CPM April 2012

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VOL. 27 NO. 2

editor’snote Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is the product of a baseball-loving country, but it does seem to be grounded in the same zeal for statistics that aficionados bring to the game. The program’s vast database of more than 270,000 buildings in 15 categories, tabulating hundreds of different performance measurements, is something like a Bill James Abstract for building owners, managers and operators – except that the only players they can definitively identify are themselves.

Portfolio Manager plots a building's score on a scale of 1 to 100. Individual users can then compare their buildings’ energy performance or greenhouse gas emissions against the entire reference base and pinpoint where they place on the scale, but they can’t make one-on-one comparisons with a building across the street (unless they happen to own it also and be privy to its score).

As our Energy Management feature reports, the popular benchmarking program for buildings in the United States is now being customized for Canadian use with rollout slated for 2013. Office buildings and schools will be the first two categories of buildings that can be compared against a Canada-specific reference base, which has been kick-started with information Statistics Canada has compiled from 6,000 geographically representative buildings.

Natural Resources Canada will administer ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager here, but, unlike its equivalent agency within the U.S. government, will not confer building labels. However, in examining a burgeoning number of certification options, we also look at two other new energy-related programs from ISO and ASHRAE now available in Canada.

Elsewhere in this issue, Ian Sinclair makes the case for recommissioning; Margaret Manetta reports on the energy-saving results one shopping centre manager has realized from sub-metering; and Juergen Hack outlines why the economic viability of a wide-scale LED lighting retrofit can still be precarious.

Fittingly, I watched my nephew play hockey on Family Day, last February, in what’s legendarily known as the coldest arena in Renfrew County. (I’m told the temperature at rink-side can be colder than outdoors, but, on a positive note, there is no wind chill.)

So it’s easy to imagine the relief that the ice sport fans of Stanstead, Quebec must now feel in the stands of their new facility.

John Frantz’s case study of the Pat Burns Arena is ostensibly about modern technology. Yet, even more in keeping with our Energy Management focus, it points to the lessons that building owners, managers and designers have learned over the past decades, and what they can achieve when they proactively examine building performance and look for creative solutions.

Barbara Carss barbc@mediaedge.ca C A N A D A’ S P R E M I E R M A G A Z I N E F O R B U I L D I N G O W N E R S A N D M A N A G E R S

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contents

Focus: Energy Management 8

Certification and Benchmarking Programs: ISO 50001, ASHRAE’s Building Energy Quotient and a Canadian version of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager join a growing list of labels and metrics for energy performance.

16 Recommissioning Right-sizes Operations: A fourphase approach to identify and implement cost-effective improvements then sustain the resulting energy savings.

18 Promoting Workplace Conservation: Team spirit, effective communications, moral suasion and rewards combine to encourage energyconscious behaviour.

22 Outdoor Lighting Retrofit: Digital ballasts make sense for retail portfolio.

24 Sub-metering in Shopping Centres: User-pay cost allocation motivates tenants to conserve.

26 Tradable Renewable Energy Certificates: Compliance market would favour the most economically viable generation options.

32 Arena Ambience: New Pat Burns Arena accommodates efficient refrigeration and comfortable spectators.

Articles: 28 Small-scale Anaerobic Digestion: Toronto mall pioneers on-site organics recycling for food court waste.

36 Integrated Software: Property management and accounting systems can share a platform and offer flexibility to perform ancillary business functions.

38 TV Service Competition: CRTC ruling brings differing market dynamics for short-stay and long-term commercial/institutional occupancies.

Departments 4

6 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

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energymanagement

Certification Building Labelling Terrain Getting Crowded

By Barbara Carss

energymanagement As industry catchphrases go, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” is both instructive and telling. Beyond the obvious advice it imparts, its rapid entrenchment as a cliché demonstrates general agreement about the merits of auditing, monitoring, benchmarking, recommissioning and associated exercises to critically assess how a building consumes resources and impacts the environment.

However, there is no consensus a b o u t h ow t o m e a s u r e a n d a n increasing number of options for doing so – a burgeoning business that is hardly surprising in a market-driven economy. More building owners/ m a n a g e r s a r e p u r s u i n g o ffi c i a l credentials, while certificationconferring organizations see opportunities to guide policies and practices, promote their standing in the industry and realize spinoff business benefits.

“Many will relate to the proposition that the space is becoming crowded, but that’s also the sign of an idea whose time has come,” says Ian Jarvis, past chair of the Canada Green Building Council and one of the developers of REALpac’s energy normalization methodology.

Notably, three highly-regarded organizations have recently launched or are preparing to introduce new programs aimed at enhancing energy p e r f o r m a n c e i n bu i l d i n g s . T h e International Organization for Standardization focuses on o rg a n i z a t i o n a l p r o c e s s e s a n d a disciplined directive for continuous improvement in the ISO 50001:2011 Standard for Energy Management

Systems; the American Society of H e a t i n g, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers leverages its own ASHRAE audit program for a new Building Energy Quotient (bEQ) label; and Natural Resources Canada is readying for the launch of a Canadian version of the U.S. government’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, albeit solely as a benchmarking tool, not a building labelling program. (See associated stories on pages 10 to 14.)

Building owners/managers are undoubtedly trying to find ways to save on operating costs, but they’re also responding to emerging market and regulatory pressures as consumers and lawmakers increasingly look for proof of buildings’ green status. The optimal measurement system should deliver constructive feedback and credibility, which can be a challenge when the arbiters of credibility – regulators and the general public – aren’t necessarily well versed in bu i l d i n g o p e r a t i o n s a n d e n e rg y management.

“The accolade or the label can have value, but what’s more important is to ensure that we are actually saving e n e rg y,” m a i n t a i n s N a d a S u t i c , Director of Sustainability with Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP. “For example, ISO 50001 is really just an energy management system and, we, as a company, have had our own energy management system in place for five years and that’s given us good results.

I’m not sure there would be a lot of value in implementing another one.”

In contrast, a tested approach from an eminent developer of standards could provide both guidance and assurance to kick-start new measuring

n Surfeit

and monitoring initiatives, particularly for proponents who must comply with regulatory dictates. For example, most public sector entities in Ontario, including school boards, municipal governments and the health care sector, are now required to report on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and identify and implement actions to reduce energy use.

“I expect ISO 50001 will provide a useful framework as we further develop our Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan under O.Reg 397/11 of the Green Energy Act,” predicts Michael Lithgow, Manager of Corporate Energy and M u n i c i p a l E n e rg y C o n s e r va t i o n Officer in the Greater Toronto Area’s York Region.

Meanwhile, a range of options r e q u i r i n g d i ff e r i n g d e g r e e s o f commitment could provide more flexibility in reaching what Michael Brooks, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac), has typified as the “back half of the b e l l c u r v e .” D a t a f r o m t h e U.S.ENERGY STAR program reveals progressively higher energy savings for companies and organizations that regularly report and benchmark their performance.

“Obviously, it is not the act of putting data into the tool that is accomplishing that,” Michael Zatz, Chief of the Market Sectors Group in the U.S. ENERGY STAR Commercial and Industrial Branch, told attendees at the Green Real Estate conference in Toronto in early April. “But it’s key to the process of understanding energy use and identifying opportunities.”

