Living in a multifamily building means sharing your energy resources. Recent research reports new ways to transform energy use in these multifamily homes. All buildings need insulation and air sealing—from single family homes to multifamily. With recent reports, owners of multifamily homes will have no trouble investing in energy efficiency.
This report provides information based on a nationally representative sample of multifamily buildings examining their energy and water use. It breaks down the affordable and the market-rate units, tenant and owner-paid utility bills, and separates according to building size. These splits help compare and contrast specific types of homes.
The report verifies that the multifamily home sector is a opportunity for major energy efficiency upgrades. The least efficient buildings are currently spending $165,000 more per building each year than comparable buildings. That means that there is at least $165,000 being wasted annually. If the buildings reinvest this money into energy efficiency, the savings will outlast this annual spending.
With the help of this report, the EPA ENERGY STAR® score for multifamily buildings is now able to examine energy savings over time. The score ranges from 1-100, and gets its information from this recent report. The score gives owners of multifamily buildings a way to look at their progressive energy performance. This information is then made available to tenants.
The EPA ENERGY STAR® has previously been used exclusively for industrial and commercial buildings. Now, the score can help multifamily residences find ways to save energy and act on these findings. Since 1992, this score saved over $230 billion on utility bills in commercial buildings. That’s over 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Insulation, air sealing, and other energy conserving measures are not only important in single family homes; they help all buildings save energy. Reports such as this multifamily home report highlight just how important it is to save energy. The research figures out where we need to upgrade, and gives us a place to start.
While energy efficient technologies are constantly improving, we need reports like this to spread the word about how important it is to invest in these improvements. For example, owners and tenants of multifamily buildings are spending too much on their utilities. If we invest this over-spending in energy efficiency, the utility bills decrease dramatically.
Energy efficiency should not take a toll on your wallet. Right now, too many homeowners spend money on their energy bills that they could simply put into energy saving upgrades. This report on multifamily buildings specifically studied multifamily homes, but it applies to all buildings.
When we look at the bigger picture, we can see that investing in energy efficiency is more beneficial. Making these efficient upgrades continues to save you money year after year. If we simply redirect where we put our money—from energy bills into home upgrades—then we can make this transition possible. Home comfort is easier and more affordable.
