We are pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Utility Management Advisory (UMA) Sustainability and Innovation Award was Greystar! The Sustainability and Innovation award celebrates excellence in energy, water and / or trash management, as well as projects demonstrating measurable enhancements in sustainability practices. The award was presented to Greystar for their “Move…
Author: UMAdvisor
LEED Certification in Multifamily – Does it matter?
For commercial buildings, studies have shown that LEED buildings have lower operating costs and better air quality than non-LEED certified buildings. For multifamily properties, the LEED certification process is a new trend and seems to be driven by market conditions or client demand. Millenials make up a huge part of the apartment industry and are…
Engaging Residents for Green Living
Resident behavior greatly affects the overall environmental impact of your property. If you are trying to promote initiatives at your property, educating residents is a critical part of the program. Whether you begin to educate potential residents on the property tour or wait until the lease is signed, it is important to start educating early….
How to Run the Best Energy Management Program EMP
Rate and Tariff review is an important part of any EMP. Believe it or not utilities companies all make mistakes. Some are small and no one ever really notices them like the billing dates overlap by a day to two that would just mean a small overpayment depending on the type of utility being paid….
Solar Article
The article below points out how the utilities are fighting the solar industry by increasing their demand charges to compensate for customers generating their own power from solar. As some states and utilities define the rules of the game other states will follow suit. It also mentions how the regulations being in a state of…
Wireless charging for electric vehicles hits the road
Forget building costly charging stations for residents; forget the charging cable: breakthroughs in inductive charging for electric vehicles (evs) means drivers just park over a pad in the road to get more juice With no need to plug in to charge, it’s a breakthrough that should speed up the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV)…
Is Multifamily Energy Management Finally Going Mainstream with Nest at the Center?
New advancements around thermostats, wireless, Bluetooth lighting, apartment automation appliances and more are energizing the energy management market. The big news is that Nest Labs announced a developer program for integration with other manufacturers’ products—through Nest’s cloud—and its first partner is Control4, so users of that energy management control systems can see the temperature on a…
2014 Smartest Energy and Sustainability Decisions
Lighting leads the way! Lighting retrofits were the smartest investment made in 2013. When you consider the substantial capital support for LED lighting made available through utility incentive programs, it is no surprise that lighting tops the list―with savings beginning almost immediately! Other smart investments that topped the list included energy management systems, building controls…
Energy Benchmarking results are in for early adopter – Seattle
Seattle, Washington, has joined the growing list of U.S. cities that are publishing detailed reports on building energy use in an effort to motivate property owners to make their buildings more efficient, and to ultimately save energy and money. The Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment released a report in January 2014 that details energy…
What the acquisition of NEST by Google could mean for apartment owners
Google’s recent acquisition of intelligent thermostat and fire alarm-maker Nest could be a major disruption to the status quo in apartment automation. For decades, the dream of a “smart apartment” has been just that: a dream. The concept of an interconnected, intelligent apartment and common areas has been relegated to science fiction. Owners have not…