A tool that educates consumers on energy efficiency

Moreover, it improves business profitability and makes owning or renting a home more affordable. It also enables other clean energy solutions by reducing overall energy demand. And building efficiency has a strong link to health. High-performance buildings not only use less energy, but also improve indoor and outdoor air quality, as well as shield people from temperature extremes to keep us comfortable and safe.

No matter what we ask, energy efficiency under-promises and over-delivers. And yet, even though our collective energy efficiency efforts in the U. With the growing adoption of smart energy efficiency policies and programs, alongside available state-of-the-art technology and new financing mechanisms, we can turn every leaky and wasteful building into one that is high-performing and improves our lives.

And the business case for bold action on building efficiency never has been stronger. A recent study found that high-performance buildings have 17 percent lower operating expenses and 28 percent higher net operating income per square foot compared to average buildings.

Energy-saving technologies are becoming less expensive and more profitable. For instance, the price of LED lights have dropped an impressive 90 percent since More companies than ever before are also reporting their carbon emissions publicly.

The result is more transparency and added pressure on the private sector to decrease emissions and compete with other market leaders or be seen as laggards. Investing in greater efficiency has proven to be a smart and cost-effective way for landlords and other businesses to meet growing expectations from their investors, tenant companies and customers.

To further accelerate growth in efficiency and reap its wide range of benefits, businesses, governments and utilities must work together on seven key efforts. Businesses are doing this by tracking energy use to individual tenants and pieces of equipment. Cities are doing this by passing energy benchmarking and building tune-up policies and launching programs that allow building owners, tenants and utilities to see in real time how their buildings use energy and how they compare to peers.

Much like miles-per-gallon stickers or nutrition labels, this data ignites a virtuous cycle of competition, which helps drive continuous improvements that lower operating expenses, air pollutants and carbon emissions.

We need to ensure all buildings are built and refurbished to high-performance levels. States and cities need to adopt strong building energy codes , and those codes need to be properly supported and enforced. We also need strong incentives and programs to encourage deep retrofits of existing buildings that will be in use for decades to come; these improvements lock in energy savings as well as health and environmental benefits for generations.

Many key energy efficiency technologies today were developed thanks to research supported by the U. Department of Energy. Learn about the Workforce Initiative. The NADA Foundation launched a new website featuring its new Workforce Initiative and other programs benefiting wounded veterans, disaster relief victims and others in need. Visit the new website. NADA Members enjoy a variety of benefits to help keep their dealerships humming.

NADA Retirement offers member-negotiated k plans with dealership-focused features. NADA Insurance assists dealers through its member-negotiated insurance programs. All content is navigable, shareable and archived. Read the blog. US nonprofit Renewable Nation is encouraging schools across the country to go solar through an awareness drive around renewable energy and energy efficiency choices.

According to a news release, almost every rooftop in the US has been mapped to assess its suitability for solar power generation. It also saves money and conceivably can free up resources in financially pinched school districts that might otherwise be forced to cut core programmes.

Solar Schools is part of the Renewable Nation app, which is available now on the Google Play store and on iTunes. Enlit Africa. Sign in. Forgot your password?