Roughly one-third of the U.S. population lives in the country’s 500,000 multifamily buildings, and they spend $22 billion on energy every year. Until this year, apartment and condo managers lacked the tools to measure how much energy they were wasting and compare their performance nationwide. Meanwhile, energy costs for renters have risen by 20 percent over the past decade.
Today, a new era of savings will be ushered in when the U.S EPA announces the first set of multifamily properties to earn the ENERGY STAR certification. The ENERGY STAR first became available to the sector this September, after a three-year partnership with Fannie Mae to develop the scoring system for multifamily properties.
Roughly one-third of the U.S. population lives in the country’s 500,000 multifamily buildings, and they spend $22 billion on energy every year. Until this year, apartment and condo managers lacked the tools to measure how much energy they were wasting and compare their performance nationwide. Meanwhile, energy costs for renters have risen by 20 percent over the past decade.
Today, a new era of savings will be ushered in when the U.S EPA announces the first set of multifamily properties to earn the ENERGY STAR certification. The ENERGY STAR first became available to the sector this September, after a three-year partnership with Fannie Mae to develop the scoring system for multifamily properties.
Listed below are some key observations from the first set of ENERGY STAR certified multifamily properties:
- Age is just a number. Five of the first 17 properties to earn the ENERGY STAR were built in 1920s, including the Harvard School of Public Health – Shattuck International House (1920).
- “Location, Location, Location” matters in energy efficiency, too.
- All but one of the properties are located in major metropolitan areas that have local governments actively trying to curb greenhouse gas emissions by helping the local building stock improve energy efficiency.
- Some buildings made use of their surroundings. Chicago’s famous River City apartment complex strategically took advantage of its location on the Chicago River and created additional energy savings by incorporating river water into the building’s cooling system (in addition to other energy efficiency investments of course!)
- Renovations are an opportunity, and may be more livable than you think.
- At ECO Modern Flats in Fayetteville, AR, the renovation team dramatically improved comfort and efficiency through solar hot water, closed-cell insulation, white roofing, a green screen, low-e windows, efficient lighting, low-flow showerheads and faucets, dual flush toilets, and ENERGY STAR appliances.
- Castle Square Apartments, an affordable housing property in Boston, MA, is undergoing the nation’s largest Deep Energy Retrofit without doing a gut rehab (allowing residents to stay in their apartments during the renovation process).
Read more at ENERGY STAR.
Apartment building image via Shutterstock.
