The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society: Energy performance

Better Buildings Challenge Partners comitt to decrease portfolio-wide source energy use intensity (EUI) and to increase the percent improvement compared to a set baseline. Since 2013, The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society has improved their portfolio-wide energy performance by an average of 2% each year, which is equivalent to a cumulative improvement of 16% against a 2010 baseline. Energy savings are being achieved by implementing energy saving standards for all new construction, in-house replacements, and major rehabs.  These include lighting retrofits, Energy Star rated appliances, low flow water works, and their intensive preventative maintenance plan for all locations. 

Multifamily property owners often face challenges in gathering whole building data for properties with large numbers of individual tenant-paid utility accounts. Through the Better Buildings Challenge, partners can demonstrate progress towards their savings goal by reporting two types of data: (1) whole-building energy use, including tenant-paid utilities, for at least 30 percent of their portfolio; and (2) owner-paid receipts (common areas only) for the remaining share of their portfolio. X's portfolio consists of 30 properties and more than 1 million square feet and approximately 1,300 housing units, with whole-building data (both tenant-paid and owner-paid receipts) available for 74% of their portfolio.

This graph breaks out the portfolio's energy performance for properties with whole building energy use vs those with owner-paid receipts.  The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society has achieved 1.6% savings in properties with whole-building data and 5.5% in properties with owner-paid receipts. 

Looking at the percent improvement in energy performance across all facilities can provide insight into how an organization is saving energy.  The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society has achieved energy performance improvement of greater than 15% at more than 11 of its properties. There are 9 properties that have experienced an increase in Source EUI.  These properties have been targeted for future energy efficiency improvements.

Property-level energy performance metrics, including EUI and percent improvement to date, are critical to track progress over time and identify opportunities for additional energy savings. The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society's portfolio consists of properties with  a wide range of baseline EUI values, most of which are from 50 to 150 kBtu/sq. ft. The majority of properties have shown energy improvement since 2010. The properties located near or below the 0% axis may present good opportunities for further savings.