Low energy efficiency costs the multifamily sector an estimated $3.4 billion a year.
If your multifamily property has poor energy efficiency management, you could be losing thousands a year to unnecessarily high operating costs. Plus, inefficient energy management can make your multifamily rental more expensive and less attractive to residents.
How can you improve your energy efficiency management to cut costs and attract top residents? That’s what we’ll cover in this post. Before getting into how to improve energy efficiency management, let’s take a look at why energy efficiency is important for multifamily rental housing.
Why does energy efficiency management matter for multifamily rentals?
Energy costs are one of the largest expenses for multifamily properties. An estimated 25% of energy costs in multifamily housing are due to energy inefficiency. By improving your energy efficiency management, you can see energy savings and lower operating costs – making your property more profitable.
Low energy efficiency can also negatively impact residents. In most apartment buildings, residents pay for utilities. If your building is energy inefficient, residents have to spend more every month on utilities. High utility costs can lead to dissatisfied residents and low resident retention.
These high costs can also reduce affordability for low-income residents. Poor energy efficiency management makes affordable multifamily housing less accessible to low-income households.
Along with impacting you and your residents, poor energy efficiency management also harms the environment. If your building isn’t energy efficient, your energy use to heat and cool your building is higher. This requires more fossil fuels and leads to more emissions, greenhouse gasses, and pollution – which harms the environment.
What benefits could you see from improving energy efficiency management?
Property managers, owners, and residents benefit from improved energy efficiency management. Here are the top benefits you could see:
Lower expenses
Even if residents pay for utilities, your multifamily rental still requires a lot of energy to operate. If your building has poor energy management, a lot of energy you pay for is wasted – driving up your expenses unnecessarily.
With better energy efficiency management, you can save thousands every year on energy. By using less energy for lighting and other systems and retaining more hot or cool air, your multifamily building has lower energy needs – slashing your operating costs.
Attract more residents
Residents don’t want to overpay for utilities. If your building has poor energy efficiency management, your residents could pay hundreds more to live in your building. These higher energy bills can lead to low resident satisfaction and high resident turnover.
By improving energy efficiency management, you can lower resident utility bills – making your rental more attractive to residents. Plus, many younger residents prioritize environmental sustainability. High energy efficiency can attract residents who want sustainable living – leading to higher occupancy.
Charge higher rent
The last major benefit you could see is increased revenue from higher rents. One way to boost energy efficiency management is with smart devices and smart home management. 75% of surveyed renters said they’re willing to pay more for rent for a unit with smart devices like thermostats and lights.
Outfitting units with smart devices not only helps you improve energy efficiency. It can also help you charge more for rent – boosting your property revenue.
How can you improve multifamily energy efficiency management?
You can improve your building’s energy efficiency in a variety of ways. Here are the top ways to boost your energy efficiency management:
Led lighting
An easy way to improve energy efficiency is to swap out traditional bulbs for LEDs. LED bulbs not only use less energy but also produce less heat. This can reduce the energy you need to cool your building in the summer. Plus, LED bulbs last longer than traditional bulbs, so you don’t have to change them as often.
Better insulation
If your building is poorly insulated, it loses a lot of heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. So, you need more energy to heat and cool your building – even with energy-efficient systems. By insulating your building better, you can reduce air loss and lower your energy consumption.
Low-E Windows
Windows can let warm air out in the winter and allow heat in during the summer. To reduce the energy required to heat or cool your building, you can get Low-E windows. Low-E windows have a coating that reflects heat from outside in the summer to keep your building cool. These windows also reflect indoor heat in the winter to keep your building warm – reducing your energy use and improving energy efficiency management.
High-efficiency HVAC
Along with insulation, a high-efficiency HVAC system can improve your energy efficiency management. Inefficient HVAC systems lose a lot of the heat or cold air they create. So, you have to use more energy to heat or cool your building. With a high-efficiency HVAC system, you can keep most of the heating or cooling produced – lowering your energy usage.
High-efficiency water heaters
Low-efficiency water heaters have to use much more energy to heat water. Installing high-efficiency water heaters can dramatically reduce the energy required for hot water – improving your energy efficiency management.
Energy Star appliances
Appliances are another big energy user. Inefficient appliances can cost residents hundreds a year. By swapping out old appliances for Energy Star certified appliances, you can boost your property’s energy efficiency and lower resident expenses.
Smart devices
The last way to improve energy efficiency management is with smart devices. Smart thermostats can be programmed to run less when residents aren’t in their unit or using a common area. A smart thermostat can save you and your residents an average of 10-12% on heating and 15% on cooling.
Smart lights can also help you improve energy efficiency management. These lights can automatically turn off when no one is using a common area or residents leave their unit. As such, you can reduce the energy used for lighting and improve your overall energy efficiency management.
Wrapping It Up
Great energy efficiency management can help lower your operating costs, attract more residents, and increase your revenue. However, many energy-efficient upgrades and retrofits can be costly and disruptive to residents.
The good news is that building owners don’t have to replace HVAC systems or all windows to improve energy efficiency. You can also boost energy efficiency management with smart devices like thermostats and lights. Smart devices can be quick to install and easy to manage with the right tech.
If you’re looking for the best smart device management for your multifamily rental, BeHome247 is the way to go. With BeHome247’s device agnostic platform, you can manage almost any smart device. Dashboards and reporting can help you track energy usage and find opportunities to further improve energy efficiency management.
Plus, BeHome247 isn’t just a smart device management platform. It’s also a complete property management platform. With BeHome247, you can manage every aspect of operations, communication, and the resident experience. BeHome247 also automates day-to-day operations like maintenance, inspections, vendor management, digital leasing, messaging, and more.
Whether you’re looking for smart device management or an entire property and device management platform, BeHome247 has what you need to improve your energy efficiency management. Book your BeHome247 demo today to get started improving your multifamily energy efficiency management.
