Selected Research

This Advisory is presented in response to SRER Member-Client requests for guidance on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Water Disclosure information request, and its relevance to Real Estate (RE) executives. It describes the investment risks associated with water withdrawal and discharge, covers the key points of CDP Water for RE executives, and provides guidance on preparing for and responding to the information request.

This SRER Member-Client briefing discusses the relevance of 16 major, international product labeling schemes and provides targeted guidance to support executives in choosing appropriate labels for responsible procurement. Real estate (RE) executives and procurement teams are increasingly paying attention to the supply chain and the materials procurement process as critical components of their company’s sustainability strategy. To ensure that materials, equipment, and supplies are indeed environmentally responsible, they refer to third-party green product labels. This briefing focuses on labels referenced by the major green building certifications (LEED, BREEAM, etc.) to describe only those labels of greatest relevance to RE executives.

The SRER Member Briefing Regional Cost Variation of Eleven Top Energy Conservation Measures provides guidance on the selection and typical cost of high ROI energy conservation measures (ECMs), to assist Members in budgeting their energy efficiency programs. The Briefing provides an analysis of the average cost of eleven top ECMs across multiple markets in the US. Several of the measures have been prioritized over others because, while they reduce energy consumption and operating costs, they also improve indoor environmental quality, which positively impacts occupant health and productivity.

Per an SRER Member-Client request, this advisory provides an overview of the sustainability governance and management structures that leading utility companies have established.

To successfully implement sustainability initiatives, leading utility providers adjust their governance and management structures. They also articulate a vision for a sustainable real estate portfolio and develop a set comprehensive enterprise-level policies and goals. Responsibility for implementation is distributed through all levels of the organization. As the examples below show, leading companies have very different approaches to governance and management of sustainability initiatives. SR Inc. has surveyed five leading utility companies—SRER Member-Clients BC Hydro, National Grid, and PG&E as well as Duke Energy and Exelon Corporation—to determine current best practices and to illustrate the different approaches companies have used in sustainability governance and management.

The new SRER Member Briefing Setting Energy Reduction Targets provides executive guidance on how to set energy targets. It provides a description of a well-defined target, reviews published energy reduction and renewable energy targets from a wide range of companies, and offers a decision framework for both stretch and conservative targets.

This “2012 Earth Day Events” advisory is part of SR Inc’s year-round Sustainable Real Estate Roundtable (SRER) business service, which includes Member Executives responsible for making nearly one and a half billion square feet of real estate more sustainable.

April 22, 2012 will mark the 42nd annual Earth Day. Currently celebrated in 175 countries, Earth Day draws attention to challenges facing the planet and seeks to increase awareness about sustainability. Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. began operations on Earth Day 2008, and, to help Member-Clients prepare for this important day, SR, Inc. has prepared an update to its 2011 Earth Day advisory.

This Intelligent Building Systems (IBS) briefing is part of SR Inc’s year-round Sustainable Real Estate Roundtable (SRER) business service, which includes Member Executives responsible for making nearly one and a half billion square feet of real estate more sustainable. Building on SR Inc.’s research on Advanced Energy Management Systems (AEMS, 2010) and analysis of the market for IBS, this Briefing provides an overview of the growing trend toward intelligent building systems and an analysis of leading vendors in the market.

IBS are software solutions that layer on top of the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) and Building Automation System (BAS) to provide advanced analytics, predictive fault detection, and continuous commissioning to provide comprehensive insight into building performance and make recommendations for greater optimization.

Per an SRER Member-Client request, SR Inc. investigated how to evaluate vendor offerings and how to implement the best Intelligent Building Systems (IBS) for a portfolio. Leading, global companies such as Google, SAP, Duke Realty, and IBM are increasingly turning to intelligent building software solutions to benchmark building and portfolio performance, to implement low-cost solutions for operational efficiency, and to identify areas for value creation through astute capital investment.

