Tenant Engagement For Energy Conservation

One of the best ways to attain optimum facility performance while ensuring energy conservation expectations are met is through tenant engagement. Make the most of the additional savings from submetering and other methods by aiding your tenants in joining you in your conservation efforts. While there is no one-size-fits-all technique to engage every tenant, there are several factors that affect human behavior and decision-making. Take a look at some quick tips to engage your tenants:

Start Within

Begin with your building operations and property management team. Team education leads to team (and tenant) engagement as they champion the conservation efforts.

Share your energy efficiency goals and the corresponding benefits with all affected occupants. As much as possible, provide valuable data such as energy usage results from submetering and other management software. Go through real-time energy use results with tenants using your utility management company’s online software. If possible, provide ‘conservation kits’ that provide both staff and tenants with collateral that will help them increase conservation. Asses each occupant’s current energy usage then create baselines in order to determine ways to improve efforts, with projected savings included.

Commercial Properties

For commercial properties, management can develop materials that can be co-branded for both the property owner and the tenant. Use copy that makes an impact with business audiences, such as the amount of greenhouse gas emissions created or the resulting cost per square/foot.

Partnership and Communication

Establish a partnership with your residential or commercial tenants by forming a green committee that comprises of both staff plus tenant and owner representation. Put up a forum that asks for tenant suggestions.

Consistent communication is key with these efforts. Create a communication plan that makes a difference by updating tenants regularly with success stories and tips on how to improve. Make the most of your tenant portal by making available benchmarking data, usage information and best practices they should follow. Launch these energy conservation efforts with a community engagement event and ensure that the momentum keeps going by rewarding achievements. Tie in these efforts with your marketing strategy and leverage social media to showcase results, tenants and ideal conservation behaviors.