Canadian Property Management | April 2012 9

energymanagement

ISO 50001 AN EXACTING FRAMEWORK FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

The ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems Standard initially focuses more on commitment to performance than performance itself. Compliance is not tied to achieving a minimum level of energy savings or energy intensity within a facility.

Rather, proponents must demonstrate they’ve followed a rigorous process that provides direction for oversight of all aspects of energy use.

“Once you implement ISO 50001, you are committed to doing better,” explains Bob Bach, an engineer and energy management specialist with Energy Profiles Limited. “It is based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach.

Plan what you are going to do, do it, check, review and improve the process, and go back to the plan and modify it.”

The International Organization for Standardization released ISO 50001 in 2011 – applying the same methodology for driving continuous improvement found in earlier standards such as ISO 9001 for Quality Management and ISO 140001 for Environmental Management Systems.

Third party verification is required for official certification, but the standard can also be used simply to guide an organization’s efforts and internal documentation.

“It does not establish absolute requirements for energy performance.

Whatever your business is, you are going to establish those yourself,” Bach told attendees at an educational seminar in conjunction with the annual PM Expo last December.

“What it does require is a commitment to 10 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

that it is communicated to all employees and contractors, provide necessary resources for its implementation and review, and factor it into long-term decision-making.

The energy policy makes the broad statement of the organization’s commitment to energy performance improvement, while the plan sets out the framework for translating policy into outcomes. This includes an energy review, determination of the baseline for improvement, identification of performance indicators and targets, and documentation procedures.

“This is like energy efficiency 101,” Bach observes.

Implementation and operation, or the “Do” part of the strategy occurs almost in tandem with the “Check” actions to measure what is accomplished and how it complies with the plan and supports the overarching policy. To close the continuous improvement circle, senior management must review these results, ensure underpinning plans and actions are effective and revise them where necessary.

The process-oriented approach is more arduous and time-consuming than some other certification programs and mandates organization-wide involvement and obligations to supporting the energy policies, goals and action steps. On the flipside, it provides a tested and disciplined framework for improvement and ongoing assessment of opportunities to save energy. It also conveys the status of ISO’s recognized meticulous methods.

Bach speculates it should also facilitate collaboration and links to other organizations and programs focused on best practices. “There is going to be a lot of sharing as an energy management system ages and matures because you must keep improving,” he says.

achieve continual improvement of your energy performance.”

The standard’s definition of energy performance is broad, encompassing overall consumption, end use of energy, efficiency and intensity, as well as options for peak demand reduction, harnessing waste energy and operational improvements. Organizations have flexibility to define intensity as it best fits their operations, whether that is energy use by floor space measurement in the real estate sector, per unit of output in an industrial scenario, or per patient-hour in a health care facility.

From this self-directed starting point, proponents must follow a prescriptive path. The standard includes a series of requisite elements, each with its own checklist of actions.

“It is very demanding for those who choose to apply an energy management system that is consistent with this standard,” Bach acknowledges.

The organization’s top management must For more information, see the ISO web site at endorse the energy policy and plan, ensure www.iso.org/iso/specific-applications_energy

energymanagement

Portfolio Manager A CROSS-BORDER PLATFORM TO measure ENERGY PERFORMANCE

About 4,00 0 b u i l d i n g s i n Canada already boast scores derived f r o m t h e U . S . E N E R G Y S TA R Portfolio Manager program, pegging their energy performance relative to a vast database of similar buildings located across the United States.

Beginning next year, analysts based in Canada will be able to benchmark themselves in a more local context – with metric units of measurement and in either English or French.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the developer and overseer of the ENERGY STAR program, to customize Portfolio Manager for Canadian use.

Comparative metrics will initially be available in two building categories – office buildings and schools – enabling evaluation against a reference database that Statistics Canada has compiled with energy-use data from 6,000 buildings.

“It is statistically representative. This is the country from end to end to end,” Phil Jago, Director of the Buildings Division in NRCan’s Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE), told attendees at the Green Real Estate conference in Toronto in early April. “All you early adopters can finally see yourselves against comparable buildings on this side of the border.”

The U.S. program’s database currently encompasses more than 270,000 buildings in 15 different categories, amounting to nearly 27 billion square

feet of space. In addition to the b e n c h m a r k i n g t o o l f o r ex i s t i n g buildings, it offers a companion program, known as Target Finder, which evaluates projected energy performance for new construction and major renovation projects based on design parameters and expected operations.

“Target Finder uses the same scoring system and model behaviours as Portfolio Manager does so it could be available [in the future] in Canada,” reported Michael Zatz, Chief of the Market Sectors Group in the U.S. ENERGY STAR Commercial and Industrial Branch, and a co-presenter with Jago at the Green Real Estate conference.

However, the Canadian Portfolio Manager will not convey a Canadaspecific ENERGY STAR label like those available for buildings in the U.S. that obtain a score of at least 75 on the program’s 1-100 scale – i.e. standing in the 75th percentile of similar buildings across the U.S. As is also the case in the U.S., Canada’s Portfolio Manager will be integrated with other energy benchmarking and assessment tools. For example, the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada’s newly updated BOMA BESt version 2 now includes ENERGY STAR references in preparation for the program’s rollout.

“There are already tools in the marketplace and we are not here to compete,” Jago stressed. “It is designed

to be complementary to LEED and BOMA BESt. We are not labelling buildings.

We are providing a benchmarking tool.”

The comprehensiveness of the data and the flexibility of the software will give building owners/managers easily accessible means to track their performance through numerous energy, emissions and financial measurements. This may support their own internal and corporate reporting requirements, as well as other compulsory and broader voluntary reporting exercises.

Canadian weather data, source energy and emission factors will be used in normalization formulas to provide a more accurate comparison of a building’s performance in relation to its peers. Simple entry of the building’s postal code will trigger the applicable weather information.

System administrators are promising that existing database information pertaining to Canadian buildings will be seamlessly Canadian Property Management | April 2012 11

energymanagement recalculated with the new values once the new version of Portfolio Manager is operable.

The project arises from the Canada/ U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama forged in an effort to promote bi-national collaboration on clean energy technology and innovation. “Energy benchmarking is an important aspect of an effective strategy to improve energy efficiency in buildings because what gets measured, gets done,” C a n a d a ’s M i n i s t e r o f N a t u r a l Resources, Joe Oliver, announced when plans for the Canadian version of Portfolio Manager were released in November 2011.

“Benchmarking is really at the core of our program,” Zatz observed “We view this as an important step to have the ability to benchmark properties in both countries using the same methodology.”

Real estate industry insiders concur.

“We’ve got clients for whom we manage properties both in Canada and the U.S. and we report on assets in

“It is designed to be complementary to LEED and BOMA BESt. We are not labelling buildings. We are providing a benchmarking tool.”

both countries,” notes Nada Sutic, Director of Sustainability for Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP. “If we can do more things that apply across borders, that is definitely attractive to us.”

Program developers are now focused on the approaching launch date.

“Every journey begins with a first step, and the first step is getting it up

and running in 2013 for existing office buildings and existing schools, but, certainly, we would like to build and add to what we have,” Jago said.

For more information, see NRCan’s web site at http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/ corporate/8803 or the US ENERGY STAR web site at www.energystar.gov/buildings.

