Building Owners Create Big Savings with Small Steps

According to a new report, it doesn't take much for building owners to enjoy plenty of energy efficiency savings. In fact, all it takes are a few small, but important steps.

Written by the nonprofit Carbon War Room, the white paper is called "Raising the Roof: How to Create Climate Wealth Through Energy Efficiency" and surveyed more than 30 municipalities from Chicago to New Zealand.

It found that misinformation and a lack of understanding are a few reasons why building owners don't utilize efficiency practices. The findings are surprising: with some key steps, building managers can reduce energy use by 80 percent, cutting more than $78 billion per year from electricity bills.

Joshua Kagan, the Carbon War Room's operation lead for building energy efficiency, says that current industry and commercial technologies, including LED and lighting controls, could achieve a 3-20 percent reduction in carbon emissions with little upfront costs.

"There's been a misperception that we need future technologies to be discovered or created to drive down emissions and we already have those technologies today," said Kagan.

"If you're a business and you're able to reduce efficiency costs to a building, which often times is the largest expense, you can reduce the operating costs and therefore increase the value of the building."

To read more about the study, visit Greenbiz.com.