DALLAS: Two Money-Saving Sustainability Tips
The best incentive to go green may be to save some green. Sustainability is cool, but the almighty dollar rules. (You can't go into a store and offer sustainability in exchange for a soda.) Corporate and institutional facilities (not including manufacturing plants) consume nearly one-fifth of the energy purchased in the US, according to the US Department of Energy. So we asked JLL senior GM Jennifer Clendening for some tips on how property managers can save money and be environmentally conscious. First off, she says, is to make sure that the simplest steps have been taken to immediately reduce energy bills. That could be as easy as enabling the sleep mode feature on your computer, allowing it to use less power during periods of inactivity.
Up to 40% of the electricity used in commercial office buildings comes from lighting, Jennifer tells us. (Curse our poor night vision... this wouldn't happen if we were cats.) Small things help: turn off the lights in unused conference rooms and when you step out for lunch. Jennifer says in less than 18 months, Park Place (pictured above) reduced its kWh usage by more than 6%, despite an overall increase in occupancy of 6% since 2012. Among the improvements: a lighting retrofit. Year over year, during the summer season alone, this has translated into monthly energy savings of $50k, an 11% increase in efficiency, she says.
