Housing is something that nearly everyone consumes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. So as energy prices rise and climate concerns grow, renters are increasingly seeking more sustainable housing options. And sustainable housing is much more than luxury amenities. It’s about cutting costs for both tenants and property managers alike, and increasing property values.
Of course, there are upfront costs to investing in sustainable housing technology, but those costs are more than offset by the cost-savings those technologies offer down the line. After all, as sustainable housing tech reduces energy and water consumption, ongoing utility costs go down, meaning an increasing return on that initial upfront investment over time.
For multifamily operators, this means an opportunity to increase the profitability of any multifamily property that they’re invested in simply by also investing in sustainable housing tech. Indeed, doing so not only reduces operating costs and increases revenues, but also supports occupancy goals by offering tenants the added value proposition of enjoying a more sustainable home lifestyle.
Energy Management
Energy costs are the most significant recurring costs for any residential property. After all, it’s not only a question of ‘keeping the lights on’, it’s also a question of keeping the property livable, and powering all the appliances and amenities that residents rely on throughout their daily lives.
Unsurprisingly, then, energy consumption is one of the most immediate areas in which multifamily operators can reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs. And they way multifamily operators are reducing those costs and that footprint is through smart technology and high-efficiency appliances.
Smart Thermostats
When the average consumer thinks about smart thermostats, they tend to think of consumer-grade thermostats, such as those offered by Nest and Ecobee. However, not all smart thermostats are created equal, and the consumer-grade smart thermostats are more appropriate for private homeowners or single-dwelling units.
Multifamily properties require commercial-grade smart thermostats that can manage multiple units and provide the insight they need to manage and optimize their operational costs.
Indeed, multifamily managers have energy consumption needs that are unique from other REITs or from single-dwelling units. Not only is heating often included as an amenity, but the property’s common areas experience varying degrees of traffic and thermodynamic fluctuation.
Commercial-grade smart thermostats integrate with occupancy sensors that monitor and automatically adjust to fluctuations in occupancy in both private units and common areas. The result is not only reduced energy costs, but a more seamless tenant experience.
Verdant energy management smart thermostats, for instance, offer unmatched compatibility with HVAC systems, including PTACs, Heat Pumps, FCU’s, Split units, and more advanced units like VRFs, VRVs, and VRPs. Regardless of your MDU’s HVAC system, then, Verdant’s smart thermostats are likely a good fit for your needs.
Smart HVAC Technology
Smart thermostats and occupancy sensors, however, only represent the hardware side of the smart HVAC equation. There are also energy management software solutions that multifamily operators can leverage to get the most out of their investment in smart HVAC hardware, and further drive down their energy consumption and costs.
The Verdant energy management system, for instance, uses sophisticated machine learning algorithms to track an array of HVAC variables, such as peak demand loads, historical thermodynamics, and local weather patterns, and continuously analyzes that data to optimize energy consumption throughout the year. The cost saving potential of smart energy management systems is so significant, in fact, that their adoption is already commonplace in the hotel industry, and has even been shown to increase the resale value of a commercial property.
Remote Energy Management
Managing HVAC system performance across multiple properties is challenging. Different HVAC systems, thermodynamics, and maintenance staff all contribute to inefficient system performance and higher energy costs.
Verdant’s Thermostat Manager provides a centralized solution that allows property managers to optimize energy costs across properties from a single platform, and instantly access a number of robust features:
- Real-time monitoring of HVAC performance across all units
- Bulk updates for streamlined configuration and energy policy enforcement
- Customizable energy profiles to match operational goals and occupancy patterns
- Remote settings management, including:
- Vacant mode activation
- Set temperature adjustments
- Full system shutdown
- Easy resident management to add/remove tenant access without any registration process
Indeed, Verdant’s remote access features provide a level of visibility into and control over energy costs without any extensive HVAC knowledge required.
Programmable Thermostat Settings
Commercial smart thermostats can be programmed according to peak occupancy times, and respond to real-time fluctuations in occupancy patterns.
Verdant’s EMS smart thermostats give property managers the ability to simultaneously manage multiple units at the same time, while tenants can easily adjust their smart thermostat settings in their private units according to their own preferences and daily patterns.
