Written by: Fiona Dearth
Heads up – did you know that ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tracks more than just energy usage? The third time’s the charm, when it comes to sustainability performance metrics. The free online Portfolio Manager tool also enables you to upload and monitor your building’s waste and water use across your entire portfolio. We at Waypoint recognize that’s a pretty big deal—and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) agrees. This past year, BOMA launched its Waste & Water Challenge (W2 Challenge) to encourage the building community nationwide to benchmark waste and water usage at their properties.
The W2 Challenge is a two-year initiative to support commercial real estate (CRE) practitioners to benchmark their waste and water consumption and associated costs, as well as to implement best practices to improve building performance. With the support of a generous grant from the real estate software provider, Yardi, and in partnership with the BOMA Local Associations, BOMA International is proud to launch this Challenge as part of its ongoing efforts to encourage sustainability within the CRE industry.
The two-year Challenge is running from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019, and participants will be eligible for recognition for their leadership from BOMA International. In 2018, participants are encouraged to establish their waste and water baseline and adopt benchmarking best practices. In 2019, BOMA will support participants in taking the next steps to pursue performance improvements, and then promote their successes.
At this year’s BOMA Winter Business Meeting, the Energy & Environment Committee Chair, Eric Duchon, announced that over 1700 buildings had already signed up for the challenge – exceeding the anticipated participation by ten-fold! It is fantastic to see the CRE market voluntarily stepping up to improve the sustainability and operational efficiency of its building stock.
Waypoint is a proud supporter of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and is pleased to see such positive momentum for waste and water tracking across the market. As the adage goes, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” and Waypoint is proud to support its clients to use benchmarking to identify and capitalize on efficiency opportunities. ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager enables this “tracking trifecta” of energy, water, and waste all in one platform and optimizes performance measurement for users.
If you’re considering benchmarking waste and water across your portfolio, there are a number of resources available to help get you started.
Sign up today to participate in BOMA’s W2 Challenge to begin tracking your consumption and get access to tailored support to improve performance across your building portfolio
Consult ENERGY STAR’s waste and water benchmarking FAQs and access technical support for the Portfolio Manager tool
Watch the W2 Challenge webinar recording to discover how the Challenge can integrate with your existing Portfolio Manager accounts to help you to drive value at your properties
Waypoint is excited to support the W2 Challenge and help continue its positive momentum in the CRE market. To learn more about Waypoint’s work to encourage sustainability in commercial buildings, check out our offerings or reach out to our team at info@waypoint-energy.com.