Written by: Sormeh Konjkav
Most office building owners and managers know that the best time to make improvements to tenant spaces is during lease turnover and tenant improvements (TI). But is it always easy? Unfortunately not. Turnovers often occur quickly to minimize vacancy periods, and there may not be sufficient time to assess and prioritize efficiency opportunities. To overcome this problem, Waypoint developed a utility incentive program to address the split-incentive and target energy efficiency opportunities in hard-to-reach office tenant spaces. This program, developed for Eversource Energy and National Grid, is called Sustainable Office Design (SOD).
Project Details:
Project: Sustainable Office Design
Utilities: Eversource Energy, National Grid
Year Launched: 2013
Project Goal: Encourage the CRE market to adopt high efficiency measures in office TI fit-out projects
Pilot Participants: 15 tenant space projects
Pilot Coverage: 980,000 square feet tenant space
Pilot Energy Savings: 1,899,965 kWh annually
The SOD Program offers an incentive of $1/sq. ft. of leased space with a simple application process and a quick, one-month application review turnaround (traditional incentive application reviews can take two to six months). The incentive is based on the space meeting simple efficiency requirements and communicates in terms commercial real estate stakeholders are accustomed to (i.e. square footage). This provides owners and tenants the certainty and timeliness with the incentive to move forward.
Read more about the program, its successes, and the tactics that are used to overcome barriers in office TIs, in our Split-Incentive Tenant Case Study and reach out to us at info@waypoint-energy.com for more information about incorporating energy efficiency in your office tenant spaces.