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energymanagement

Building Energy Quotient BUSINESS SPINOFFS FOR ASHRAE-CERTIFIED SPECIALISTS

ASHRAE’s new Building Energy Quotient (bEQ) labelling program appears to be the underdog entering markets in Canada and the United States with more established and widely recognized assessment and benchmarking tools.

It duplicates elements of both BOMA BESt and REALpac’s energy use normalization methodology, which are gaining prominence among Canadian building owners and managers, while, the prospects are arguably even more uncertain for a lesser known alternative to the U.S. government’s dominant ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

“It’s difficult to compete with ENERGY STAR in the U.S. market because it’s both robust and free,” observes Nada Sutic, Director of Sustainability with Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP. Many Canadian property managers and energy management specialists are looking forward to the 2013 launch of Portfolio Manager for Canadian office buildings and schools, and the recently updated BOMA BESt version 2 already incorporates ENERGY STAR references 14 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

reporting exercise based on meter and billing tallies of energy consumption and costs, buildings must achieve a score of at least 75 to merit an ENERGY STAR label – i.e. standing in the 75th percentile of the database or higher – and a professional engineer or registered architect must verify that data.

In contrast, bEQ relies on a trained diagnostic eye to drive the benchmarking process. “What makes bEQ unique is the depth of the analysis upon which the rating is based,” the program’s web site boasts.

This could be useful for building owners/ managers who need some direction, but energy management specialists suggest it’s unlikely to provide much new insight or value for owners/managers who already have monitoring and benchmarking programs in place and/or buildings that have already achieved comparable certifications.

“I don’t see how it would help the average building operator grasp dollar-savings potential more so than existing methods,” reflects Lindsay Audin, President of the U.S.based energy management consulting firm, Energywiz Inc. “An ASHRAE Level I audit is what many of us call a ‘trot through’, meaning a rather cursory examination with minimal accuracy for determining savings and paybacks.”

From a business perspective, the timing could be good to launch a labelling product.

Regulators in municipalities, states and provinces have begun to mandate or consider imposing requirements for owners/managers to reveal a building’s energy use to prospective purchasers, tenants and/or the general public, and ASHRAE has certainly been an aggressive player on other energy-related fronts. Perhaps most notably, plans to release a revised version of ASHRAE 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings in 2013 represent the fourth update of the standard within a decade.

Given the organization’s standing, bEQ is likely to be credible even if it’s redundant.

“We do not yet have working experience with bEQ, but have the greatest respect for ASHRAE’s products and process,” notes Ian Jarvis, President of the energy management firm, Enerlife Consulting, past chair of the Canada Green Building Council and one of the developers of REALpac’s energy normalization methodology. “I expect this is both useful and reliable.” zz

in anticipation of the industry’s take-up of the program.

The bEQ label, which grows out of a pilot program introduced in 2010, is largely based on a Level I ASHRAE audit and associated assessment of how a building’s operations comply with original specifications and protocols. Program enrollees must contract an ASHRAE-certified professional to perform the work.

Level I ASHRAE audits focus on finding potential for low-cost and no-cost energysaving initiatives. The bEQ program introduces a scoring system and database that will allow participants to compare their building’s performance against other similar buildings. The building’s rating will be inscribed on an official plaque that can be displayed publicly.

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager similarly conveys a percentile score to pinpoint a building’s rating relative to other buildings in the program’s vast database, which currently encompasses more than 270,000 buildings in 15 different categories.

Although the benchmarking aspect of the For more information, see the web site at program is essentially a simple self- www.buildingenergyquotient.com.

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energymanagement

Recommissioning Finds Qualitative Quick Fixes Low-Cost Measures Can Deliver Sustained Energy Savings

By Ian Sinclair

16 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

Traditional approaches to decreasing building energy use and improving operations still tend to overlook low and no-cost improvements.

Recommissioning offers another tack to practical, immediate performance improvements.

New incentive programs, several related points in the LEED EB:O&M rating system, and an expanding portfolio of successful case studies across North America further reinforce the rationale. It is no surprise that Toronto’s Civic Action’s Race to Reduce – with more than 50 million square feet of commercial office space signed up to reduce energy consumption by 10% by 2014 – is focusing on the recommissioning process as the weapon of choice to generate those savings.

Recommissioning is a holistic approach to comfort, energy, capital expenditure, operations and maintenance. It is not an energy audit where a consultant hunts for energy conservation strategies largely

driven by capital-intensive measures (such as replacing all lighting with higher-efficiency bulbs and ballasts). Nor is it an RFP-driven process, in which strategic control of assets are handed over to a third party. It is definitely not about selecting this year’s latest craze in retrofit technology and hoping that it’s the magic bullet to find energy savings.

HOLISTIC APPROACH Recommissioning focuses on right-sizing the building’s mechanical and electrical systems and their operation for today’s conditions, not those in place when it was built. That might mean examining key design calculations to determine that the oversized pump is not in fact necessary.

Recommissioning includes a utility analysis to highlight areas of energy and cost concern. It focuses on ensuring that equipment is doing what it is supposed to do, when it’s supposed to be doing it. It allows for updating fresh air volumes and revised sequences of operation according to current requirements.

energymanagement It tests and documents all key components and puts in place documentation and methodologies for ongoing monitoring and testing to ensure the building doesn’t drift once it’s running properly.

It is a focused, low-cost approach to securing that oft-cited low-hanging fruit that’s apparently never quite within reach or even visible on the tree. This comes with a well-established four-phase methodology that puts the owner in charge of the process – a methodology enshrined

by Portland Energy Conservation Inc. under a US government-funded project, and since modified and adopted by the Canadian government.

Phase 1: Planning This is where the building owner or operator identifies the target building and develops the project scope. That entails selecting the candidate building, establishing a project team and determining the objectives – i.e. improved comfort; generation of sorely lacking building documentation; energy conservation.

Existing data and case studies show the most successful projects have been in commercial office buildings at least in the 50,000-square-foot range, and with a building automation system already in place.

implementation – i.e. complete work, commission, document, monitor and communicate the changes.

Phase 4: Hand-Off This is a key point. Everyone involved needs to understand what has changed, where it’s documented and what the ongoing expectations are in terms of operations and maintenance. This is the time to celebrate success, but there should also be a scheduled periodic repetition of testing, known as ongoing recommissioning, which is where the sustaining of savings comes in.

BUSINESS CASE EVIDENCE The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in California completed a comprehensive review of 90.4 million square feet of recommissioned building space in 2004, subsequently updated in 2009. It identified typical energy savings of 16% for an average payback of 1.1 years. That’s a return on investment of 90.9%. Median costs were $0.30 per square foot.

Not surprisingly, the more energy intensive a building is (laboratories, hospitals, data centres, 24/7 offices), the greater the scope

for low payback savings. This does not begin to account for non-energy s av i n g s s u c h a s f ew e r t e n a n t complaint/trouble calls, improved equipment life and ongoing operational savings from having proper documentation in place.

A recommissioning exercise is now in progress in six Oxford Properties buildings encompassing more than 4.5 million square feet of commercial office space. Measures are primarily focused on upgrades to existing building automation systems, focusing on elimination of off-hours usage and updating operational parameters to reflect current usage and standards, as opposed to those in place at the time of construction. Through an investment of $0.24/sq.ft., an average payback of 1.8 years has been generated, or an ROI of 54%. zz Ian Sinclair is Manager of Existing Building Services at Enermodal Engineering, which is conducting the recommissioning project for Oxford Properties.

