Buildings account for around 40% of the world’s energy use. So for a real estate management company with a large, global portfolio of buildings, the focus of attention when it comes to energy reduction is outside its own operations.
To promote energy efficiency, CB Richard Ellis works closely with clients. “Our greatest opportunity is to influence people for whom we manage space or the corporations for whom we work,” says David Pogue, the company’s national director of sustainability for institutional and corporate services.
The challenge for CB Richard Ellis is that commercial building owners can be reluctant to spend, owing to capital constraints or the fact that tenants, not landlords, will be the ultimate beneficiaries in the form of lower utility bills.
However, Mr Pogue says much can be achieved through “low-cost-no-cost” programmes. “Every building’s performance can be improved by simple steps around the way the building is used and its hours of operation,” he says.
Here, the challenge is a human one. “This requires engagement with the building staff and the occupants,” he says. “And you need managers and engineers to do the right thing and to buy into what you’re doing; their willingness to participate determines success or failure.”
