What makes energy efficiency interesting to you? As IMT’s Communications Director, I spend a lot of time thinking about this question as it relates to me, to my colleagues at IMT, to our collaborators in cities, companies, and allied organizations, and to the people we seek to better engage on efficiency in the public and private sectors. As today is Energy Efficiency Day—the third annual day to highlight and celebrate the many benefits of energy efficiency and, hopefully, raise more awareness and excitement about it—it has me thinking about what most interests and engages you, our IMT.org visitors, about efficiency in buildings.
One tool I have at my disposal to gauge this is our website analytics—specifically, the list of our most in-demand resources. Based on our top 10 most-downloaded resources thus far in 2018, I see two trends in what has IMT visitors engaged on efficiency.
Market Insight
IMT specializes in driving the intersection of real estate, public policy, and technology to make buildings more productive, affordable, valuable, and resilient. In this convening role, it’s no surprise that our resources that provide high-level insight into market movement, such as IMT’s ever-popular map of mandatory benchmarking policies, remain most in demand. As of today, IMT has updated its map to show 24 cities, 1 county, and 3 states with benchmarking policies that affect existing, privately owned buildings.
Alongside these snap shots of what is are our resources of what can be. For example, IMT’s Putting Data to Work toolkit—which presents lessons learned from the District of Columbia and New York City in using data from building performance reporting programs to drive more informed decision making and increased engagement in energy efficiency programs—includes five of the top 10 most downloaded resources.
Similarly, IMT’s report examining the market potential in energy and cost savings offered by wider adoption of green language in U.S. office building leases, remains a perennial favorite of our site visitors. With leased spaces representing approximately half of all commercial building energy use, forward-thinking real estate practitioners are looking to the lease to drive higher performance in buildings and tenant spaces.
How-to Knowledge and Best Practices
At IMT, we pride ourselves not only at evaluating and tracking market transformation but also at working hand-in-hand with those on the ground to get it done. This means working together to understand local priorities and context; synthesizing, tweaking, and deploying best practices for maximum local impact; and communicating core takeaways in a variety of forms. This, in turn, translates to resources such as the Putting Data to Work Implementation Guide for Energy Efficiency Program Administrators, which describes how energy efficiency program administrators can use data about buildings’ energy equipment, consumption, and performance to deliver high-impact services while reducing their costs. Better access and use of building energy data also increases program administrators’ ability to engage with their customers to meet high energy-savings goals. Speaking of engagement, another popular resource is the Putting Data to Work case study “Successful Partnerships to Accelerate Efficiency” explores a successful example of partnership between local government and utilities. Last but not least, easy-to-digest tools such as IMT’s infographic on Building a Successful Green Lease help round out the list of our most downloaded resources.
Want to learn more? Check out the top 10 resources below.
- Building Benchmarking and Transparency Policies
- Putting Data to Work: How Cities are Using Building Energy Data to Drive Efficiency
- Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Benefits
- Putting Data to Work: Project Summary
- Putting Data to Work: Impact Assessment to Estimate Savings from Energy Efficiency Programs
- Building a Successful Green Lease
- The Benefits of Benchmarking Building Performance
- Putting Data to Work: Implementation Guide for Energy Efficiency Program Administrators
- Measuring the Potential Impact of Green Leases in the U.S. Office Sector
- Putting Data to Work: Successful Partnerships to Accelerate Efficiency