Phase 2: Investigation The project team reviews current documentation, begins a diagnostic and witness testing of all key building systems, compares occupancy to existing schedules and generates a Master List of Findings to summarize what can be done to save energy and resolve operational issues.

Notably, simple fixes can be made quickly.

This is not about documenting a business case for sign-off by the Board nine months hence.

If a damper link is broken, it can be fixed on the spot, or a lighting control or AHU schedule can be altered to reflect changed occupancy.

As part of the investigation, the current capital expenditure program should also be reviewed. There is no point recommending changes to a system scheduled for replacement in another eighteen months.

Key areas to scrutinize include: the elimination of unnecessary ventilation; simultaneous heating and cooling; and confirmation that lighting control is both appropriate to occupancy and is functioning as expected.

Phase 3: Implementation This is all about prioritizing items for Canadian Property Management | April 2012 17 Untitled-1 1

12-04-10 6:39 PM

energymanagement

Winning Over the Workforce

Tone, Team, Tools and Techniques Encourage Energy-Conscious Behaviour

By Shui Bin

Energy behaviour programs can play a key role in improving building energy efficiency. A recent review of five such workplace-based programs revealed significantly varying outcomes depending on the comprehensiveness of the approach, but findings suggest that this often overlooked aspect of energy efficiency initiatives is a worthwhile investment with typically much lower costs than those associated with the implementation of advanced technologies.

Five programs were analyzed: three within Canadian public sector workplaces and two in iconic American buildings. They share four common strategies that contribute to successful energy behaviour programs: 1) 18 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

setting the tone; 2) building a team; 3) employing communication tools; and 4) deploying key engagement techniques.

Both the energy behaviour program at BC Hydro (2007) and the behaviour campaign of British Columbia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (MEMPR) (2008) aggressively sought to change energy conservation cultures in the workplace. BC Hydro integrated the results of energy reduction into employees’ and management’s annual performance management structure, which, in turn, determined their annual bonuses, thus creating a potent incentive mechanism for participation.

The TLC Care to Conserve program

(2007-2010) at Toronto’s University Health Network employed community-based social marketing. The TLC’s attention-getting banners and posters, which substituted iconic images of Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam with generic hospital staff images in the same context, used humour and historical association to engage participants and deliver program messages.

Green the Capitol (2007-2008) is a successful top-down energy program implanted by the U.S. House of Representatives. “The House of Representatives must lead by example, and it is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint,” declared its then Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in 2007.

The development and application of the Green My Office web site is one of the highlights of the project. It provides a template for developing similar web-based behaviour change tracking tools.

A highly publicized ongoing retrofit is now underway at the Empire State Building (2008-2013). The program, which incorporates an energy behaviour component, also serves to raise public awareness of the potential for similar retrofits, particularly in high-end office buildings and/or older landmark buildings.

SETTING THE TONE Workplaces, like any institution, have their own internal set of rules and norms. Within this mini-society, upper management has a critical role to play in inculcating the value set of the organization among employees.

Upper management can incentivize and sanction activities within its sphere of oversight and often stand as representative of the values and beliefs of the group as a whole.

Energy behaviour programs in the workplace

energymanagement that fail to garner the support of organizational leadership are unlikely to succeed.

In each of the cases studied, upper management made a public pledge to reduce building energy use that effectively set the overall tone for the project. The case studies also show that organizational pledges made in public often lead to an organizational action taking place.

Some energy behaviour programs employ branding as a means of communications with both participants and the public. A good branding for an energy behaviour program should blend the message of business identity and program theme into an attention-getting logo or a short phrase, which may help establish not only the identity of the program, but also create an emotional attachment among program participants and external audiences.

The TLC program’s three-part brand is a good example: 1) the program name, TLC, which is an acronym for Thermostats, Lights, Controls; 2) a logo with the program name and tagline; and 3) a package of program materials. Since TLC is more commonly understood to stand for “tender loving care”, the tagline “Care to Conserve” neatly combines two program themes, health care and conservation, into one short phrase.

BUILDING A TEAM A successful energy behaviour program in the workplace is often the product of intensive teamwork. Program committees consisting of key stakeholders with the organization are convened to head up a program, after which the committee is placed in charge of project development, coordination and communication.

Some program committees invite an outside party to be a committee member or even to take charge of program design, development and management. For example, the TLC project committee contracted a consulting company to develop and manage its energy behaviour program.

Peer champions are either volunteers or are selected by the program committee from building occupants. These peer champions act as points of contact between various on-site stakeholders and help to promote the concept of energy conservation and associated desirable attitudes across the organization through their ongoing interaction with other building occupants.

COMMUNICATION TOOLS & ENGAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Each of the reviewed programs employed e-mail and web sites as the main communication

tools to reach participants. These programs also used more traditional methods to deliver program messages at key program events and in the workplace. The use of prompts is reported exclusively in the three reviewed Canadian programs.

An energy behaviour program in the workplace above all requires sustained engagement with building occupants. The reviewed energy behaviour programs employed several common engagement techniques.

Social norms, a very important approach employed in all five cases, invoke principles of right action that are binding upon members of a group and which serve to guide, control or regulate proper and acceptable behaviour. Social norms have been widely discussed as an important approach to promotion of pro-environment values, attitudes and behaviours.

Feedback offers information to people about the consequence of their actions.

Researchers have long realized that

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energymanagement feedback was a more effective strategy than positive signals to those rewarded, exclusively relying upon information, thereby reinforcing a desirable motivation or monetary incentives. b e h av i o u r d u r i n g t h e l e a r n i n g Benign peer pressure and competition, process. Rewards can be financial; employed in the BC Hydro and MEMPR h o w e v e r , r e s p e c t , v i s i b i l i t y, cases, refers to the influence of a peer group credibility and authority are equally on its members with respect to changes in or even more sought as rewards in a attitudes and behaviour deemed preferable in working environment. a working environment.

Rewards, employed in the three COSTS & BENEFITS 2/3/09 PM Canadian CARMA_CondoBusiness_01-19-2009_CS2--F.pdf examples, are compensation Among the key5:41:35 cost items of an energy for desirable behaviour. Rewards send behaviour program, labour costs varied

among the five studied programs. For example, the TLC case hired a consulting company to develop the program and manage its program committee, while the project committee of the MEMPR case consisted of green-minded volunteers recruited from among building occupants.

Purchase and installation costs or equipment and meters could be the largest part of project expenses in energy behaviour programs, especially for a meter-based feedback project. Therefore a feedback project should carefully conduct a cost-benefit analysis prior to the launch of such a project.

Among the key benefit items of an energy behaviour program, the spillover impacts may be manifested in two ways.

First, other parts of the organization, which were not initially targeted in the energy behaviour program, may see the success of the program and later elect to actively participate in the program.

Second, another possibility is a change in participants’ own thinking and activities. Following participation, they may become more active in their own energy-saving practices.

It is clear that the cost items are more easily expressed in monetary terms, while the majority of the benefit items are intangible and therefore more difficult to measure in quantitative terms. The difficulties of measuring and quantifying benefits often lead to the absence of costbenefit analysis in energy behaviour programs, which may lead to these programs being undervalued or absent in the mainstream energy efficiency initiatives advocated by federal and state/provincial governments.

