ShareThisChanging Multifamily Tenant Behavior after Energy/Water Retrofits
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K-Station is a multifamily project located in Portland, OR working towards LEED Platinum certification. |
This summer Earth Advantage invited Fiona Hoffman Harland, an intern from Hamilton College, to assess multifamily energy and water retrofits. Her study is one of relevance to everyone involved in the multifamily market. How do you encourage tenant engagement and use of energy efficient living systems? Fiona discovered that “after tenants and staff understand the importance of saving energy and know how the newly installed technologies work, systems must be in place to support those involved and allow them to act on the new behavior for an extended period of time.”
The key aspects to achieving efficient technology use include: gaining the trust of the tenants, educating them and provide incentives to obtain the results. One strategy is to encourage the building manager, to work with the sustainability educators or to employ a regional staff member who can answer questions and provide technical support on an on-going basis. A second avenue is educating tenants, which can be a tricky proposition. However, there tends to be buy-in when monthly tenant “green team” meetings are held, especially if refreshments are served! This platform provides an opportunity to teach, for example, how much water a ten-minute shower can use.
An additional strategy is to provide incentives to drive behavior. Holding competitions and awarding prizes to tenants for using the least amount of energy can create a friendly competitive atmosphere. Often times an integrated implementation of all these strategies is necessary to achieve the most efficient energy use in a green certified building.
