SRS Platform Capability Provides Missing Link to the Question: “What is the Impact to my Building’s Energy Star Rating from Investing in Specific Energy Conservation Measures?”

TRUMBULL, CT – FEBRUARY 23, 2012 – Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS), the industry leader in on-demand building energy assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, today announced the availability of its Energy Star Projected Rating capability.

A fully-integrated component of SRS’s Sustainable Real Estate Manager^® software platform, this innovative functionality allows commercial and public building stakeholders to determine their building’s projected Energy Star rating based on the installation of specific energy conservation measures (ECMs).  This “missing link” capability enables energy service companies to determine an optimized bundle of ECMs and the related key financial metrics.  The result is a technically-sound, transparent methodology consistent with leading industry standards that provides the user with an unprecedented level of confidence in the projected energy savings.

As a further benefit, seamless integration with SRS’s proprietary peer building benchmarking solution provides stakeholders with the industry’s most comprehensive “best practice” for benchmarking (e.g., comparing a building’s energy consumption, costs and overall efficiency to “peer” buildings of comparable size, use, and location).  SRS’s Peer Building Benchmarking™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide.  Updated regularly, the data encompasses 15 property types, 3.3 billion square feet and over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs. 

“SRS’s Energy Star Projected Rating tool is a game-changer that for the first time enables industry participants to accurately project their building’s Energy Star rating based on the completion of specific ECMs”, noted Brian J. McCarter, SRS CEO.  He added, “As an experienced Energy Star Automated Benchmarking Partner, SRS is frequently asked; “How will my building’s Energy Star rating be impacted by the implementation of specific ECMs?”  With this new SRS platform capability stakeholders can now answer that question in a technically supportable manner with a high degree of confidence facilitating energy efficiency investments.”

About Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS)

SRS, an industry leader in on-demand building energy performance assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, delivers Sustainable Real Estate Manager^® an Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties.  Its Peer Building Benchmarking^™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice.  For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com.

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Contact:

Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc.

Brian J. McCarter

(203) 459-0567

How recent developments and tools incorporated into underwriting best practices are enabling energy efficiency financing to become a mainstream financial asset class

TRUMBULL, CT – FEBRUARY 17, 2012 – Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS), the industry leader in on-demand building energy assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, today announced it is sponsoring a new whitepaper: Energy Efficiency Retrofit Financing Options for the Commercial Real Estate Industry.  Published by Building Energy Performance Assessment News (BEPAnews), this new report is the seventh in its Critical Issues Series and is available at no cost.

The paper discusses innovative, “market ready” financing mechanisms that are supported by new tools that significantly reduce the financial underwriting risk.  It also describes how these solutions solve the underwriting issues that have delayed large scale market adoption of commercial property energy efficiency investment.  (download paper)

“SRS is proud to sponsor this research paper that provides commercial building stakeholders with the insight needed to accelerate energy efficiency retrofits and unlock the full-potential to monetize energy savings opportunities, noted Brian McCarter, SRS CEO.  He added, “these new best practices have overcome most if not all the technical and financial underwriting obstacles thereby allowing building owners to obtain attractive financing for energy efficiency projects.  Furthermore, these recent developments will enable energy retrofit financing to become a mainstream financial asset class with a high degree of standardization, predictability and scale.”

About Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS)

SRS, an industry leader in on-demand building energy assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, delivers Sustainable Real Estate Manager^® an Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties.  Its Peer Building Benchmarking^™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice.  For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com.

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Revenues for U.S. Energy Service Companies to Reach $13 Billion by 2020

February 2, 2012

While the energy service company (ESCO) industry has been active for approximately 30 years, it continues to evolve in response to business opportunities and economic trends.  Today, newer service offerings, such as demand response and energy management software, enabled by intelligent metering and control systems that afford customers greater flexibility and control over their energy usage, are opening new opportunities for ESCOs.  According to a new report from Pike Research, the ESCO market for energy efficiency project installations and services in the United States exceeded $5.1 billion in 2011.  Driven by public policies that encourage a greater emphasis on energy efficiency to reduce costs and improve operations, this market is expected to continue to grow faster than the domestic economy and reach at least $13 billion in sales by 2020.  Under a more aggressive scenario, the ESCO market could reach $16 billion by 2020, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts.

“The full impact of recent federal stimulus funding has yet to be realized,” says research analyst Brittany Gibson.  “But the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has directed billions of dollars into energy efficiency projects at all levels of government and in all geographic regions of the nation, driving increased investment and accelerating innovation among ESCOs.”

The ESCO market predominantly takes the form of direct contracting between providers of energy efficiency services and equipment and government agencies, public institutions, and commercial customers – typically via performance-based contracts, wherein funding for individual projects is based on a promise of “guaranteed savings” to facility owners/managers.  In particular, the federal sector’s appetite for this energy service performance contract model is growing, helping give rise to a market structure dominated by a group of very large companies that specialize in these contracts.  At the same time, project sizes are increasing as clients look for more comprehensive technologies and designs to address their energy consumption.  Of particular significance for ESCOs is President Obama’s 2009 executive order, which mandates that all federal agencies must achieve a 30% reduction in energy use by 2015. 