The lack of such a working cost-benefit accounting framework for energy behaviour programs, however, should not be considered an obstacle to upper management of companies seeking to promote building energy efficiency through behavior change of their employees. The low-cost nature of energy behavior programs poses little risk to the profitability of enterprises and involves few disruptions to operations or work schedules. zz The preceding article is excerpted from a January 2012 report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Greening Work Styles: An Analysis of Energy Behavior Programs in the Workplace. For more information, see the web site at www.aceee.org.

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energymanagement

LED Feasibility Still a Challenge in Retrofit

Digital Ballasts Offer Incremental Cost-Saving Step

By Juergen Hack With nearly 150 retail centres across Canada, Calloway REIT allots a far from insignificant portion of its yearly operating costs to lighting in its outdoor parking lots.

Conventional 400-watt metal halide bulbs collectively consume about 3,440 kilowatts (kW) annually, while maintenance costs are typically higher to replace the outdoor, overhead bulbs. Yet, prudent managers replace bulbs at regular 12-month intervals, even when they are still functioning, for safety and aesthetic reasons.

On the flipside, outdoor lighting represents an opportunity to find savings. Anthony Facchini, Calloway’s Vice President of Operations, was looking for green initiatives, as well as cost-effective and sustainable options when he enlisted a lighting consultant/contractor to investigate strategies for a portfolio-wide retrofit.

The company now looks forward to reaping an estimated $1.02 million in annual savings, which will deliver associated cost benefits for tenants across the country.

Getting to this outcome began with a critical assessment of various available technologies.

Installing LED fixtures in place of the existing fixtures would have reduced consumption from 460 watts to 155 watts and delivered an estimated 70% energy saving. LED bulbs’ 50,000-hour life cycle would drastically reduce maintenance and replacement costs. Conservation and demand management (CDM) incentives available in the province of Ontario also helped the economic case, since they would provide up to $400 per kilowatt of energy saved as a result of the retrofit.

Nevertheless, the projected payback still came in at five years to retrofit the existing fixtures. There were also some logistical challenges since, clearly, the LED manufacturer would have to meet quality criteria and have applicable certifications, and a Canadian based manufacturer was preferred.

Calloway’s lighting consultants looked for the convenience and flexibility of using one fixture for the entire portfolio, meaning 22 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

Energy savings are projected at $650,000 annually once the portfolio-wide digital ballast retrofit is complete. that the chosen product would have to be adaptable to all existing lighting pole heights and configurations. Plus, the manufacturer must have the market capacity to supply about 6,000 bulbs.

Thus, it was deemed that LED technology would be a better fit for the company’s new construction projects where the payback would be more timely.

For existing stock, decision makers turned to an adaptive lighting control system in tandem with digital ballasts.

Initially, a wireless adaptive lighting control system was tested at one location.

Installation costs were minimized since 42 wireless nodes easily connected existing fixtures to the control panel in the property’s electrical room.

This facilitated detailed reports on current usage, power usage, monitored voltage, wattage, lamp cycles and ballast cycles – allowing for a 42% energy saving simply through scheduling the light fixtures. Property managers also applauded the convenience of the system, which enabled them to check on the lights from a remote computer or a smart phone and/or receive e-mail messages to inform them when a light was burnt out. (The wireless system was also used to monitor the building’s escalators and notify property managers when attention was required.)

The wireless adaptive lighting control system had a two-year payback and qualified for a CDM incentive of $800 per kW of electricity saved. A Canadian manufacturer supplied the product.

Meanwhile, digital ballasts are 98% efficient compared to the 60% efficiency of the existing core magnetic ballasts. Replacing core magnetic ballasts with digital ballasts similarly meant that 400-watt bulbs could be replaced with 250-watt metal halide bulbs and still maintain equivalent lighting levels.

The retrofit increased the life of the bulb by 1.5 times due to improved efficiency. A core magnetic ballast/400-watt bulb combo translates into 40% light depreciation in the first year, whereas the digital ballast results in 5% light depreciation over the life of the bulb.

Payback on the digital ballast retrofit was slightly more than one year, factoring in the CDM incentive of $70 per unit replaced.

Energy savings are projected at $650,000 annually once the portfolio-wide digital ballast retrofit is complete, with an additional $370,000 in annual savings from avoided relamping costs.

From a corporate responsibility and sustainability perspective, the switchover will cut annual carbon emissions by 10,210 tons and reduce mercury waste. Calloway has chosen two manufacturers, one Canadian and one Chinese, both with locally based R&D operations and support. zz Juergen Hack is President of Ecosolutions for tomorrow, lighting consultant and contractor for Calloway REIT’s parking lot lighting upgrades. For more information, see the web site at www.ecosolutionsft.com. For more information about Ontario’s conservation and demand management incentive programs, see the web site at www.saveONenergy.ca.

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energymanagement

Buying into Sub-metering Shopping Mall Managers and Tenants Realize Savings

By Margaret Manetta Sub-metering can offer energy a n d c o s t - s av i n g a d va n t a g e s f o r shopping mall owners/managers and retail tenants. In properties with bulk meters, electricity costs are typically averaged and apportioned per square foot then passed through to tenants’ rents – a practice that penalizes efficient users for the benefit of those who consume more.

Sub-metering introduces a user-pay model, ensuring that tenants pay for their actual usage. It’s also an information tool that can motivate new behaviour.

Businesses that have traditionally used a higher percentage of energy may see a new economic case for implementing energy conservation measures. National retailers with hundreds of stores could realize significant savings if, for example, they cut back on lighting loads or reduce air conditioning during certain times of the day.

East York Town Centre is a 380,000-square-foot retail/office complex in Toronto where sub-metering was introduced about three years ago. For the mall’s managers, Morguard Investments Limited, sub-metering was an extension of the company’s national environmental improvement program, Green Link, which promotes the continuous green operation of properties through the use of green technology, practices and design.

“Sub-metering provides more detailed information of what our actual common area utility consumption is, allows us to implement energy conservation programs and shows us how we are progressing with reducing our carbon footprint at the Centre” says Edyth Karwecki, General Manager of East York Town Centre. “For example, we switched our lighting from T12 to T8 and were able to get a real sense of the savings created by this upgrade, which was in the 15% range.”

The year prior to sub-metering, the shopping centre’s total annual building 24 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

consumption was more than 9.1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh). One year after submetering, annual consumption had dropped to about 8.25 million kWh – a reduction of nearly 900,000 kWh. Sub-metering coupled with other energy reduction improvements has achieved a threeyear reduction of 3.8 million kWh and more than $380,000 in savings, which can be credited to metered tenants. Morguard is now planning to introduce sub-metering in other properties.

“We also hope to gather more concrete information of our common area utility consumption so that we can benchmark and present ideas to reduce consumption, as well as have the ability to measure it,” Karwecki says. “By doing so, we are able to take advantage of incentives and government grants that are available.”

Tenants in sub-metered shopping centres have access to the details of their actual usage to better control their monthly utility costs. Coupled with an energy monitoring system that allows users to see their actual energy use via a password-protected website, they have the information to measure and verify energy waste and to take corrective action. With real-time energy data uploaded every 15 minutes, tenants can become proactive in initiating cost saving energy strategies.

“Tenants are much more aware of how their lighting costs can affect their bottom line, and are taking a much more proactive role in their energy usage” Karwecki notes.

