Energy Consumption and Green Building Position Statement
The apartment industry supports policymakers’ efforts to promote energy security and sustainability. However, any mandates introduced must be technologically feasible and proven to work in multifamily properties. As the apartment industry recognizes the importance of energy-efficient building performance, many property owners have voluntarily taken steps to conserve energy on their properties, while others have gone even further and are committed to building high performance buildings using green principles. Reducing energy consumption and taking other steps to “green” buildings may improve net operating income, keep properties competitive, as well as benefit residents and the environment; therefore, NAA encourages multifamily developers, owners and managers to continue to expand their active role in implementing green practices.
NAA supports policies that encourage the use of energy-efficient building technologies, that expand the use of renewable energy sources, the use of smart meters, and grants that assist localities in implementing smart growth strategies, including mass transit. In order to further facilitate the development of high-performance apartment communities and the rehabilitation of existing buildings to improve their energy performance, continued use of incentives will be necessary in order to help owners make the upfront investment in these new technologies and building systems. These incentives can take many forms from tax credits, to accelerated depreciation to density bonuses to grants for upgrading building systems.
Green Building
Global energy consumption is on the rise and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and energy security continue to dominate policy discussions; the United States must develop a comprehensive strategy for ensuring plentiful, reliable, sustainable and independent energy supplies. This strategy must address both energy supply and demand by encouraging more sustainable, cleaner sources of energy; and by improving energy efficiency across all economic sectors.
In general, few direct greenhouse gas emissions are associated with buildings. However, energy use in buildings accounts for approximately 40 percent of the nation’s overall energy consumption and 70 percent of electrical energy consumption. Greenhouse gases – including carbon dioxide – are released with the burning of fossil fuels. The transportation and industrial sectors, including electric utilities that depend on fossil fuels such as coal for their feedstock, are direct emitters of greenhouse gases. The building sector is responsible for about 30 percent of indirect emissions of greenhouse gases as a consequence of the usage of electricity within the building. Through federal policies that promote “smart,” “high performance” buildings and communities - and that take advantage of the real estate industry’s positive track record in adopting energy saving technologies and strategies - NAA believes we can lower real estate’s share of greenhouse gas emissions.
For the multifamily housing industry, the stakes of the energy and climate debate could not be higher - actions in Washington and around the country will affect:
- The costs of designing, developing and operating apartment buildings;
- The cost of energy supplied to buildings;
- The marketability of energy-efficient "green" buildings;
- The opportunity to leverage tax incentives;
- The opportunity to participate in multi-billion dollar carbon markets by “owning” and “trading” the value of the carbon dioxide reductions achieved through investments in building energy efficiency.
While advances in building science have made it possible to make newly constructed buildings highly efficient and reduce energy and water consumption in existing buildings, altering the energy performance in existing buildings requires an understanding of how the specific building structure and systems work together. As Congress considers mandates for building performance, NAA cautions that a one-size-fits-all legislative approach requiring buildings to meet a certain energy performance level is not only unworkable, it will also have the direct consequence of exacerbating the shortage of safe, affordable apartment housing.
Policymakers seeking to achieve energy efficiency goals often propose to impose third-party green building standards on new and existing properties. These federal, state and local mandates pose problems for the apartment industry in that most of these standards were developed for commercial office properties. This makes compliance difficult for low- and mid-rise apartment properties. For this reason, NAA/NMHC took a leading role in the development of the new ANSI-approved National Green Building Standard. This standard is the first to directly address apartments. The industry strongly believes that the existing consensus-based system for developing state and local building codes is the best method through which to spur the construction of high-performance buildings.
Ultimately, however, the fastest way to effect change in the building stock is not to impose specific building standard mandates, but to provide meaningful incentives that enable building owners to afford the investments required to realize greater energy/resource efficiency. Favorable tax treatment, including an enhanced depreciation schedule for certain building systems, will further the development of high-performance buildings, spur the renovation of older, inefficient buildings, create jobs for the construction and manufacturing industries and will help renters control volatile energy costs.
NAA also encourages policymakers to consider all avenues for achieving sustainability in the residential real estate sector, not only those related to building codes. Density, proximity to mass transportation, resource conservation from electricity, to water and materials recycling and rigorous operations and maintenance practices are more significant indicators of building sustainability. When this broader view of sustainability is applied, it is clear that apartment communities, because they are dense by design, represent an efficient use of resources.
To this end, specifically:
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NAA supports a comprehensive national energy policy that addresses long-term production, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. Apartment communities are the most environmentally-sustainable form of housing available today. The higher densities allow for a more efficient use of resources, including land.
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NAA supports the principles behind green and energy-efficient building, but believes that the uncertainties of cost, product availability and technical and operational limitations should be properly addressed before mandatory green requirements are implemented.
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NAA supports policies to provide financial and technological assistance to spur the development of high-performance new construction and improve the energy performance of existing building stock.
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NAA supports leveraging successful public-private strategies for reducing energy consumption. For example, the voluntary federal Energy Star program which offers benchmarking and measurement tools that have been successfully used by the real estate industry. |
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If you require further information please contact Scot Haislip of the NAA Government Affairs staff at 703/518-6141 Ext. 120 or scot@naahq.org.