About the Pilot

Making energy-efficiency upgrades within a multifamily property is often met with resistance from property owners and managers due to costs, hesitation around new technologies and reluctance to disrupt tenants. Most multifamily properties have tackled the easier and more cost-effective upgrades, leaving few opportunities not requiring a significant investment. The Multifamily Strategic Energy Management (SEM) pilot sought to apply the strategic energy management approach, which has proven successful with other businesses, to multifamily properties to gauge if it can be effective in uncovering no and low-cost energy-saving opportunities.

Project Timeline: January 2022 – December 2023
Customer Segment: Residential

Pilot Objectives:

• Determine what modifications, if any, are needed to a traditional Strategic Energy Management approach to make it effective for multifamily properties.
• Gauge what energy-saving opportunities are identified through the SEM process.
• Determine if SEM can generate savings within multifamily properties.

Key Outcomes:

Focus on Energy (Focus) partnered with Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) to deliver the pilot. Together, buildings were identified and invited to participate in SEM. As part of their participation, properties were asked to pledge a year-long commitment towards building energy efficiency practices and culture. They were also asked to develop an energy team consisting of an executive sponsor and energy champion.

Once enrolled, properties were provided an energy scan, participated in operations and maintenance workshops, and received a predictive energy model. Resident engagement was also an element of the process and included monthly energy savings tips, resident events, and giveaways. At the end of the process, any energy savings resulting from SEM participation were eligible for a financial incentive. Financial incentives for SEM savings was offered at a lower rate than traditional custom incentive levels.

The Multifamily Strategic Energy Management (SEM) pilot enrolled 21 buildings and was able to capture savings within 14. The pilot saved an estimated 2.7M LC kWh and 284,000 LC therms, roughly 35% of the pilot’s goal. Further findings about the pilot can be found in the CY2023 Evaluation Report.

Lessons Learned:

• Customer Buy-in: Motivations beyond savings and incentives, such as increased equipment lifespan, reduced operating costs, less turnover, and increased safety, are required to stimulate project pursuits. It was found customers who completed projects at one building because of SEM, were more likely to complete similar energy improvements at other buildings without prompting.
  

• Staff Turnover: Changes in maintenance staff, facility department leadership, and energy champions resulted in remaining team members needing to fill the void of responsibilities which ultimately hampered a property’s progress in SEM. Turnover affected the property’s ability to provide historical knowledge and technical expertise which in turn impacted the team’s ability to identify energy savings and complete projects.

• Tenant Engagement: Properties who partnered with their local utilities in delivering their education events saw greater tenant engagement and quantifiable energy savings. Tailoring engagement efforts to include varying formats and activities as well as using messaging relatable to tenants was most effective.

• Customer Data: The ability to build accurate models was dependent upon the accessibility to utility data and the quality of the data collected while on site. Data limitations early on proved to create further challenges once the pilot was looking to quantify energy savings delivered.

• Energy Savings: Without a consistent review and analysis of energy models, using a predictive energy performance model is not useful as it was difficult to assign project attribution to inflection points. Using engineering calculations rather than an energy model could have resulted in capturing more energy-savings. Buildings with more commercial meter usage, from common areas, retail, restaurants, and other uses tended to have higher measurable energy savings. Smaller properties or those with minimal common areas were limited in what could be achieved in terms of savings incentives.

Recommendations and Next Steps

Given the high level of support and limited savings uncovered from this pilot, it was opted to not be continued. Lessons learned from the pilot will be incorporated into the existing Multifamily program offering and an SEM offering may be re-evaluated in the future depending on changing market needs.

Questions?

Please contact the Future Focus team with questions at futurefocus@focusonenergy.com.