According to the U.S. Department of Energy, commercial buildings account for 35 percent of U.S. (and 40 percent of global) electricity consumption. Most commercial real estate professionals accept that energy efficient buildings can, and do, impact the value of the underlying asset. Notwithstanding this recognition, existing commercial buildings on average spend 30 percent of their budgets on operating costs and account for close to 20 percent of all global carbon emissions.
While they understand the benefits, the challenge for most commercial real estate owners and operators is not whether to implement energy efficient retrofits, but rather how to pay for or finance such improvements.
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