Selecting Projects

After completing an energy audit you should have a baseline rate of energy usage to which you can compare future use.  In order to have the best results it is important that you have at least one year of past usage and that the property is stabilized.  The next step is identifying projects that will increase efficiencies and lower the environmental impact of a property.  There are various ways to identify projects.  One strategy when dealing with a multiple property portfolio is to bring together a team from different disciplines or departments within a company to brainstorm ideas.  On-site staff can be an invaluable tool in this area because they are able to identify property specific opportunities.  The more individuals involved in the brainstorming process increases the diversity and out of the box ideas.

            Prioritizing the potential projects can be helpful in deciding where to devote resources and identifying the least cost and highest impact projects.  Our team was fortunate enough to have the assistance of an intern provided by the Environmental Defense Fund, to research costs, strategies and the return on investment of the potential projects. 

            This stage is time consuming, however, effort spent here can greatly affect the returns by making sure you are a. choosing the best projects, b. using qualified contractors and c. that the information obtained is accurate.

            Getting estimates from multiple vendors for each project will give you a good estimate of the costs and will also help you develop questions to ask different contractors.  Many vendors realize that these projects are long-term investments and usually will have financial information detailing the payback period and return on investment.  By talking to many experts you will be able to confirm if the numbers provided are accurate assumptions or are overly optimistic.  Many of the costs assumed by the vendors do not take into consideration unique challenges posed by individual properties.

            By finding the NPV of each project, the team can then re-prioritize what projects to undertake.