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The Urban Land Institute (ULI) set up a 10-step program to help commercial building tenants reduce their energy costs while enhancing their bottom line and corporate goals related to energy-efficient and sustainable workplaces.
Increasingly, the attention to energy efficiency and sustainability in building along with market pressures such as rising energy prices, requirements to publicly disclose energy usage and more stringent legislation, are encouraging building owners, tenants and other stakeholders to explore new ways to cut energy consumption. Energy used within the tenant spaces generally represents more than 50% of the overall building energy consumption in a commercial property.
In this context, the ULI has launched a new programme, called the Tenant Energy Optimization programme, aimed at connecting tenants, building owners, real estate brokers, architects and engineers to drive energy-efficiency in workplaces.
The programme was initiated as part of a major “greening” remodelling of the Empire State Building in New York and to reduce the tenant energy use in the iconic skyscraper. The step-by-step process incorporates energy efficiency into the design and construction of tenant space using proven and measurable practices. As a result, significant investment returns are delivered through energy conservation.
The Tenant Energy Optimization programme provides process and tools to make tenants work closely with service providers and building owners to identify energy- efficiency measures, setup energy performance goals, work out a plan that best meets their energy saving and budget targets.
Major players such as Bloomberg LP, LinkedIn Corp., Cushman & Wakefield and TPG Architecture LLP have tested the 10-step process. Results from 10 pilot projects show tenants’ energy savings ranging from 30 to 50 percent with payback on investment as little as three to five years as well as an average annual internal return rate of 25%.
“Due to its strong ability to demonstrate energy and financial savings, the programme could soon become a standard practice for the commercial property sector around the globe.” Says Patrick L. Phillips, ULI Global Chief Executive Officer.
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