Pike Research’s report, “The U.S. Energy Service Company Market”, describes the continuing evolution of the ESCO market, detailing drivers and barriers to deeper penetration of energy efficiency in the U.S. economy.  The study focuses on the role that performance contracting is playing as a vehicle for financing efficiency projects for public entities that face budget and credit limitations, as well as the convergence of new technologies and service offerings into traditional energy conservation projects.  Key industry players are profiled in depth and market forecasts extend through 2020.  An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Technical Training Opportunity:     Earn .8 CEU / 8 PDHs

Who should attend:

• Energy Auditors, Energy Consultants & ESCO professionals
• Property Due Diligence Consultants & Property Managers
• Lenders & Insurance brokers who underwrite energy efficiency loans and insurance
• Government officials involved in energy efficiency programs such as PACE

You will learn how to:

• Resolve gaps in the energy audit process
• Create the building energy use equation
• Project energy savings from baseline building energy use
• Verify ECM performance

Detailed course description (click on links):

• Objective & Background
• What you will learn
• Course Outline & Materials

Limited to 30 Participants

If you are interested in this course but can’t get to Edison, NJ – please take our survey:
Where else would you like to have this course offered?

To be notified about future courses to be held in other cities, please provide the following:

First Name:  Last Name:   Email:

This updated edition of the 2010 IPMVP Volume I (Concepts and Options for Determining Energy and Water Savings) continues to make the protocol more useful to a global audience by responding to comments from around the world. Highlights of changes in the 2010 edition include addition of new terms: “operational verification,” “owners project requirements for M&V,” “monitoring and targeting,” and a Catalonian section to the Spain section of Appendix C.
 
The 2012 IPMVP is now available for free download on EVO’s Web site at http://www.evo-world.org/index.php?option=com_form&form_id=75&Itemid=535.

MCCARTER TO LEAD

EE RETROFIT FINANCING PANEL AT EBA MEETING

Presentation of Energy Retrofit Financing Options in the Commercial Real Estate Market

TRUMBULL, CT – JANUARY 20, 2012 – Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS), the industry leader in on-demand building energy performance assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, today announced CEO Brian J. McCarter will lead a panel presentation at the Environmental Bankers Association meeting in Santa Fe, NM on January 23, 2012.

The EBA meeting attendees will include leading commercial real estate professionals from the lender, insurer and consulting communities.  McCarter’s panel will provide a unique perspective on the alternatives available for energy retrofit financing for commercial property.  The panel will profile the Los Angeles Commercial Building Performance Partnership program as a bellwether case study of the emerging best practices in the technical and financial underwriting process to meet the needs of the stakeholders (owner, lender, insurer and consultant) seeking to profit from the energy savings opportunities available in this rapidly growing market.

“SRS, through its broad-base of clients encompassing energy auditors, energy service contractors (ESCOs), lenders, insurers, property owners and managers is at the forefront of this exciting new industry”, noted McCarter.  He added, “Sharing best practices with leading commercial property due diligence professionals assures the continuous evolution of our industry leading software platform, thereby insuring our clients maximize their energy-related opportunities.”

“SRS is proud to participate as both a speaker and sponsor of this EBA meeting that provides building stakeholders with insight to the menu of financing options and enabling tools now available to unlock the full-potential to monetize energy savings opportunities and achieve scale market adoption in the energy efficiency investment space”, said McCarter. 

About Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS)

SRS, an industry leader in on-demand building energy performance assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, delivers Sustainable Real Estate Manager^® an Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties.  Its Peer Building Benchmarking^™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice.  For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com.

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The Sustainable Real Estate Manager^® SRM Monitoring & Optimization platform facilitates portfolio-wide prioritization of energy performance improvement opportunities. User applications include:

• Post retrofit measurement & verification (M&V)
• Portfolio screening & retrofit prioritization
• Internal & external property benchmarking
• Actual vs budget performance comparison

 MCCARTER SLATED TO ADDRESS

MOBILIZE ENERGY EFFICIENCY CONFERENCE

Presentation of Emerging Best Practices in Energy Auditing and Enabling Software

TRUMBULL, CT – JANUARY 7, 2012 – Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS), the industry leader in on-demand building energy performance assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, today announced CEO Brian J. McCarter will address the Mobilize Energy Efficiency in America Conference in Boston, MA on January 9, 2012.

The Mobilize Energy Efficiency in America meeting attendees will include leading commercial real estate energy efficiency professionals from the owner, investor, lender, insurer and consulting communities. McCarter’s presentation will provide a unique perspective on the emerging best practices in the energy audit process necessary to meet the technical and financial underwriting needs of the primary stakeholders (owner, lender, insurer and consultant) seeking to profit from the energy savings opportunities available in this rapidly growing market.

“SRS, through its broad-base of clients encompassing energy auditors, energy service contractors (ESCOs), lenders, insurers, property owners and managers is at the forefront of this exciting new industry”, noted McCarter. He added, “Sharing best practices with leading energy efficiency professionals assures the continuous evolution of our industry leading software platform, thereby insuring our clients maximize their energy-related opportunities.”

