Energy Benchmarking Key to Realizing $9 Billion in Savings in Apartments and Condos: Benefits for Owners and Renters via GreenBuildingElements.com

Almost 40 million Americans live in apartments and condominiums in multifamily buildings (those containing five or more units). Over the past decade, these Americans have seen their energy costs rise by 20 percent — more than three times the average rate of rent increases. A new report from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), Energy Transparency in the Multifamily Housing Sector, finds that the nation’s multifamily housing stock holds potential for major energy efficiency gains, which would improve housing affordability by keeping renters’ utility bills down. Transparency about buildings’ energy use can drive these gains.

New laws in major cities require owners of multifamily buildings to measure (or benchmark) and disclose their properties’ energy consumption. These laws will give owners much better information about their buildings’ energy use — and how to reduce it — while policymakers, utilities, and lenders will be able to use the resulting data to craft new programs and incentives for energy-efficient buildings. Potential energy savings from America’s multifamily buildings have been estimated at $9 billion, with carbon reductions equivalent to shutting down 20 coal power plants.

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