SR Inc presents this management best practices research report to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Members in moving away from project-by-project sustainability efforts to develop and implement a portfolio-wide real estate sustainability strategy (PSS) or enhance their existing strategy. Leading real estate (RE) executives across both users and owners find that an organized commitment to corporate sustainability better aligns them with top management, investors, customers, talent, and regulators.
Executives find that sustainability is a better way to organize and motivate geographically dispersed, functionally divided staff than the traditional commitment to optimization that disregards environmental considerations beyond minimal compliance measures.

Leading real estate executives have recognized that individual sustainability initiatives, no matter how successful, are unlikely to be recognized at a Board level or at an investor level. Conversely, some real estate leaders have found that aggregating multiple successful sustainability initiatives and pairing sustainability initiatives that have an immediate payback with initiatives that have a longer-term pay-back period can create a sustainability strategy that helps better organize and animate the drive to highperformance
throughout a large real estate portfolio in a manner that gains Board as well as investor and top customer recognition and support.

The management best practice research and recommendations presented in this report are premised on numerous SR Inc Member-Client interviews with executives leading real estate portfolios, including both corporate users and owners, and are strictly vendor- and solution-neutral.

SR Inc presents this management best practices executive summary to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Members in moving away from project-by-project sustainability efforts to develop and implement a portfolio-wide real estate sustainability strategy (PSS) or enhance their existing strategy. Leading real estate (RE) executives across both users and owners find that an organized commitment to corporate sustainability better aligns them with top management, investors, customers, talent, and regulators.
Executives find that sustainability is a better way to organize and motivate geographically dispersed, functionally divided staff than the traditional commitment to optimization that disregards environmental considerations beyond minimal compliance measures.

Leading real estate executives have recognized that individual sustainability initiatives, no matter how successful, are unlikely to be recognized at a Board level or at an investor level. Conversely, some real estate leaders have found that aggregating multiple successful sustainability initiatives and pairing sustainability initiatives that have an immediate payback with initiatives that have a longer-term pay-back period can create a sustainability strategy that helps better organize and animate the drive to highperformance
throughout a large real estate portfolio in a manner that gains Board as well as investor and top customer recognition and support.

The management best practice research and recommendations presented in this report are premised on numerous SR Inc Member-Client interviews with executives leading real estate portfolios, including both corporate users and owners, and are strictly vendor- and solution-neutral.

This management best practices presentation was prepared by SR Inc to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Members in moving away from project-by-project sustainability efforts to develop and implement a portfolio-wide real estate sustainability strategy (PSS) or enhance their existing strategy.  Leading real estate (RE) executives across both users and owners find that an organized commitment to corporate sustainability better aligns them with top management, investors, customers, talent, and regulators.

Executives find that sustainability is a better way to organize and motivate geographically dispersed, functionally divided staff than the traditional commitment to optimization that disregards environmental considerations beyond minimal compliance measures.  Leading real estate executives have recognized that individual sustainability initiatives, no matter how successful, are unlikely to be recognized at a Board level or at an investor level. Conversely, some real estate leaders have found that aggregating multiple successful sustainability initiatives and pairing sustainability initiatives that have an immediate payback with initiatives that have a longer-term pay-back period can create a sustainability strategy that helps better organize and animate the drive to high performance throughout a large real estate portfolio in a manner that gains Board as well as investor and top customer recognition and support.

This management best-practices research report was prepared to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in benchmarking real estate portfolio performance in energy efficiency and space utilization. The report explores how real estate (RE) executives are using benchmarking to reduce total cost of occupancy (TCO), direct capital and resource allocation, and achieve greater sustainability in corporate real estate. As the familiar adage states, “what gets measured, gets managed.”