“SRS is proud to participate as both a speaker and sponsor of this symposium style meeting that provides building stakeholders with insight to the enabling tools to unlock the full-potential to monetize energy savings opportunities and achieve scale market adoption in the energy efficiency investment space”, said McCarter. For more information about the Mobilize Energy Efficiency in America event, visit www.energi.com/mobilize.php.

About Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS)

SRS, an industry leader in on-demand building energy performance assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, delivers Sustainable Real Estate Manager® an Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties. Its Peer Building Benchmarking™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice. For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com.

SRS Sponsors New Whitepaper:

“M&V in Energy Performance Contracting and the New ASTM BEPA Standard”

 How the IPMVP Guideline Intersects with the ASTM BEPA Methodology to Confidently Project Energy Savings

TRUMBULL, CT – DECEMBER 14, 2011 – Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS), the industry leader in on-demand building energy assessment and proprietary benchmarking software, today announced it will sponsor a new whitepaper: Measurement and Verification in Energy Performance Contracting Using the ASTM BEPA Methodology.  Published by Building Energy Performance Assessment News (BEPAnews) this new report is the sixth in its Critical Issues Series and is available at no cost.

The paper is focused on the intersection of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) with the ASTM Building Energy Performance Assessment (BEPA) Standard E2797-11. It demonstrates how this intersection allows energy efficiency professionals to confidently project energy savings that are at the core of the energy efficiency investment process. It also describes how the ASTM BEPA methodology (to calculate the building’s baseline energy use and cost) is used to measure and verify actual performance after energy conservation measures (ECMs) are installed.

About Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Inc. (SRS)

Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties. Its Peer Building Benchmarking™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice. For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com. Internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow platform enabling building stakeholders to assess, benchmark and optimize the energy and sustainability performance of their properties. Its Peer Building Benchmarking™ database contains over 120,000 buildings nationwide encompassing 15 property types comprising 3.3 billion square feet, over $7.8 billion in annual energy costs and $635 million in annual water/sewer costs and has reinvented commercial real estate’s energy efficiency benchmarking best practice. For more information, visit www.SRMnetwork.com.  

EPA Boiler Rules Create Significant Opportunity for Building Energy Assessments!

On Friday, December 2, 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment its rules for industrial boilers under the Clean Air Act. The rules require, among other things, that all buildings with oil-fired boilers equal to or greater than 10 million Btu/hr will need to conduct an energy assessment. Tens of thousands of buildings across the country will be impacted.

EPA divides all boilers in the country into one of two categories: “major sources” of toxic air pollutants (defined as emitting 10 tons or more per year of any single air toxic such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, mercury, lead, etc. or 25 tons per year or more of any combination of air toxics), and everything else (referred to as “area sources”). Approximately 187,000 boilers would be covered under the “area source” boiler rule, 98% of which would be required to implement work practice standards, including maintenance and tune-ups. The majority of area source boilers are located at commercial and institutional facilities, such as office building, retail establishments, hotels, medical centers, schools, universities, churches, municipal buildings, apartment buildings, warehouses, restaurants, nursing homes, etc.

If you own a boiler other than a gas-fired boiler, EPA’s boiler rule will impact you! The extent of the impact will depend on whether or not your boiler(s) has a heat input capacity less than, or equal to or greater than 10 million Btu/hr. From our “building energy performance assessment” viewpoint, facilities with oil-fired boilers having a heat input capacity equal to or greater than 10 million Btu/hr will be required to perform an energy assessment consisting of:

1. A visual inspection of the boiler system.
2. An evaluation of operating characteristics of the facility, specifications of
energy using systems, and operating and maintenance procedures.
3. Inventory of major systems consuming energy from the affected boiler(s).
4. A review of available architectural and engineering plans, facility operation
and maintenance procedures and logs, and fuel usage.
5. A list of major energy conservation measures (ECMs).
6. A list of the energy savings potential of the ECMs identified.
7. A comprehensive report detailing the ways to improve efficiency, the cost of
specific improvements, benefits, and the time frame for recouping those
investments.

The energy assessment would need to be completed no later than March 21, 2014.

How many area source oil-fired boilers would be impacted by this energy assessment requirement? I was astounded to find out that it would impact more than 26,000, located all across the country, but with the heaviest concentration, of course, in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. This is a huge number of buildings, and all will have to be assessed over the next two years!

The opportunity for energy professionals is significant. Moreover, the up-sell opportunity to conduct a full building energy audit is even more appealing. While an energy assessment as defined by EPA in the rule is not a full energy audit (since it only covers energy use systems that use the energy generated by the boiler), it would seem logical to me that a building owner would be remiss if he or she did not take advantage of this opportunity to include a full energy audit to identify all possible ECMs and their ROIs. In this way, a much more-informed decision could be made about any potential capital investment.

EPA is taking comment on the proposed rules for 60 days from the publication of the rule in the Federal Register this month, with the final rules to be published by April 2012.