The message also resonates with mall

patrons. Customers are increasingly recognizing businesses that practice environmental stewardship and have corporate sustainability programs.

Owners and property managers of shopping centres can use data from energy monitoring systems to validate reductions in total annual building kWh consumption and calculate equivalent carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions. For example, data from East York Town Centre’s energy monitoring system indicates a reduction of 772.84 metric tonnes of CO2 has been achieved during two years of sub-metering.

The system helps managers to better grasp where and when electricity is consumed – knowledge that can be applied in building operations and capital planning.

“Reporting assists in the development of project plans for equipment upgrades where power savings is the desired outcome, for example, purchase of new chillers and cooling towers,” Karwecki explains. “Additionally, because consumption is metered and more closely monitored, electricity increases can be recognized and problems can be more quickly isolated and resolved.” zz Margaret Manetta is Marketing Coordinator for CARMA Industries Inc., providers of the METER MANAGER™ system at East York Town Centre. For more information, see the web site at www.carmaindustries.com.

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energymanagement

Voluntary Approach Keeps TRECs on the Margins Compliance Market Could Expand Green Power Portfolio Tradable Renewable Energy Certificates (TRECs) are a non-tangible, tradable commodity that represents proof that one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from a renewable energy resource. Each TREC typically must be certified by a third party organization, usually has a unique serial number and is valid in a specific jurisdiction.

TRECs represent the renewability attribute of a MWh of electricity, not the electricity itself. As a result, TRECs can in some cases be bought and sold independently of electricity transactions, although they are often sold together or “bundled” with the actual electricity.

The institution overseeing the market issues TRECs to renewable electricity suppliers based on the MWhs of electricity they generate using eligible technologies.

Renewable suppliers must become accredited by providing proof of eligible generation.

Meanwhile, the power market does not distinguish between different kinds of generation; electricity is electricity.

Electricity suppliers sell electricity that comes from renewable and non-renewable sources. However, suppliers can also buy and sell on a separate TRECs market.

Demand for TRECs – and consequently their value – derives from two different markets: • In voluntary markets, consumers purchase TRECs to demonstrate they are consuming renewable electricity. When a consumer purchases both electricity from the undifferentiated power market and a TREC, they have effectively purchased renewable electricity.

• In compliance markets, the obligated actor (typically the supplier or distributor of energy) purchases TRECs to demonstrate compliance with government policies that mandate a minimum share of 26 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

renewable electricity generation. These policies are called renewable portfolio standards (RPS).

TREC markets determine the commodity price: the higher the market-price for TRECs, the greater the incentive to produce more renewable electricity. However, TREC prices can vary significantly, depending on factors like the renewable technology used to generate the power and the vintage of the generating capacity.

Finally, a TREC is retired either when used for compliance with an RPS or purchased by an electricity consumer. This means that the TREC is removed from trading so that its renewable attributes cannot be counted twice.

PROMPT FOR PRODUCTION From the perspective of policy-makers looking to increase the amount of energy generated from renewable sources, TRECs offer several advantages. Firstly, they can increase the cost-effectiveness of an RPS policy, which is aimed at incenting renewable energy technology through a mandate to increase generation from renewable sources.

The market for TRECs ensures that renewable generation with the lowest cost will be developed first. Firms with opportunities to produce more renewable electricity at a lower cost will do so in order to sell excess TRECs on the market. Firms with less opportunity have the choice to purchase certificates rather than building high-cost renewable capacity.

Given that unbundled TRECs are easier to trade than electricity, they can broaden the geographic scope of new renewable projects and can also reduce transmission costs.

TREC transactions then provide a transparent mechanism for tracking renewable generation developments and a simple way of monitoring RPS compliance.

In voluntary markets, TRECs enable consumers to effectively consume renewable

electricity by using electricity from conventional power grids. By purchasing TRECs, consumers can support renewable electricity without actually connecting directly to a wind turbine or other renewable source. The flexibility of TRECs allows the renewable power to be generated anywhere.

Finally, whether sold on the voluntary or compliance markets, TRECs offer new revenue streams for renewable projects.

Sales of TRECs can incent new renewable development and can even be the difference in making projects economically viable in some cases.

Effectively, the market price of TRECs sends a price signal to renewable developers. Even small renewables projects can reap the benefits of this incentive as TRECs brokers can bundle together multiple renewable projects.

Voluntary markets currently exist in Canada, facilitated by existing tracking and certification systems that ensure TRECs are not double-counted and provide additional renewable capacity. However, unlike Europe and the United States, Canada does not have compliance markets for TRECs. Several programs that once offered TRECs, such as the Ontario Green Tags program, are no longer in operation. In terms of certification, the EcoLogo certification program has become widely used, and is now widely recognized almost as an industry norm for green power in Canada. zz The preceding article is excerpted from a policy brief, The Potential for Renewable Energy Certificates (TRECs) in Canada, produced by Sustainable Prosperity. The national research and policy network focused on market-based approaches to support a competitive green economy is based at the University of Ottawa.

For more information, see the web site at www.sustainableprosperity.ca.

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wastemanagement

Grey Water can be

Gardening Gold On-site Organics Recycling a Convenience for Food Court Operations

By Steven Minielly

Photos courtesy of Scarborough Town Centre

Scarborough Town Centre is a community in itself with more than 250 stores and services and 60,000 daily visitors. The management team sees the Centre’s target demographic as educated, aware of societal issues and appreciative of efforts to conserve resources and reduce waste. On-site staff and management at Oxford Properties also have a policy to support sustainability, reduce carbon emissions and set an example for customers and the general public.

This spring, Scarborough Town Centre became the first shopping centre in North America and first company in Canada to introduce a food digester on the premises. This follows the mall’s 28 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

earlier lead as the first retail centre to initiate a grease recovery program, and entrenches one of the busiest food courts in the Greater Toronto Area as one of the most environmentally friendly as well.

The selected food digester is branded with the acronym ORCA ( o rga n i c r e f u s e c o nve r s i o n alternative). This aptly describes technology that recycles food waste into nutrient-rich grey water, which will be used to water plants and exterior landscaping. The process is projected to reduce the volume of waste produced at Scarborough Town Centre by 47.3 metric tonnes per year, reduce costs and emissions

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wastemanagement

HOW IT WORKS

Anaerobic digestion is a naturally occurring process in which organic material is left to rot absent the presence of oxygen, allowing natural bacteria to multiply and break down the solid waste. Biogas and other by-products are produced from organic material that typically comes from agriculture, the food industries and/or municipal green waste.

Small-scale wet digesters [like the one introduced at Scarborough Town Centre] require little or no mechanical input. The process of gas release provides enough movement with the base material to mix. In contrast, large scale and dry digestion depend on mechanical mixers, which expend energy.

The most common emissions are carbon dioxide, ammonia, and nitrogen and sulphur oxides.

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related to transporting the waste, and reduce methane gas production in the landfill caused by the breakdown of organic materials.

Standing more than 6-feet in height, the 870-pound tank-like equipment sits in a logistically convenient spot in the receiving/loading bay area serving the food court. It has the capacity to digest 1,200 pounds of organic waste and produce an average of 500 gallons of grey water daily. The process occurs over a 24-hour period.

