything
Buildings constantly change. Building owners need to constantly adapt to changing building conditions. That also means making decisions. Historically, calculating the return on investment (ROI) of a decision – e.g., maintenance, repair, capital improvement – is what has driven many… Read More »The High Cost of Doing Nothing
The greenest building isn’t necessarily the latest and greatest, highest-scoring LEED-Platinum award winner. According to the 2021 World Green Building Trends report from the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC), about half of respondents engage in green renovation/retrofit projects, with most investors engaged… Read More »Old Buildings Matter – the Green Renovation Trend Continues to Grow
We learned a lot from Covid. Work from home became commonplace. Everyone now is aware of the value of a safe workplace, a safe place to shop, and a safe place to conduct business with customers and clients. As businesses start to implement their new return to work policies, where people work, congregate, shop and… Read More »Tenants want Better Buildings
For many owners, when they purchase a building, they obtain a formal building conditions assessment to shed light on what costs to expect immediately and in the next few years. In fact, many lenders require a formal building conditions assessment… Read More »Measuring Building Conditions Enables Better Decisions
In 2018, office building owners spent an average of $2.14 on energy consumption per square foot in commercial buildings. It is estimated that about one-third of total non-fixed operating expenses go toward energy use in commercial buildings, and this is rising (see the EIA chart below). Plus commercial buildings contribute to nearly 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse… Read More »Energy Cost Containment
The drop in the cost of “green” energy over the past fifteen years has been phenomenal. Solar power generation today costs 10% of what it did in 2009. Wind power costs less than 30%. Under certain circumstances, solar and wind… Read More »The Lowest Cost Energy Source
If a tenant hires a contractor to make improvements to a property, but the tenant doesn’t pay the contractor in full, can the contractor sue the landlord for the difference? It sounds unlikely, but it happened in one case recently.… Read More »Tenant Improvements – A Cautionary Tale
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is an innovative financing tool that helps commercial building owners fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. It offers long-term, fixed-rate financing, covering up to 100% of project costs that are a permanent part of… Read More »Low-Cost Financing for “Green” Projects
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has frequently pitted commercial building owners and tenants against one another as the demand for commercial space has teetered, green leases have the potential to unite tenants and building owners toward a… Read More »Green Leases Unite Building Owners and Tenants
A commercial building energy audit process is an overall analysis of the ways that a building consumes energy. Once the energy audit is conducted on the ways and where energy is consumed, the analysis focuses on identifying ways to decrease… Read More »One-off Energy Audits Are Not Enough