Event Description

This panel will focus on landlord-tenant collaboration and strategies for multi-tenant Net Zero Energy Buildings, a rare breed in NZE.

Even as net-zero energy (NZE) buildings multiply across the country, most tend to be single-tenant or owner-occupied. Challenges abound - landlord-tenant communications, data transparency, plug load usage, and compliance, to name a few. Can multi-tenant buildings sustain net-zero operations?

Speakers will tell the story of one of the first multi-tenant NZE buildings in the country through the lens of the proven Tenant Energy Optimization Program (TEOP) model form the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Additionally,in light of the Building Performance Energy Standards recently passed in DC,this panel will offer audience members analysis and strategies they can take back to their companies. The panelists will cover the ingredients for success of multi-tenant NZE buildings, such as how to use the TEOP model to ensure the tenant space is properly fit-out for net-zero standards,why a well-crafted building-wide green lease with clauses such as a plug-load budget and REC purchases is critical,and how to manage ongoing data sharing. They will also analyze which elements of the Boulder Commons model could be replicated in DC, and which would need adjustments in order to succeed.

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), as anchor tenant in Boulder Commons working with developer Morgan Creek Ventures (their existing landlord) to build the space to net-zero standards, will provide perspective on leasing space in a multi-tenant NZE building and how voicing their desires and maintaining frequent contact led to a mutually agreed upon vision of a NZE space. Speakers will explain how practices such as setting a tenant energy budget and creating a menu of measures for energy performance measures can help avoid common pitfalls in energy efficient and NZE fitouts. RMI will elaborate on landlord-tenant communications and on how all building tenants work to meet the high-performance standards of NZE.

This panel covers how tenants and landlords can collaborate to ensure leased space performance supports net-zero goals. For fit-outs, the TEOP 1O steps can be applied to a variety of spaces and meet increasingly rigorous energy and sustainability goals. TEOP steps such as setting energy performance goals, modeling energy reduction, and developing and executing occupancy plans are all important steps in any leased space but become critical to achieve in multi-tenant net-zero properties. Many TEOP steps set up both landlord and tenants for long term success and recognition such as LEED, WELL, Green Lease Leaders,and ENERGY STAR for Tenant Space.