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EPA Energy Star looks beyond energy efficiency toward water and waste
Energy Star, a voluntary program launched in 1992, is weighing expanded sustainability goals including water and waste efficiency while also addressing misconceptions about who benefits from building upgrades.
REIT.com reports that Cindy Jacobs, a senior advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program, said the program’s next phase should go beyond energy efficiency to include other sustainability areas such as water and waste efficiency.
Jacobs, speaking in a video interview at NAREIT’s 2014 Leader in the Light Working Forum in San Francisco, linked the effort to broader environmental sustainability and to bringing Energy Star approaches to the market for tracking and measurement.
She also addressed a common misperception around “split incentive” barriers in buildings where tenants pay for energy use, saying that efficiency improvements can increase a building’s asset value over the long term and therefore benefit landlords as well.
Jacobs added that she sees flexibility in how landlords and tenants can structure agreements, and noted that rebates, subsidies, and tax credits can help, particularly when adopting new technology or new practices.