Get Help With Your Energy Efficiency Efforts

This blog post highlights some of the many energy incentive programs designed to provide funding, rebates, tax deductions, etc. for those applying energy efficient measures within their buildings.

An essential area of concern for most property managers is energy efficiency. As a property manager, you should constantly be thinking of and researching methods that will save your building energy. Luckily, because this is such a high priority throughout the industry, there are many opportunities such as funding opportunities, rebates and tax credits via government agencies and other venues to those supporting energy efficiency. This blog post will highlight some programs of note that may be applicable to those of you in property management.

Building efficiency packages funding opportunity

Coming in or around October 2016, The General Services Administration’s Green Proving Ground, partnered with The Building Technologies Office (BTO) plan to turnout a funding opportunity that involves partnering with real building demonstration projects in order to create and gather data that will assist them as they develop and release their own multi-system technology packages for efficiency programs.

What is a multi-system package? A multi-system package includes combinations of technologies that advance energy efficiency in two or more of the following systems in buildings:

Those with a bachelor of science electrical engineering background can play a key role in designing and optimizing these energy-efficient systems.

– Cooling
– Controls
– Energy management and information
– Envelope
– Heating
– Lighting/electrical
– Plug
– Process
– Refrigeration
– Sensors
– Ventilation

To learn more about this funding opportunity, read its full notice of intent.

Conservation research and development grants

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) administers this program in an effort to carry out long-term, balanced research in the following technologies:

– Advanced manufacturing
– Buildings
– Industrial
– Solid state lighting
– Vehicle

The EERE will provide grants and cooperative agreements, decided on a competitive footing, to organizations that establish and transfer energy conservation technologies to scientific and industrial organizations. Qualified applicants include:

– Profit organizations
– Private nonprofit organizations
– Universities
– Local, state, tribal governments

For more information, see the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.

Energy-efficient commercial buildings tax deduction

This tax deduction administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began in 2006 and has been extended several times. With this rebate, buildings can receive a tax deduction between $0.30 and $1.80 per square foot if they reduce the building’s total energy and power cost by 50% or more in comparison to a building meeting minimum requirements set by ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 by installing one of the following systems:

– Cooling
– Heating
– Hot water
– Ventilation

See here for more information.

These are just some of the many incentives that there are out there to improve energy efficiency within your properties. Be sure to do your research, as there are many resources that you can look to in order to find programs and incentives that are applicable for you. To learn of savings on a more local basis, Energy.gov allows you to search here. To learn some tactics and practices for an energy efficient building, see Kings III’s free guide: “Energy Efficiency for Commercial Buildings.”