To comply with this schedule, food court tenants will store the waste that accumulates throughout the day in a specially supplied container. These will be collected and emptied into the food digester by the mall’s operations team.

“We are thrilled to be the first shopping centre to implement the ORCA,” says Kathy Meyers, General Manager of the Scarborough Town Centre. “This machine will turn food waste into water, which will be used to give life to the Centre’s plants. It is a beautiful illustration of waste coming full circle and intelligent reuse.”

S i m i l a r l y, t h e m a l l ’s g r e a s e recovery system diverts thousands of litres of sludge from landfill. The program was introduced in 2009 to restrict fats, oil and grease – known as FOG pollutants – from entering the municipal sanitary system and compromising aquatic life.

It’s estimated that up to 40% of FOG can escape from conventional grease traps, whereas the new system has a 99% capture rate. This amounts to more than 100 litres of grease per 30 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

Photo courtesy of ORCAGreen™ Food Digester

m o n t h . N o t a b l y, c o o k i n g o i l i s retrieved and sold to a company that uses the grease to produce petroleumfree biodiesel, animal feed, soaps and other products.

In addition to eight initial program participants, Oxford Properties has instituted a new policy requiring other food court tenants to adopt the greaserecovery system when they renovate or replace aging outmoded grease traps.

The two programs support other

recent investments at the Scarborough Town Centre to save energy and reduce ongoing operation costs. Additionally, to promote recycling and reduction of waste, an electronics recycling program is open to all mall patrons to drop off equipment and appliances for proper and safe disposal. zz Steven Minielly is the Operations Manager at the Scarborough Town Centre.

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energymanagement

Heat Recovery, Indeed Spectators Unaccustomed to Indoor Air Comfort in Predecessor Arena

By John Parris Frantz

The new Pat Burns Arena at Stanstead College in Stanstead, Quebec brings international calibre technology and ambience to a smalltown venue. The 48,000-square-foot facility, named in honour of a beloved former coach of the Montreal Canadiens and other National Hockey League teams, relies on heat recovery and textile HVAC air distribution to deliver energy savings and controlled zones for temperature and relative humidity at ice level and in the stands.

“Stanstead now has indoor air comfort equal to any renowned arena,” says Marc Parent, the Facility 32 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

Manager at Pat Burns Arena. “Our ice, refrigeration and HVAC equipment is a smaller scale version of the same system that helped make the Richmond O va l fa c i l i t y a t t h e X X I Wi n t e r Olympics in Vancouver one of the best and fastest tracks in the world.”

Funding for the $8.9 million arena included $5.3 million from the Building Canada Fund, Communities Component, an infrastructure i nve s t m e n t p r o g r a m g e a r e d t o communities with populations less than 100,000, and private fundraising campaigns. The facility is owned by the Town of Stanstead and managed by

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energymanagement

Ice bank storage helps reduce electricity use and supplements the high refrigeration loads during the day.

Stanstead College, a well-known private secondary school with a longstanding hockey tradition.

A regulation-size 200- x 85-foot rink is surrounded by seating and standing room capacity for 500+ spectators. The facility also houses a mezzanine restaurant, locker rooms, offices, physical therapy rooms, a small gym and multi-function rooms for the use of both students and the general public. This replaces the aging Stanstead College Arena, which was nearing 60 years of age when Pat Burns Arena opened in the fall of 2011.

Arguably, the forerunner was initially even more energy-efficient than its stateof-the art replacement since it had no refrigeration equipment and simply relied on cold weather for ice making and preservation. However, the introduction 34 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

of 1960s-era refrigeration equipment to generate and maintain the ice surface dramatically stepped up the energy load, while indoor air temperatures remained very chilling in the winter months.

In contrast, today’s refrigeration system recovers waste heat from the system's compressors and recycles it to heat a glycol loop for liquid-to-air heat exchange that supplies the building's air handlers. The 8,500-cfm arena air handler also has a cooling coil that dehumidifies to eliminate fogging and promote optimum ice skating surfaces.

A backup, stand-alone dehumidifier system is on-hand to deal with excessive relative humidity. Ice bank storage helps reduce electricity use and supplements the high refrigeration loads during the day.

Running times for mechanical HVAC equipment can be reduced due to the even air dispersion. Fabric duct plays a role since studies have shown it to be more energy-efficient than comparable metal conduits. In this case, it creates a malleable channel that begins at a 32-inch diameter then narrows to 24 inches as it gets farther from the air source in the arena’s mechanical room.

The factory-engineered textile ductwork is suspended above the buffer zone separating the spectators from the skating area. Materials introduced for the first time in Canada give the ductwork a more rigid structure to keep it consistently taut – rather than inflating and deflating as airhandling equipment starts up or goes idle – thus eliminating a possible distraction from the ice action.

It is expected to wear well since wayward hockey pucks won’t cause dents and it can be commercially laundered to eliminate contaminants and maintain optimum indoor air quality. zz John Parris Frantz is an account executive for DuctSox Corp., a manufacturer of textile air dispersion products, including the ductwork in the Pat Burns Arena. For more information, see the web site at www.ductsox.com.

INSTALL CONFIDENCE. INSTALL RINNAI. Between energy efficiency, durability and an industry-leading warranty*, when you install Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters, you can rest assured your customers’ investment will be quick to pay off. Just a few more reasons why industry professionals have made Rinnai #1.

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software

Mobile Applications Extend Software’s Reach Add-ons to Core Platform can Improve Efficiency

By Joel Nelson I n t e g r at e d p r op e r t y management and accounting software with the flexibility for adding built-in products and services creates a single, efficient system. Property owners and managers are increasingly looking for systems that provide business intelligence and can perform ancillary business functions such as document management, customer relationship management and invoice processing.

Many real estate professionals are now adopting Microsoft SharePoint® to provide access to business-wide operational, financial and ancillary data.

There is still some work to be done, however, to integrate it with property management systems. This is expected to include features such as synchronized document management, which will allow secure access to documents from the property management system or from SharePoint; and portals for property marketing and resident services.

Customer relationship management (CRM) zeroes in on the leasing pipeline and the need to track leads and deals in progress. Spreadsheets have been the traditional vehicle for compiling and organizing information from an array of sources, but CRM can now provide a single view of customers and contacts in a common database. It enables real-time tracking of leads, customer interactions, leasing milestones, tasks and other crucial information contained in documents, e-mails, and other media.

The automated workflows provide leasing agents with immediate access to all information about a property, as well as qualified prospective clients and their requirements. When a lease is executed, t h e p r o s p e c t r e c o r d c o nv e r t s automatically to a tenant record without reentry of data. E-mails automatically upload to the property management system, saving time by eliminating data 36 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

entry and offering a clear view of the pipeline and historical data.

Leasing agents can pull up the rent roll, see when a vacancy will open up, contact a tenant whose requirements match the property and close the deal before the prospect looks elsewhere. Mobile extensions of CRM systems are also available and gaining wider use, allowing leasing agents to archive e-mails and review contacts, deals and leads directly from a mobile application.

On the accounting side of the business, systems that centralize, automate and streamline accounts payable can save money. Per-invoice costs drop with the reduction of labour and costs associated with copying, stamping, filing, mailing and storage.

Minimizing touch-points – i.e. the number of people processing each invoice – reduces opportunities for errors. Through automated invoice processing, policies can be standardized a c r o s s a n o rg a n i z a t i o n , p l a c i n g oversight and control with owners and

managers. Going paperless carries an added advantage of eliminating untold hundreds of pieces of paper that travel around an organization during an approval cycle.

