Green building programs provide many benefits for real estate managers and their organizations. Besides environmental impacts, they include cost savings, occupant health and higher building value.
Key to the development of a strong green building program is good assessment data on building and energy performance. But most organizations focus on reporting instead of understanding or structuring building assessment data. They often rank sustainability reports or green certification as more important than a sound data strategy. This is a limited approach. A poor data platform prevents organizations from optimizing building performance or staying ahead of the latest energy regulations. Here we list three ways good assessment data can help ensure your green building program is an industry leader.
1. More Impactful Energy Audits
Energy audits remain the backbone to any successful green building program. However, a poor data platform limits understanding of how a building or portfolio performs from an energy perspective. Because green building programs usually focus on end reporting, data is structured so that it answers immediately only required questions. Conversely, a good data platform should take the reverse approach. It should capture all assessment information (such as water intensity, emissions, building materials). This automatically builds flexibility and customization into the assessment data and building program while inherently meeting business requirements.
2. From Benchmarking to Optimization
An organization can use internal and external benchmarking to rank their green performance against their own buildings or industry peers. Most building assessment data platforms work with standard green performance benchmarking. But it is the following step—optimization—that is more difficult to achieve. This is where software and analytics can supplement building assessment data to be as impactful as possible. How and where energy is saved, both present in the future, is more concise and actionable. For example, with 4tell™’s Portfolio Solution, you can compare energy star components vs. non-energy star components in buildings. And you can also see how they impact operating costs over time.
3. Beyond Green Building Certifications
The market for green building certification programs continues to evolve and expand at dizzying pace. BREEAM was among the first organizations to certify buildings based on their energy performance. Now groups and programs such as LEED, GRI and BOMA are also well-known among real estate managers and sustainability executives. Even more organizations continue to enter the market. They include those focused on sustainability sub-sectors such as health and wellness and water conservation.
Good assessment data can help firms address evolving market needs around green certification systems.
This is useful in two ways. One, it ensures organizations not only meet the latest green building standards but see what other upgrades they can do (green roof, green flooring, etc.). And two, they can also be transparent to stakeholders and investors about sustainability initiatives.
Assessment data can enhance a green building program, but only when it is understood properly. With the right software, real estate firms can optimize building performance and achieve green initiatives that go beyond standard certification expectations.
Photos: yyama / Shutterstock.com, Moosician / Shutterstock.com, Lodimup / Shutterstock.com
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