LED and induction lights are the longest lasting and best light for the dollar. It stands to reason that they are the two most common retrofit choices for multifamily applications where it’s inconvenient to change bulbs. So now which?

Getting their start from Nikola Tesla in the 1890s, induction lamps are basically fluorescent lights without […]

Budget season is here. Perhaps yours is already done. If so, count your lucky stars. If not, here’s a quick primer on rate increases, a weather outlook for the coming winter, and an outlook on natural gas and electricity prices. Oh yes, and don’t forget the impact of weather on budget variances.

With regard to […]

There is an inherent connection between energy and water use and the need for co-management of energy planning. Most of the energy we use requires copious amounts of water to produce, and most of the water we use requires a considerable amount of energy to treat and transport.

Despite this inherent connection, it’s actually uncommon […]

As utility costs continue to rise—driven largely by water and sewer—owners and managers scramble for alternatives to lower the net utility costs for their portfolios.

The focus has shifted from increasing the pass-through portion charged to the residents to, now, eyeing underlying costs. Resident charge-backs are quickly approaching their maximum limit, either legally or due […]

Texas is in its fifth year of near-record drought; only the dry spell of 1950-57 was worse. While such weather cycles are typical for Texas, the optics on fracking may be magnifying an already unwieldy management of the state’s fresh water.

Truth be told, the Texas State Water Board reports that water use by […]

California Governor Jerry Brown signed more than a dozen bills aimed at improving access to water in the state, where drought is common and tension is high over the competing needs of residents, agriculture and the environment.

The new laws attempt to address some of the most immediate concerns, including the difficulty faced by small […]

Submeters have finally become the smart meters of the multifamily industry.

For the past 15 to 20 years, the use of submeters has steadily grown in the multifamily industry—whether due to regulatory requirements or owner preference—to ultimately facilitate utility cost recovery programs. This has allowed owners to lessen their utility expense while also motivating residents […]

With so much focus on carbon emitted from the nation’s power plants, another environmental challenge related to electricity generation is sometimes overlooked: the enormous amount of water needed to cool the power-producing equipment.

In the U.S. almost all electric power plants, 90 percent, are thermoelectric plants, which essentially create steam to generate electricity. To cool […]

How much water does one person flush down the toilet each year? If your toilet was installed in 2001 or later, it’s likely to be 1.6 gallons per flush.

That means (best case is 5 flushes per day) we use 8 gallons per day to cast off our waste. Annually, one person uses 2,920 gallons […]

It’s not hard to find examples where an emphasis on short-term performance culminated in short-sighted complacency. It’s the intersection where the herd follows the beaten path and champions score atop the vacated field with brazen ingenuity.

Within just the last decade, Alan Greenspan’s warnings of a looming energy crisis came with a recommendation before Congress […]