The 114th Congress convenes January 6, 2015 at noon Eastern. A recent posting from Utility Dive offers some predictions on how they will handle energy issues: “Crucial energy-related decisions with 2016 deadlines will face the new Republican-dominated Congress beginning in January.” Read More Kent McDonaldKent works at RealPage and helps apartment firms reduce operating costs related…
Category: Consumption/Demand
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…
Getting Started with a Portfolio Wide Energy Management Policy
Getting your head around Energy Management is a difficult process. A good place to start is with a corporate policy to build consesus and guidance around. Policy can be described as a statement of commitment that contains procedures and protocols that can be used by senior management officers when guiding a Portfolio Wide Energy Management Policy….
What do Energy Disclosure Laws and Electric Vehicles (EV) have in common?
How powerful would it be for property owners to know what their residents are going to do before they actually do it? To predict how they would react to certain amenities, or to intervene just before a resident loses loyalty and switches properties? Leading indicators can give owners a sense of where the economy is headed in the future, paving…
Los Angeles is going green
The Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power is kicking coal, but it isn’t easy. In January 2011, the American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked the DWP as the 13th most hated company in America. They are working hard to turn around public perception including a program that involves an unlikely coalition of labor and environmental interests. …
Energy Management for Portfolios – Getting Started in 2014
Self-Check It is important for a portfolio or property to conduct a thorough self-assessment of its current performance, goals and requisite level of effort in 2014 before deciding to embark on an energy management program. For firms with energy management procedures already in place, it may be less of a reach to take on…