Leasing & Tenant Build-out
Leasing & Tenant Build-out
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A significant portion of the energy used in a multi-tenanted building is controlled by the tenants. Managing energy consumption is often a balance between tenants and owners. The split incentive -- where energy efficiency project costs and benefits do not accrue to the same party – can prevent significant investment in improved energy performance. As a contractual agreement, leases serve as powerful mechanisms to assist owners and tenants to control operating expenses and achieve mutually beneficial goals. Leading organizations are utilizing green leasing clauses, developing build-out specifications, and providing design options that will reduce the total cost of occupancy over the life of the lease. |
Financial Allies are actively seeking new partners to work with and can help drive energy efficiency success for commercial, multifamily, industrial, and public buildings.
Team up with DOE’s exceptional network of staff and technical experts to determine energy savings goals, develop innovative cost effective energy solutions, and deploy efficient technologies and market practices.
The resources on this page are part of Better Buildings' Market Solutions efforts, through which DOE coordinates with industry leaders to overcome non-technical barriers to energy efficiency. To explore other Market Solutions resources, click the link below.
Featured Solutions
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LBA Realty Leverages Sustainability-as-a-Service Program to Engage Tenants Solutions at a Glance LBA Realty developed a Sustainability-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering for its tenants to help lower their operating costs and improve building health, all while providing building performance data to LBA.
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This resource provides an overview of TEOP and Green Lease Leaders, highlighting how the two programs can work together to offer a robust roadmap for landlord-tenant energy efficiency achievements. |
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Performance-based leases introduce provisions intended to promote deep energy retrofits and other energy efficiency measures by balancing costs and benefits between landlords and tenants. This document provides a high-level look at key provisions in IMT’s model performance-based lease template, and is part of a performance-based leasing toolkit. |
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This model performance-based lease template seeks to balance the cost and benefits between landlords and tenants to pursue deep energy retrofits in commercial buildings. It is part of a performance-based leasing toolkit, the whole of which can be accessed at imt.org/performance-based leasing. |
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This webinar covered specific smart leasing strategies that can help buildings drive down energy use and emissions to comply with state and local building policy. |
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This course explains how once-niche green concepts are evolving into high-performance standards across office, retail, and industrial segments, and how leading property owners incorporate energy efficiency and broader sustainability elements into their operational and investment decisions. |
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The Tower Companies Leverages Green Leases to Reduce Energy and Water Use Implementation Model The Tower Companies updated its standard lease agreements to include a green appendix that 100% of new and renewed tenants accepted, supporting efforts to reduce energy and water use across its commercial portfolio.
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Building owners can use these best practices, developed in conjunction with an industry advisory group, to implement green leasing language throughout their portfolio. They offer guidance on establishing goals, tracking progress, and engaging with brokers and tenants. |
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The tenant improvement period offers a great opportunity to build energy efficiency into a tenant space. This fact sheet for large office leases provides guidance on how your property teams, leasing agents, and brokers can communicate the value of considering energy efficiency during tenant improvements. |
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This fact sheet for small office leases provides guidance on how property teams, leasing agents, and brokers can communicate the value of considering energy efficiency during tenant improvements to reduce occupancy costs and ensure a healthy environment for employees. |
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Green Lease Library Online Library/Resource The Green Lease Library is a centralized site for commercial green leasing resources. The Green Lease Leaders recognition program was created with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and other Green Lease Library and contributing organizations. For more information on the program, visit www.greenleaseleaders.com.
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Hear from multifamily organizations about their experiences leveraging green leases to engage commercial tenants in their energy efficiency goals. You will learn about resources from DOE’s Green Lease Leaders program and the Urban Land Institute that can help your company pursue high-performance status for your multifamily properties. |
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Lawrence Berkeley National Lab created an integrated systems package (ISP) for achieving deeper energy savings during tenant fit-out in existing commercial buildings. The ISP includes a checklist, specifications, and procedures for LED lighting and dimming controls, HVAC controls, plug load controls, and energy monitoring. |
Other Resources
Additional Information
Successes in Sustainability: Landlords and Tenants Team Up to Improve Energy Efficiency
An ENERGY STAR report featuring case studies of successful commercial real estate owners, managers, and tenants who are working together to achieve maximum energy performance in their buildings.
National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) Energy Efficiency Lease Guidance
A guide that discusses negotiating commercial leases that enable resource efficiency and addresses the major barrier to more efficient buildings in a way that makes energy efficiency a shared objective between landlord and tenant.
Working Toward Net Zero: Best Practices and Examples to Engage Tenants in Sustainability
This webinar from the Urban Land Institute featured an upcoming collection of primers that share how to drive sustainability through tenant engagement will dive into best practices and examples of how property owners are aligning their sustainability goals and their tenant engagement strategies.