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The Deutsche Bank/Living Cities Building Energy Efficiency Data Report provides a treasure trove of new data on the environmental benefits of undertaking building retrofits, such as replacing old boilers and installing energy efficient windows. Working with a database of several hundred retrofitted buildings in New York City, the report summarizes just how beneficial it can be to undertake energy efficiency upgrades.
The report shows that the average efficiency retrofit garnered energy savings of 19% on fuel bills and 10% on electricity bills. Though the study’s data shows a wide variability in the results of the units examined, with some showing much higher rates of savings and some lower, it does provide a strong argument for persuading landlords and building owners to retrofit their structures. As Susan Leeds, the chief executive of the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation explains, “We are trying to catalyze a new financing market to satisfy the growing demand for retrofits.”
Historically, a lack of data has made it more difficult for retrofitting projects to get funding, and this has slowed the spread of green technologies. There has been scepticism as to whether green technologies can lower operating costs sufficiently to make the retrofit investments worthwhile. But the information in the new database and the accompanying report will change that.
Gary Hettem, president of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, had this to say in a New York Times interview, “Retrofitting buildings is considered the low-hanging fruit in carbon reduction, but despite its simplicity, it is still not mainstream. The largest obstacle to making these practices go mainstream is data that will convince building owners to retrofit their properties and at the same time increase underwriters’ willingness to finance the projects.”
