Michael Nark of the Atlanta energy management company Prenova believes that they can, and offers several suggestions on how to do so. Last February, President Obama launched the Better Buildings Challenge, with a goal of increasing energy efficiency in commercial buildings in the U.S. by 20% by the year 2020. While many dismiss initiatives like these as being unrealistically capital-intensive, Nark points out that there are several changes that can be made for relatively modest investments. Moreover, many of these upgrades offer building owners and tenants instant savings in energy and resource costs, i.e. a return on those investments. With energy accounting for a staggering 30% of a commercial building's operating costs, the incentive would certainly seem to be there to implement some of these changes, no matter one's politics. [Saporta Report]
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