In common with other property management operations, mobile applications allow purchase orders and invoicing, along with other business, to be conducted from an iPhone, iPad or other device. Mobile capability is giving property management employees new flexibility to conduct business from the field.

Managers can approve payables and review performance reports using their iPads, iPhones, Droids and BlackBerrys.

Others can approve invoices on demand, wherever they may be working at a given time. zz Joel Nelson is with Yardi Systems, a software developer specializing in applications for real estate.

For more information, see the web site at www.yardi.com.

NEW 2012 Energy Efficiency Incentives

Better Incentives.

Easy Process.

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Condensing Boilers Bring Efficiency and Comfort to Older Apartment Complexes Incentives from Union Gas influenced CLV Group to choose condensing boilers to replace inefficient heating systems in many of the older apartment buildings they manage. As property managers for InterRent REIT properties across Ontario, CLV Group installed natural gas condensing boilers at properties in Hamilton, Dundas, Burlington, Guelph, London, and other cities, which immediately lowered operating costs and made residents a lot more comfortable.

CLV Group’s Senior Project Manager, Dave Nevins says, “We had choices, but we’ve always been progressive about energy management and even though condensing boilers are more expensive than other options, we’ll save more on operating costs. The Union Gas incentives were certainly part of the decision.” In addition to their cost savings Nevins says, “Residents get the right amount of heat in winter because we can adjust temperatures more easily with the condensing boilers so we’re creating a better living atmosphere for all our residents.”

Energy Efficiency in Action In 2011 CLV Group received $89,000 in Union Gas incentives for installing 48 condensing boilers. With these high efficiency condensing boilers, CLV expects to save 6,000,000 m3 and reduce energy costs by $1,200,000 over the twenty-five year lifetime of the equipment, based on today’s natural gas rates.

CLV Group is already planning more energy efficiency upgrades this year and they’ll install about 10 more condensing boilers. Nevins says, “Union Gas is great to deal with - they’re helpful, knowledgeable and they know the contractors we deal with so it made the process easy.”

Certain criteria apply for some technologies and rate classes, contact the account manager in your area.

Subject to change. © Union Gas Limited 3/2012 UG20120044.

951-961 Wonderland Rd. S. London ON

Increased Financial Incentives for 2012 Union Gas has developed several energy saving incentive programs for multi-unit residential buildings which include: • Condensing Boilers – up to $4,500 per unit • Condensing Make-up Air Units – up to $2,400 per unit • Energy Recovery Ventilators – up to $1,500 per unit • Heat Recovery Ventilators – $400 per unit • Laundry Equipment with Ozone – up to $6,000 per unit • New and Retrofitted Equipment – $0.10 per annual m3 saved up to $40,000 Contact the Union Gas account manager in your area at uniongas.com/accountmanager or visit uniongas.com/savemoneyandenergy for full details on our energy efficient programs

Early Bird $200 Bonus Act quickly for an additional early bird bonus.

The first 500 eligible units will receive a $200 early bird bonus on top of the incentive.

utilitymanagement

TV Service Providers to Jostle in New Markets Seniors’ Facilities and Hospitality Sector Opened for Heightened Competition

By Barbara Carss A recent decision from the C a n a d i a n R a d i o - t e l ev i s i o n a n d Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) puts cable and satellite television providers in a better position to compete in some categories of commercial and institutional buildings where owners/managers still typically have bulk service contracts with one company. CRTC regulation 2011-774, released last December, clarifies that the owners of inside wire in properties such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, seniors’ facilities and student residences cannot deny access to the infrastructure to other licensed service providers.

This mirrors rules that have already applied in residential condominiums and rental housing for several years, which have largely changed the business model for service provision.

Contracts are now typically forged directly with end-users rather than the building owner/manager, and industry observers foresee a similar shift ahead in seniors’ and students’ buildings that accommodate longer-term residents. “ T h e r e a r e f ew bu l k b i l l i n g arrangements left because cable companies simply will not offer the bulk service in MDUs (multiple dwelling units),” observes Joe Hoffer, a partner with Cohen Highley LLP who specializes in residential tenancy law. “There was a business advantage in the past when cable services were simple, one-size-fits-all, and landlords could negotiate great prices and concessions. But, administratively, it’s a relief for landlords to let tenants deal directly with the service provider, particularly now when they want choice rather than being limited to a one-size-fits-all option.”

Although hotel, restaurant and hospital operators are still going to be 38 April 2012 | Canadian Property Management

negotiating contracts on behalf of their short-stay patrons, the new regulation provides more practical flexibility to switch service providers. Until now, the incumbent service provider that installed and owned the wires within the building could prohibit competing companies from using it, meaning that subsequent providers would have to re-cable to bring their service into the building. Few building owners/managers deemed that disruption worthwhile.

“A lot of these [service] agreements may have been renewed five or six times in the last 30 years just because there was little choice,” suggests Geoff Baker, National Sales Manager for Bell Satellite TV. His company was the initial proponent to request a CRTC review and decision on the issue, but other service providers, such as MTS Allstream and Saskatchewan Telecommunications, and hospitality industry interests, including Hilton Worldwide and the Hotel Association of Canada, offered support.

The CRTC decision stipulates that competing service providers will pay a fee to the owner of the wire, which in many building configurations will be the same $0.52 per subscriber monthly fee specified in condominiums and rental housing. In other cases where the original service provider had to invest either more or fewer resources than is the norm to wire the building, the regulation calls on the parties to negotiate an appropriate fee.

“There are still some issues to sort out around the location of demarcation points, but the importance of the decision i s t h a t t h e C RT C m a d e a c l e a r determination that when a cable company owns this inside wire, it has to provide access to competitors wishing to use it ,” Baker maintains. “Previously, companies were outright denying access and this was a thorn in a competitive environment.”

Bell’s status as a competitor challenging incumbent cable TV providers is a role reversal to its historical dominance in phone service. Likewise, CRTC 2011-774 is something of a flipside to the 2 0 0 3 C RT C r u l i n g t h a t g ave competitive local phone service carriers access to existing inside wire in buildings.

“It’s kind of going full circle,” m u s e s J e n n i f e r S i c i l i a , Vi c e P r e s i d e n t , Te l e c o m P r o p e r t y Management, with the IT services consulting firm, Rycom TPM. “Now it’s opening up for a level playing field on both sides – phone and TV.” Sicilia identifies advantages for building owners/managers, as well. The new regulation should ensure a smoother transition in switching to new service providers, and possibly open up more competitive pricing since installation costs should be lower.

“It’s all about choice, price and turn-up times,” she notes.

Hoffer advises owners/managers to retain some room to manoeuvre.

“I used to see 10-year agreements w i t h s e r v i c e p r ov i d e r s , bu t I consistently recommend nothing more than three years, which in itself can be an eternity in this area of contract,” he says.

Meanwhile, seniors’ and students’ housing operators may want to look at how condominium corporations and rental housing landlords have leveraged their position in a new kind of market.

“Many landlords will still have a ‘preferred’ service provider to w h o m t h e y e x t e n d e x c l u s iv e marketing rights on-site and receive some form of benefit in return,” Hoffer reports. zz

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