Energy Star tax credits
In my opinion, “The 8th habit”, by Stephen Covey, (Free Press, 2004)
should be required reading for all business people, including building owners, managers and designers. He said that successful team work includes all of the following:
- Focus on the wildly important
- Create a compelling scoreboard
- Translate lofty goals into specific actions
- Hold each other accountable all the time
What is wildly important to a building owner or tenant? In a tough economy, lowering energy costs may be the easiest (if not the only) way to improve your bottom line. Improving the bottom line in real estate means higher asset valuations.
You cannot control the market rental rates but, all else remaining the same, you CAN control your energy costs. Energy bills continue to grow, so the impact of taking action now can increase with time. Tenants and clients are also concerned with their carbon footprint as well, and reducing the footprint has great social goodwill and karmic implications.
What is a compelling scoreboard ? The monthly utility bills are just a crude beginning. Your energy consumption is already on the bill in dollars and “energy” units, such as kilowatt/hours or cubic feet of gas.
But to make it more “compelling”, measure the usage, and report it in real time. Give the information to the end user about their energy consumption and they begin to notice and ACT on it. Recent reports about user exposure to their energy usage tell us that this is having a big impact socially and economically, and causing them to change their habits. (check out The Energy Circle web page)
State of the art building energy and flow monitoring is now wireless meters, reporting continuously, through a network wireless hub to software and a database, which can be seen by anyone (with permission) with a PC, laptop or PDA web browser. This data can be analyzed and studied by managers and operators of all sizes of building to see their energy flows immediately. There is now a proliferation of devices at very low prices, so the issue of payback for measuring and reporting equipment is not an issue.
Measuring and acting on the results leads to a return on the investment (ROI). Preserving our planet for the future, one kilowatt at a time, is satisfying. Seeing our actions can result in measurable results is COMPELLING.
Recently, the US Green Building Council updated its LEED certification “requirements” to address the continuing operations of buildings. All new LEED certified buildings shall be recertified periodically to validate that credits based on energy performance meet a stated goal. It is an ongoing process of commissioning known in the industry now as Measurement and Verification (M and V).
The recently introduced certification for existing buildings, called LEED-EB emphasizes and rewards the ongoing maintenance and commissioning procedures. It requires measurement and reporting of electric, gas and oil consumption on a regular basis. Its like getting an safety and emissions inspection sticker updated on your car every year. Except that this is a little like measuring and validating your mileage, and making sure you get what the engineers originally intended.
In a buildings lifetime, initial cost is such as focus since so much money is invested and borrowed ar once, but energy costs spread out over time measured in years or decades add up. Measuring the performance of buildings is more than an academic validation of the energy conservation measures (ECM to energy modelers). Actually, the value of energy conservation is multiplied by government incentives to achieve better results, i.e. Energy Star ratings are rewarded by tax credits and href=”http://www.noelsusskind.com/blog/tax-deductions-commercial-buildings”>deductions.
Translating a lofty goal into specific actions :
The initial costs of buying, installing, testing and starting up systems are one thing. We have covered high performance buildings and systems in spades. Long term ownership of a building includes “commissioning” it for operating and maintenance. This ACTUALLY is where energy saving building design is confirmed in the builders final “product” and we can validate the expectations for financial payback. Doing this regularly is the next point that Covey makes: Hold each other accountable all of the time.
This is where making plans becomes getting it done. The team becomes an irresistable force making the goal of sustainable architecture truly achievable.
great blog, noel