Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star program honors businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements. Energy Star Award Winners lead their industries in the production and sale of energy-efficient products and services, and in the development and adoption of strategies that provide substantial savings in the buildings where people work and live.
“As an Energy Star partner ourselves, ULI understands the value and impact that comes from benchmarking and resulting energy efficiency improvements in buildings, says Marta Schantz, ULI senior vice president of the Greenprint Center for Building Performance. “They always say you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and that rings especially true in the real estate sustainability world. Energy Star Portfolio Manager offers step one to start reducing energy and creating value across a portfolio.”
This year, five ULI Greenprint members achieved Energy Star Partner of the Year. Those members, with examples of their leadership, are:
- CommonWealth Partners—incorporated its Energy Star partnership and Energy Star performance metrics into lobby posters during tenant events and provided question-and-answer sessions with property management on its energy management program.
- Kilroy Realty Corporation—launched the “Brokers for Better Buildings” Twitter campaign to celebrate brokers who helped sign green leases in its Energy Star–certified buildings.
- LaSalle Investment Management—participated in the Energy Star Tenant Space pilot program and received Energy Star Charter Tenant Space recognition for a LaSalle office space.
- SL Green Realty Corp.—expanded its tenant amenity program, Living Green, to reach 96 companies and 516 tenants, resulting in increased Energy Star awareness and access to energy management resources such as a free energy audit.
- Tishman Speyer—implemented a standardized energy management system in a cloud-based monitoring system for its entire portfolio, which allows for real-time diagnosis of energy use patterns and live Energy Star score updates, creating the foundation for new energy management training and incentive programs.
“The winners of the Energy Star Partner of the Year award are leading the way in reducing the environmental impact of the commercial real estate sector, and we’re pleased that so many are taking their commitment to sustainability even further through their membership in ULI Greenprint,” says Craig Haglund, national program manager for commercial real estate with the Energy Star program.
“These companies provide a tremendous value not only to the Energy Star program itself, but to the industry as a whole by providing exceptional leadership, innovation, and insight into the best practices used to achieve the shared goal of reducing energy and positively impacting the environment. We are thrilled to honor these organizations and always look forward to learning and celebrating all the accomplishments that have been made over the prior year.”
Energy Star tools and resources help businesses identify cost-effective approaches to managing energy use in their buildings and plant, enabling the private sector to save energy, increase profits, and strengthen its competitiveness. In 2017 alone, Energy Star helped families and businesses avoid $30 billion in energy costs. The program’s free online tool, Energy Star Portfolio Manager, is used to measure and track the energy use, water use, and/or waste and materials use of more than 270,000 commercial properties across the nation. For eligible buildings, the tool calculates an Energy Star score of 1 to 100, which has become the industry standard for rating a facility’s energy performance.
The ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance is a worldwide alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, and strategic partners committed to improving the environmental performance of the global real estate industry. Through measurement, benchmarking, knowledge sharing, and implementation of best practices, Greenprint members strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030. Members leverage the Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool to collect, analyze, and act on this benchmarking data.