Occupancy Sensors
While smart thermostats can be pre-programmed around occupancy patterns, occupancy sensors actually allow them to respond to real-time fluctuations in occupancy. Verdant’s occupancy sensors monitor thermodynamic data such as humidity, temperature, and number of occupants to continuously optimize energy consumption based on real-time changes in tenant occupancy patterns.
Verdant’s occupancy sensors also integrate seamlessly with many third-party lighting systems. This means that when a space is unoccupied entirely, Verdant’s EMS will turn-off lights that would otherwise be wasting energy needlessly.
Night Occupancy Detection, Dynamic Recovery, and Flexible Setback
Verdant’s energy management solutions are also equipped with a range of dynamic value-added features that help automate energy savings.
- Night Occupancy Mode detects body motion and heat, ensuring unprecedented accuracy in determining actual occupancy and automatically adjusting heating and cooling settings accordingly.
- Dynamic Recovery ensures a seamless transition back to desired temperatures by preconditioning spaces before occupants return, maintaining comfort while conserving energy.
- Flexible Setback allows MDU operators to set custom temperatures based on energy goals and occupant preferences.
When paired with smart thermostats and occupancy sensors, these features are what sets Verdant’s EMS several steps above the competition.
Machine Learning Capabilities
Remote access features, programmable settings, and occupancy detection are not the only proactive energy management features offered by Verdant’s EMS smart thermostats. The data collected by occupancy sensors and thermostats is also transformed into actionable insights by our sophisticated machine learning algorithms.
These insights are used to continuously improve energy efficiency throughout the year in real time. In simpler terms, these energy management smart thermostats do not only reduce energy consumption, but provide property managers with automation tools to optimize their energy consumption in perpetuity.
Analytics Reporting
Of course, thermodynamic and occupancy data are not just limited to HVAC system automation. They are also valuable for providing property managers with in-depth reporting on all aspects of their property’s energy costs and energy consumption trends.
These energy management reports typically include personalized recommendations and energy-saving tips based on actual data and insights, rather than guesswork. This ultimately allows property managers to make strategic, data-driven decisions, lowering operational and overhead costs.
High Efficiency Water Heaters
The internal climate of units and common areas is not the only area in which multifamily operators need to regulate temperatures. Water heaters represent yet another significant energy expenditure. After all, from showers, to doing dishes, to running laundry appliances, heated water is an integral part of any multifamily resident experience.
By investing in high-efficiency water heater technology, multifamily operators can not only reduce their energy costs (should hot water be an amenity they provide tenants), but they can support occupancy goals by attracting tenants with the added-value promise that their property is one that is committed to more sustainable amenities.
Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)
Another HVAC hardware upgrade that property managers can invest in to reduce their energy costs is Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs). These reduce HVAC costs by transferring cold or warm air from outside a facility to the interior, further reducing HVAC runtimes, and ultimately reduce their energy consumption.
ASHPs also offer the added advantage that they can be used as energy efficient space heaters (or coolers) to help manage energy consumption in areas of a property that are thermodynamically problematic — e.g. common areas that are either more poorly insulated or particularly high-traffic.
Smart Lighting Systems
Of course, a big part of ‘keeping the lights on’ is, well, keeping a multifamily property lit for both tenant comfort and safety. And with that comes additional energy consumption and costs.
Fortunately, for multifamily operators, HVAC systems are not the only area in which smart energy tech can help reduce both operating costs and their carbon footprint. Specifically, smart lighting systems can help multifamily managers monitor and manage lighting energy consumption by adjusting to changes in tenant occupancy patterns in real time.
Similar to how smart HVAC systems leverage occupancy sensors and time-based schemes to reduce energy consumption, smart lighting technology can adjust lighting energy consumption according to a number of variables, such as occupancy and time of day. And, again, the result is a seamless, more comfortable experience for tenants. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that some smart lighting systems can be integrated with smart energy management systems, such as Verdant.
Verdant’s line of occupancy sensors, for instance, can interface with third party lighting systems to ensure that lighting adjusts to real-time occupancy patterns. This allows multifamily operators to monitor and optimize both lighting and HVAC energy consumption through a single interface, and reduce the carbon footprint of their multifamily property even further.
Energy Efficient Appliances
While HVAC and lighting are energy costs that multifamily operators can more directly control, there nonetheless remains areas of energy consumption that are more susceptible to tenant discretion. Specifically, appliance usage is something that operators cannot so closely control. After all, how much cooking or laundry a tenant undertakes is completely up to the discretion of the tenant (and their family).
