Fannie Mae releases white paper on energy performance of multifamily buildings

The least energy efficient multifamily property may be spending $165,000 more in annual energy costs than a similar property operating the most efficiently, according to a new white paper released by Fannie Mae.

"Transforming Multifamily Housing: Fannie Mae's Green Initiative and Energy Star for Multifamily" provides insight into Fannie Mae’s Green Initiative, its partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and its effort to compile comprehensive multifamily energy and water data providing the basis for the EPA's Energy Star Score for multifamily structures.

Fannie Mae will continue to lead efforts to support green activities and provide greater transparency for investors by disclosing Multifamily Energy Metrics on Fannie Mae MBS. In June 2014, Fannie Mae collected the Source Energy Use Intensity (EUI), an energy performance metric, for properties securing multifamily loans in cities with Energy Star reporting requirements.

Beginning in 2015, Fannie Mae will collect the Source EUI and the Energy Star score for the associated properties and will disclose the EUI metrics. Investors will be able to view the metrics for properties located in Boston; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Chicago; New York; Seattle; and Washington, DC. This information will give investors greater insight into the energy consumption of multifamily properties and the financial performance of the associated loans.

(http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/about-us/media/commentary/091114-pagitsas.html)

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.