ULI?s Tenant Energy Optimization Program offers a plan to green your office A comprehensive new energy reduction program for office buildings makes the case that cutting emissions and making money aren?t mutually exclusive. The Urban Land Institute?s Tenant Energy Optimization Program, introduced at the group?s fall meeting in Dallas yesterday, offers a blueprint for drastically cutting energy usage by commercial tenants, and has the support of some of New York City?s biggest landlords and businesses, as well as the National Resource Defense Council, which helped launch the initiative.
?The greatest value added to the client is that they literally save money,? says Tamela Johnson, director of project management at Gardiner & Theobald, a New York-based global construction consultancy. ?In addition, they?re saving energy for out planet. Who doesn?t want to do that"? Anthony Malkin, chairman and CEO of the Empire State Realty Trust, which runs the Empire State Building, started the program as a means of greening the iconic skyscraper. He found that no program existed to award tenants for low-energy installation, and initiated tests that eventually included ten commercial tenants in the building and around New York City, such as Shutterstock, LinkedIn, Estee Lauder, Cushman & Wakefield, and Bloomberg.
The results satisfied multiple bottom lines: the installation of these energy-efficient systems saved tenants 30 to 50 percent on their energy bills ($3.5 mill...