This doesn’t, however, mean that multifamily operators can’t influence (and reduce) the amount of energy that is consumed by the appliances in units. By upgrading outdated appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washers, driers, and dishwashers with more modern, energy efficient counterparts, multifamily operators can further reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs.
Sustainable Water Management
Considering that water is one of the essential building blocks of life, it comes as no surprise that water utility costs are an inescapable overhead for both tenants and multifamily apartment managers alike. Water as an overhead costs, however, does not necessarily have to be a fixed one. Indeed, there are a number of sustainable water management practices that can help multifamily operators reduce the water consumption of their properties, bringing utility costs down for both themselves and their tenants.
Water Fixtures
High efficiency faucets and shower heads are one of the most immediate ways that multifamily operators can curb their property’s water consumption. Moreover, high efficiency water fixtures are relatively low-cost, and have a typical payback period of 24 months or less. So updating water fixtures throughout your units can not only offer tenants a more sustainable resident experience, but actually generate ROI in as little as two years.
Low Flow Toilets
Of all the water fixtures and appliances in any residential dwelling, toilets use more than any other. Furthermore, toilets installed before the year 2000 can use more than three times the amount of water as their modern counterparts. As the Santa Cruz Water Department explains:
Although toilets all look pretty much alike, the amount of water released by flushing varies widely from one toilet to another. Generally speaking, the older the toilet, the more water it uses. Toilets built before 1982 use 5 to 7 gallons per flush. Now, toilets are designed to flush using only 1.6 gallons of water.
It’s also worth noting that “Low-flush toilets include single-flush models and dual-flush toilets, which typically use 1.6 USgpf for the full flush and 1.28 US for a reduced flush.” So by installing modern toilets through their units, multifamily apartment managers can reduce toilet water consumption by over 65%.
Predictive Water Line Maintenance
Just as smart HVAC systems can alert maintenance staff when hardware isn’t performing within expected parameters, predictive maintenance technology can help multifamily operators detect wasteful water consumption patterns and, and address the issues before costs rise further and/or equipment failure reaches a critical level.
For instance, low flow toilets might be ideal for curbing water consumption, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not susceptible to wear and tear, and leaky toilets can cost as much as $840/year. Factor in any additional costs that are potentially incurred from the collateral water damage that follows that water leak, and maintenance costs can quickly inflate if that leak goes unnoticed. By installing smart water meters and monitoring water lines with IoT-enabled sensors, however, multifamily operators can detect and prevent water waste and avoid inflated maintenance costs.
Sustainable Infrastructure & Amenities
Beyond energy management and water management, there are a number of other technologies that multifamily operators can invest in to create a more sustainable property infrastructure, reduce operating costs, and improve resident experience. Of course, while the cost-benefit of these technologies vary from market-to-market (according to regional climate and consumer preferences), the costs of investing in them continues to fall overtime, making them a more sound investment for multifamily property owners.
Solar Energy Panels & Batteries
While energy management technology is excellent for reducing energy consumption and costs, it has its limitations. Specifically, as much as it allows multifamily managers to optimize their energy consumption, it offers them no control or influence over the cost of the energy they do consume.
This is why commercial properties both large and small are integrating solar power infrastructure into their infrastructure to improve energy management and reduce energy costs. Solar panels offer multifamily operators a two-fold opportunity: (1) to reduce their energy consumption from the mainstream grid, and (2) to sell back any excess production back into that grid through their utility provider’s Demand Response program.
So not only are multifamily operators able to save on their energy costs, but even create new revenue streams to help subsidize whatever energy consumption they incur the rest of the time.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Insofar as sustainability tech helps multifamily properties reduce costs and attract tenants, those same tenants invest in their own green technology, but require onsite infrastructure to support their investment. Specifically, hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) continue to grow in popularity in many cities, states, and regions, and the availability of onsite charging stations is a huge draw for the tenants who drive them.
A Sustainable Investment in a Sustainable Future
Investing in sustainable multifamily property management is more than an ethical one. It not only appeals to tenants and supports occupancy goals, but reduces operational costs as it reduces a property’s carbon footprint and water consumption.
Quite literally, it’s an investment in a greener future in more ways than one. By virtue of helping to combat climate change, it allows multifamily operators to realize new cost efficiencies, making both their business model and their service offering more sustainable.