To reduce the environmental impact of a building, the first step is having a clear and active understanding of how it is performing. However, achieving this kind of insight is not so straightforward. Do you have the right metering systems in place to collect the data? Does your tenant trust you with their consumption details? In this blog, you’ll be taken through the various hurdles that property owners and managers must overcome in order to have a more accurate picture – so that you can begin creating a truly energy-positive building.
We reached out to dozens of sustainability managers, property managers and other stakeholders across the real estate sector. From these conversations, we’ve identified four primary barriers:
- Lack of smart metering in place
- Tenant unwillingness to share data
- Gaps or delays in data collection
- No energy management dashboard
Our research indicates that lack of smart metering and tenant unwillingness are the most common hurdles. However, as Natasha Gracey, Senior Portfolio Management Analyst, notes:
“I think it’s hard to take one from this list without thinking about the rest. Without smart utility metering it’s difficult to get the data from some tenants, which automatically creates that gap in data collection. And if there’s no data, there’s nothing to manage… it’s a vicious circle!”
What, then, ought to be done? For older buildings that lack up-to-date metering infrastructure, the priority should be upgrading these systems to achieve the capacity to gather accurate, real-time consumption measurements. However, this foundation is only the beginning. A strong relationship with your tenant is additionally critical to ensuring you can obtain the data necessary to inform the green investments your building needs.
Tenant engagement is an often overlooked element of ESG that property owners are increasingly turning to in order to overcome this obstacle. By providing occupants the means to acquire transparent and actionable insights, you can receive authorisation for data sharing in return. At hello energy, we’ve witnessed an approval rate of over 85% across all of our clients by doing exactly that. To learn more on the importance of tenant engagement, check out our white paper, The Art of Alignment.
Of course, obtaining the data is inconsequential without being able to clearly visualise it and then capitalising on that knowledge. With both tenant and landlord equipped with this information, all parties can do the heavy lifting together, hand-in-hand. Having a user-friendly and engaging energy management dashboard will give you and your occupiers the perfect tool to transform your building into a hub of sustainable and innovative productivity.
Have you encountered any of these or other related obstacles? We’d love to hear about your own experiences. Share your insights with us in the comment section here.