Over the lifetime of a building, operational costs can total up to four times the initial construction costs. Improved energy performance and efficient space utilization across a portfolio thus have a direct impact on enterprise value creation. By identifying and measuring the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), companies collect the necessary information to benchmark their portfolio  performance internally and against others in the commercial RE sector, using a growing range of free and paid benchmarking services, surveys, and data sets. Leading real estate executives are using benchmarking to reduce TCO, to meet regulatory requirements,
and to follow responsible property investment (RPI) practices. Leaders leverage their investments to reduce environmental impacts and improve enterprise human resource outcomes. In an increasingly competitive and regulated operating environment, “triple bottom line” savings and value creation have become critical to defining sector leadership.

 This management best-practices research Executive Summary is presented to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in benchmarking real estate portfolio performance in energy efficiency and space utilization. The report explores how real estate (RE) executives are using benchmarking to reduce total cost of occupancy (TCO), direct capital and resource allocation, and achieve greater sustainability in corporate real estate. As the familiar adage states, “what gets measured, gets managed.”

Over the lifetime of a building, operational costs can total up to four times the initial construction costs. Improved energy performance and efficient space utilization across a portfolio thus have a direct impact on enterprise value creation. By identifying and measuring the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), companies collect the necessary information to benchmark their portfolio  performance internally and against others in the commercial RE sector, using a growing range of free and paid benchmarking services, surveys, and data sets. Leading real estate executives are using benchmarking to reduce TCO, to meet regulatory requirements,
and to follow responsible property investment (RPI) practices. Leaders leverage their investments to reduce environmental impacts and improve enterprise human resource outcomes. In an increasingly competitive and regulated operating environment, “triple bottom line” savings and value creation have become critical to defining sector leadership.

The increasingly large and diverse footprints of companies intensify the challenge of benchmarking to manage performance in a way that is scalable. This challenge has immediate and particular relevance for corporate RE owners, investor-advisors, and corporate users, most of whom SR Inc interviews reveal to be exploring portfolio-wide benchmarking strategies.

This management best-practices research Presentation was presented at the Summit on Sustainable Real Estate III to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in benchmarking real estate portfolio performance in energy efficiency and space utilization. The report explores how real estate (RE) executives are using benchmarking to reduce total cost of occupancy (TCO), direct capital and resource allocation, and achieve greater sustainability in corporate real estate. As the familiar adage states, “what gets measured, gets managed.”

Over the lifetime of a building, operational costs can total up to four times the initial construction costs. Improved energy performance and efficient space utilization across a portfolio thus have a direct impact on enterprise value creation. By identifying and measuring the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), companies collect the necessary information to benchmark their portfolio  performance internally and against others in the commercial RE sector, using a growing range of free and paid benchmarking services, surveys, and data sets. Leading real estate executives are using benchmarking to reduce TCO, to meet regulatory requirements,
and to follow responsible property investment (RPI) practices. Leaders leverage their investments to reduce environmental impacts and improve enterprise human resource outcomes. In an increasingly competitive and regulated operating environment, “triple bottom line” savings and value creation have become critical to defining sector leadership.

The increasingly large and diverse footprints of companies intensify the challenge of benchmarking to manage performance in a way that is scalable. This challenge has immediate and particular relevance for corporate RE owners, investor-advisors, and corporate users, most of whom SR Inc interviews reveal to be exploring portfolio-wide benchmarking strategies.

SR Inc is pleased to provide world-leading enterprises with Advisory Services on developing and implementing a more Sustainable Leasing Strategy.

This Advisory Service must compliment, not replace, the absolutely necessary advice of leasing counsel and expert real estate (RE) advisors experienced in more sustainable leased space. SR Inc specifically advises enterprises interested in more sustainable leased space to engage leasing counsel and expert RE advisors experienced in more sustainable leased space before acting on any SR Inc guidance and tools and before engaging current or future landlords or tenants regarding this subject.

