Working Together for Sustainability

The RMI-BOMA guide outlines five actionable steps to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings: increasing transparency of energy costs, engaging occupants to reduce plug loads, integrating sustainability into tenant fit-outs, planning for deep energy retrofits, and utilizing green leases to realign financial incentives between owners and tenants.

• The 'split incentive' is a primary barrier to energy efficiency in commercial real estate because net and modified gross leases typically require owners to pay for capital upgrades while tenants receive the benefit of lower operating expenses.
• Energy transparency can be achieved through benchmarking tools like EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, which allows owners to track performance and communicate results to tenants via 'building scorecards' to build trust and cooperation.
• Occupant behavior significantly impacts energy use, particularly regarding 'plug and process loads'—equipment plugged into electrical outlets—which typically account for 30-35 percent of total electricity used in US commercial buildings.
• Tenant fit-outs offer opportunities for sustainability if efficiency goals are established early via a 'green letter of intent' (LOI) before negotiating the lease and improvement allowance.
• Deep energy retrofits involve whole-building analysis and construction that can achieve energy cost savings of over 50 percent, reducing the risk of building obsolescence as tenants increasingly demand high-efficiency spaces.
• Green leases realign the costs and benefits of energy improvements by codifying sustainable operation goals and ensuring that the entity responsible for capital expenses also receives the benefit of the savings.

APA

RMI (2012). Working Together for Sustainability. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-05_GuideForLandlordsTenants.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Working Together for Sustainability. 2012. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-05_GuideForLandlordsTenants.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Working Together for Sustainability |date=June 2012 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-05_GuideForLandlordsTenants.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2012working, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Working Together for Sustainability}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2012}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-05_GuideForLandlordsTenants.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }