Going Green

U.S. Energy Information Administration Administrator Linda Capuano told the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives in February that the U.S. energy industry is in a transformational time. She punctuated that statement by noting that, for the first time in almost 70 years, the U.S. will be exporting more energy…

Staying one step ahead in the uncertain and competitive real estate space can be a challenge. We started out the year with many experts predicting that sustainability would once again be a “trend” for 2019. This is not an “aha” moment for most of us: Green building and sustainability have been enduring trends in the…

Benchmarking utilities has become a way of life in multifamily. Not long ago, the EPA introduced its Portfolio Manager, a repository for a commercial property’s utility consumption data for benchmarking. By 2014, the arduous task of establishing an equitable energy efficiency scoring system for multifamily properties had arrived and the EPA invited portfolios to track consumption. Five…

An increasing number of Americans are making an effort to be more environmentally cautious, especially in the wake of natural disasters that have ravished local communities across the country. This is especially so for De Young Properties, an environmentally friendly home building company that specializes in the creation of net-zero energy homes. The company has built more than 140…

Sustainable design features including energy efficiency and good indoor air quality are now becoming so common that they are almost taken for granted. “What used to be exceptional is now everyday,” says Dave Borsos, vice president of capital markets for the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), a multifamily industry advocacy group. Today, new apartment units almost…

Effective January 1, 2018 a new law makes it easier for a California condominium owner to install a solar energy system on the roof the building in which he or she resides. The law also covers the installation of such a system on a garage or carport adjacent to the building that has been assigned…

Increasing energy efficiency in the home is a concern that is echoed throughout all aspects of the residential housing sector. From sustainable building practices and energy-conserving materials to smart gadgets and ultra-efficient appliances, professionals across the board are tasked with finding ways of making homes more energy efficient. Because keeping up with current trends is…

Eco-friendly features are cropping up on buildings around the country. In addition to green roofs and solar panels, private-public partnerships are increasingly building more efficient and cost-effective stormwater systems. And owners are reaping major monetary rewards for their efforts. Green infrastructure is an umbrella term for anything that helps manage stormwater naturally and often includes rain gardens,…

When LEED certification was established in 1998, it was seen as a way to create a competitive advantage for its adopters. The new designation raised consumer awareness of energy efficient design and instilled a sense of competition around sustainable building. Why then, were developers slow to pursue it? Overwhelmingly, the cost. In recent years, the…

There was a time when we spoke of green buildings, and it was a conversation focused in large part on the building envelope. Over the years, that conversation has advanced; in a sense it has been turned inside out. Today we speak of high-performance buildings measured by their degree of sustainability and their ability to…