Given Pending Building Emission Regulation NAA Highlights Government Incentives for Apartment Owners

April 23rd, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Green Apartment Living | 2 Comments »

In this month’s issue of units, (published by the NAA) the dominant theme was how green technology is going to shape the apartment industry. Coming up at the end of this month the NAA will host the first annual Green Conference and Exposition in Phoenix. You can register or find out more information at the NAA’s Green Communities site.

Covered in the latest issue, which are sure to be elaborated upon at the upcoming conference, were how apartment management companies can take advantage of government incentive programs to bring greater sustainability to their properties.

This latest issue is full of important information for apartment owners. For example, in the Political Insider section, the NAA/NMHC joint legislative program highlights the desire for lawmakers to enact climate change legislation designed to curb energy consumption.

Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Jeff Bingaman has stated that buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption and that cutting building emissions across the board would be a relatively inexpensive way to curb total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

In response to several witnesses at a March 9th hearing of that committee who contended that building codes should be lead to a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency, the NAA/NMHC submitted written testimony based on their Strategies and Costs to Exceed ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Requirements in a Multifamily Apartment Building report, which helped legislators appreciate the costs involved with regulations that would implement the reductions of either 15, 30 or 50 percent. Such blanket regulations on all buildings would affect some sectors and climates more than others.

However, since legislative propensity to act looms large and appears imminent, the NAA advises apartments to consider the benefits of preemptive greening efforts. The federal government just extended the deadline to 2013 for building owners to deduct costs from certain projects that reduce energy consumption. If owner revamps their interior lighting, building envelope and/or heating, cooling, ventilation or hot water systems to reduce energy consumption by 50 percent, they can deduct $.60 to $1.80 per square foot of the building on that year’s tax returns.

The NAA is aware that regulation is imminent and seeks to persuade apartment communities that they are going to have to make retrofits to bring their properties up to green code anyway and not taking advantage of current incentives could be a huge mistake.

This week, in recognition of Earth Day as well as the upcoming Green Conference, we’ll be focusing on these types of issues.