This important course reviews the concepts of energy management, discusses why energy performance is important to building operators and quantifies the financial and environmental impact of energy management in commercial real estate. Attendees will also receive tips for operational adjustment and learn ways to use energy performance as a competitive advantage in your market.

Learning Objectives:

Understand how energy is generated and used in your building.  
Recognize the potential impact of energy efficiency on your building’s financial and environmental performance.  
Leverage BEEP resources to find, plan, and implement strategies to improve your energy performance.  
Demonstrate leadership and improve performance through information gained.  
Create an energy management plan.

Course 2 - Benchmark Your Building Using ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® | ENERGY STAR Buildings and Plants | ENERGY STAR, which explains what benchmarking is and how to benchmark using portfolio manager.

EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool helps you measure and track the energy use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions of your buildings, all in a secure online environment. You can use the results to identify under-performing buildings, set investment priorities, verify efficiency improvements, and receive EPA recognition for superior energy performance. ENERGY STAR offers monthly training on Portfolio Manager for both beginner and advanced users. For more information, visit: energystar.gov/buildings/training.

Once you understand the energy performance in commercial buildings and you've benchmarked your building, you can identify and plan upgrades to improve your building energy performance. This course presents basic information on conducting an energy audit, identifying opportunities for upgrades, and planning with financial decision makers to implement upgrades.

Learning Objectives:

Investigate and identify opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades.  
Evaluate costs and savings of potential upgrades.  
Prioritize improvements to maximize value.  
Plan and set goals for upgrades using an energy action plan.

According to the US EPA, as much as 30% of a building's energy consumption is wasted, and much of that waste can be avoided through cost-effective best practices for operations and maintenance. This course will describe opportunities commonly found in commercial office, industrial, and multifamily buildings and offers solutions you can implement immediately to reduce energy consumption and associated costs.

Learning Objectives:

Understand and identify common no and low cost operational opportunities to improve energy and financial performance.  
Sequence improvements to maximize value.  
Learn about available resources to help you identify no and low cost energy efficiency upgrades.  
Understand the components and value of a staged approach to energy management.

Attendees will examine the use of financial metrics and tools to calculate and sell sustainability projects to owners, asset managers and tenants by highlighting the positive financial and environmental impacts of improved performance. Learn how to put energy efficiency in the context of what's important to financial decision-makers.

Learning Objectives:

Define relevant financial metrics for energy efficiency improvements and explain how they are used for making business decisions.  
Present a business case for EE improvements to management/ownership.  
Understand a range of financing options to cover the cost of EE improvements.  
Gain information on performance contracting including the BOMA Energy Performance Contract (BEPC).  
Identify both financial and non-financial benefits.  
Use standard financial metrics to communicate costs and savings.  
Take advantage of standard reporting formats and tools.

This course focuses on how to create effective awareness and engagement programs to communicate sustainability accomplishments to key stakeholders. It will provide attendees with tips and examples to create target communications, campaigns, tools, and resources to engage brokers, investors, asset managers, and tenants in sustainability initiatives.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the rationale for awareness and engagement efforts.  
Profile key audiences and stakeholders.  
Learn principles and practices for communicating success in sustainability.  
Review commonly available tools and resources.  
View examples of high-impact awareness and engagement efforts.