WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 2015 Greenbuild Conference and Expo, held Nov. 17-20 in Washington, D.C., introduced a newly enhanced focus on the apartment housing sector. More education sessions than ever before were focused on apartment housing. The discussions were not just driven by the host organization, the U.S. Green Building Council, but also by commercial and apartment real estate professionals who moderated and staffed sessions filled with attendees. All of them generated a great deal of conversation around what apartment housing is capable of in the energy efficiency space and what owners and managers need to meet their goals.
This spotlight shift to apartment housing comes on the heels of USGBC’s new LEED EB Multifamily Adaptation – a series of adaptations to the LEED for the Existing Buildings credential, created with apartment buildings in mind. LEED is the most recognizable design and operation standard for green and energy efficient buildings in the country; however, apartment buildings represent a negligible percentage of LEED’s existing buildings portfolio.
It has also been a year since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star team unveiled the Portfolio Manager 1-100 Score for multifamily, allowing owners to more effectively benchmark their buildings’ energy usage. EPA was present at Greenbuild to discuss new metrics in development for Portfolio Manager and present first-year analytics on its multifamily tool.
Source: The National Apartment Association