SR Inc’s Sustainable Leasing Strategy presentation, executive summary, guidance and tools are designed to assist tenants and landlords in negotiating a successful sustainable lease that accommodates sustainability goals within commercial buildings. A sustainable lease is the result of a comprehensive negotiation process in which sustainability practices are deliberately embedded into each phase of the leasing cycle: site selection, requests for proposal (RFPs), letter of intent (LOI), and the lease itself. Each document provides guidance and tools for integrating sustainability into one phase of the commercial lease life cycle: site selection, RFP, LOI and, and the lease itself. These documents recommend speci!c topics to negotiate at each phase of the leasing cycle. The documents provide speci!c recommendations
and samples for each component of the lease life cycle.

SR Inc is pleased to provide world-leading enterprises with Advisory Services on developing and implementing a more Sustainable Leasing Strategy.

This Advisory Service must compliment, not replace, the absolutely necessary advice of leasing counsel and expert real estate (RE) advisors experienced in more sustainable leased space. SR Inc specifically advises enterprises interested in more sustainable leased space to engage leasing counsel and expert RE advisors experienced in more sustainable leased space before acting on any SR Inc guidance and tools and before engaging current or future landlords or tenants regarding this subject.

SR Inc’s Sustainable Leasing Strategy presentation, executive summary, guidance and tools are designed to assist tenants and landlords in negotiating a successful sustainable lease that accommodates sustainability goals within commercial buildings. A sustainable lease is the result of a comprehensive negotiation process in which sustainability practices are deliberately embedded into each phase of the leasing cycle: site selection, requests for proposal (RFPs), letter of intent (LOI), and the lease itself. Each document provides guidance and tools for integrating sustainability into one phase of the commercial lease life cycle: site selection, RFP, LOI and, and the lease itself. These documents recommend speci!c topics to negotiate at each phase of the leasing cycle. The documents provide speci!c recommendations
and samples for each component of the lease life cycle.

This Integrated Alternative Workplace Strategies (AWS) management best practices research report investigates how leading companies are innovating beyond traditional workspace. They are doing so in response to enabling technology, globally distributed teams, shifting demographics, the collaborative demands of increasing knowledge work, and the rise of corporate sustainability as an organizing principle of business leadership. The report includes SRER Member-Client case studies (Cisco, Oracle, GSA) as well as other industry best practice cases (American Express, AT&T, Microsoft, Nortel).

This management best practices presentation was written by SR Inc to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in developing and implementing various AWS solutions to enable greater real estate (RE) and operational efficiencies and reduce enterprise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while managing top talent, improving human capital outputs, and consequently, enhancing the profit chain.

Leading companies are innovating beyond traditional workspace. They are doing so in response to enabling technology, globally distributed teams, shifting demographics, the collaborative demands of increasing knowledge work, and the rise of corporate sustainability as an organizing principle of business leadership. External and internal factors make the move to mobility – and the associated more efficient, distributed, resilient corporate RE footprint – an important business decision to ensure companies remain competitive. Customer, employee, and investor interest in greater sustainability is becoming a prime influence on how this move to mobility is made, how it is understood, and how it is messaged internally and externally.

The management best practice research and recommendations presented here are premised on dozens of SR Inc Member-Client interviews in CY2010 and CY2011 with executives leading corporate RE portfolios as well as with major national and global RE owners. SR Inc research into management best practices is on-going and will be updat

SR Inc presents this management best practices research report to address the expressed interest of SRER Member-Clients in implementing portfolio-wide energy efficiency (EE) upgrade projects to reduce operating and maintenance costs and decrease CO2e emissions while enhancing brand value.

While there are multiple barriers to EE financing, real estate (RE) RE leaders are formulating comprehensive strategies to overcome these and fund projects that create sustainable value. Leading companies are also capturing the full benefits of EE by moving beyond limited, low cost EE upgrades to look for deep energy savings throughout their portfolios. Additionally, industry leaders are ensuring that completed projects are monitored and evaluated, which increases C-suite buy-in and the availability of financial and other resources for EE. To finance these projects, leading RE executives are forgoing simple payback metrics to deploy a suite of financing strategies and mechanisms, including life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, incentive capture, and outsourced financing solutions. The adoption of innovative EE financing strategies is expected to play a transformative role in the U.S. commercial real estate sector by unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars in potential savings for owners and corporate users alike.

