Utilities should do a better job of giving multi-tenant building owners better information about energy use, writes Philip Henderson of the National Resources Defense Council.
Most utilities do not provide basic information about thousands of buildings occupied by multiple tenants with separate utility accounts. This applies to apartments, shopping malls, and offices.
The owner needs to know total kilowatt hours of electricity used in the building to assess energy improvement projects. “Giving the owner a ‘whole-building’ total means the owner does not have to read meters manually or collect paper bills from tenants -- time-consuming, error-prone, and unnecessary,” Henderson writes. Even when a building has smart meters, the owner cannot get total kilowatt hour use from the utility.
Several leading utilities, such as Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, PEPCO in Washington, D.C., Eversource in Boston, National Grid in New York, and Consolidated Edison in New York, have recently made this information available. Some have created online portals for building owners to obtain summary information.
Related Stories
Retail Centers | Aug 31, 2015
Urban developers add supermarkets to the mixes
Several high-rise projects include street-level Whole Foods Markets.
Multifamily Housing | Aug 27, 2015
Architects propose shipping container tower to replace slums
The firm says approximately 2,500 containers would be needed to complete the design, which aims to accommodate as many as 5,000 people.
Mixed-Use | Aug 26, 2015
Innovation districts + tech clusters: How the ‘open innovation’ era is revitalizing urban cores
In the race for highly coveted tech companies and startups, cities, institutions, and developers are teaming to form innovation hot pockets.
Multifamily Housing | Aug 25, 2015
London multifamily building to have transparent swimming pool designed by Arup
Residents and visitors will be able to swim 10 stories above ground, and see views of London.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | Aug 25, 2015
Engineered wood helps meet booming demand for multifamily projects
Multifamily housing starts reached 358,000 in 2014, a 16 percent increase over 2013 and the highest total since 2007
Sponsored | Fire-Rated Products | Aug 24, 2015
Of Sky Garages and Dezervators: Porsche Design Tower sets a new standard of cool with the help of fire rated glass
The 60-story, 132-residence luxury Porsche Design Tower designed by Sieger Suarez Architects promises to deliver a new standard of cool.
Multifamily Housing | Aug 10, 2015
SOM, Woods Bagot part of mega multifamily development planned for San Francisco's west side
The first 1,000 residential units will kickoff a decade-long plan to add 5,6779 new housing units.
Giants 400 | Aug 7, 2015
MULTIFAMILY AEC GIANTS: Slowdown prompts developers to ask: Will the luxury rentals boom hold?
For the last three years, rental apartments have occupied the hot corner in residential construction, as younger people gravitated toward renting to be closer to urban centers and jobs. But at around 360,000 annual starts, multifamily might be peaking, according to BD+C's 2015 Giants 300 report.
High-rise Construction | Aug 7, 2015
Tribute tower to cricket world champs will be Sri Lanka’s tallest
The 1996 Iconic Tower will be a tribute to the country’s cricket team, which won the World Cup in 1996.
Multifamily Housing | Aug 5, 2015
FacadeRetrofit.org: A new database for tracking commercial and multifamily façade upgrades
The site allows users to submit information about new projects, or supplement information on those already posted.
