There is a general understanding that investment in energy efficiency and sustainability certifications can reduce operating costs and enhance net operating income, but what about driving tenant renewals, increasing occupancy, or yielding higher rental rates and lower rental concessions? These and other key metrics are being explored by the commercial real estate industry, but more data is needed to generate the empirical evidence to validate our intuition. In 2016 the US Department of Energy (DOE) worked with industry partners to develop resources and infrastructure aimed at building performance and finacial data with an additional goal of catalyzing further research on the relationship between sustainability, building performance, and financial benefits. In this session, attendees will learn about the DOE’s efforts, hear from academic researchers how this research can lead to new asset-level insights, and discover from early adopters how to apply these findings to real estate decision making.
