David A. Smith: Looking for energy savings under the street lamp

By Caitlin Jones
September 27, 2011 0 min read

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Tax Credit Advisor, September 2011:

The drunk kept stumbling around the street lamp, intently muttering at the cobblestones. “Are you looking for something?” asked the traveler. “My wallet.” The drunk clutched at the pillar for support.”Where did you lose it?” The drunk pointed into the darkness. “Over there.” “Then,” said the traveler cautiously, “Why not look over there?” The drunk drew himself up to his full height. “The light’s better here.”

Imagine that we are all drunks, circling our own street lamps. That will tell you the state of energy performance data and energy conservation decision-making today. As Recap Real Estate Advisors reports in a new white paper, Multifamily Utility Usage Data: Issues and Opportunities, owners and operators of affordable housing make energy conservation decisions based on the data that we have, which is not the data that we or others need.

Commissioned by Living Cities, an innovative philanthropic combination of 22 of the world’s largest financial institutions, this 65-page paper is a must-read documenting the haphazard nature of utility data collection in the multifamily housing industry. And a sorry state it is, given the opportunity and urgency. Read More…