SR Inc presents this management best practices research report on Financing Portfolio-Wide Energy Efficiency Upgrades to address the expressed interest of SRER Member-Clients in implementing portfolio-wide energy efficiency (EE) upgrade projects to reduce operating and maintenance costs and decrease CO2e emissions while enhancing brand value. While there are multiple barriers to EE financing, real estate (RE) leaders are formulating comprehensive strategies to overcome these and fund projects that create sustainable value. Leading companies are also capturing the full benefits of EE by moving beyond limited, low cost EE upgrades to look for deep energy savings throughout their portfolios

The Water Efficiency: Reducing Costs and Use Portfolio-wide report is part of SRI’s year-round Sustainable Real Estate Roundtable (SRER) business service, which includes Member Executives responsible for making more than one billion square feet of real estate more sustainable. SRI presents this management best practice research report to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in developing and implementing various water efficiency solutions to increase real estate (RE) portfolio and operational efficiencies and reduce enterprise water and energy consumption costs.

Leading companies are innovating beyond traditional water-use practices. They are doing so in response to enabling technologies, trends in prices and scarcity, and market drivers. Dramatic reductions in potable water use through conservation, efficient systems, greywater recycling, and stormwater diversion are now possible and cost-effective on a compelling scale. Tenants, owners, investor-advisors, and governmental agencies are partnering to improve water efficiency across all major industries.

This Briefing answers the Question – What frameworks and tools are available to help companies measure their water footprints? 

A corporate water footprint is a set of parameters that together provide a detailed measurement of a company’s water consumption and release in space and time. The practice of calculating a water footprint is known as footprinting. Footprints most frequently include both direct water use (water used by the company to operate), and virtual water use (water used in the supply chain to produce equipment, fuel or other materials used by the company to operate). There are three main categories of water tracked in most water footprints:
*   Bluewater – freshwater used in operations
*   Greenwater – rainwater captured and reused
*   Greywater – quantity of water required to dilute pollution content of wastewater to local standards.

As requested by SRER Member-Clients, this Briefing discusses six major water footprinting evaluation frameworks and related tools:
1)  Global Water Tool (World Business Council for Sustainable Development)
2)  Water Planner (Global Environmental Management Initiative),
3)  Water Footprint (Water Footprint Network),
4)   Portfolio Manager (ENERGY STAR),
5)   Life Cycle Assessment (using software such as SimaPro and GaBi), and
6)   Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting (software such as Hara and Carbon Impact).

SR Inc presents this management best practices Executive Summary to address the expressed and growing interest of SRER Member-Clients in better management of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as part of their portfolio-wide sustainability strategy.

While many leading executives are working to improve the overall indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of the buildings in their portfolios, this Executive Summary focuses specifically on IAQ improvements, and provides information on recent developments, emerging issues, mandates, voluntary requirements, best practices, and recommendations for IAQ management best practices.

In the development of the research and recommendations presented in this briefing, SR Inc has relied on findings from leading companies as well as partnership with SRER Member-Client National Institutes of Health (NIH), which recently established the interdisciplinary Health in Buildings Roundtable (HiBR) that seeks innovative solutions to promote human health in the built environment based on scientific research and to establish metrics to measure the impact of the built environment on human health. SR Inc research into management best practices is on-going and will be updated regularly. SR Inc’s recommendations are strictly vendor and solution neutral

This Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting (EECA) report investigates how leading companies with large domestic and international real estate portfolios and who are experiencing ever growing pressure to track, manage, and report on their energy use and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions efficiently and accurately are deploying  various EECA solutions. The report includes Member-Client case studies (Adobe, Autodesk, Intuit) as well as a number of secondary case studies from both the public and private sector.

ISO 50001 gives organizations the requirements for energy management systems (EnMS), and establishes a framework for industrial plants; commercial, institutional, and governmental facilities; and entire organizations to manage energy.