Whether building owners want to save the planet or want to line their pockets... the outcome is the same. Saving energy means both saving money and reducing carbon emissions.
Stated obviously, there is a cost ($) associated for the electricity (kWh) and fuel (e.g., therm) a building consumes. Maybe less obvious is the difference between electric energy (kWh) and electric demand (kW), or say the impact of your Time-of-Use (TOU) rate structure, but that's an article for another day...
The point is that when a building consumes less energy by becoming more energy efficient, the result is a very real and quantifiable reduced operating cost (i.e. money saved), which overall contributes to an increased Net Operating Income (NOI).
But simultaneously for each unit of energy saved, the result is also avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are equally as real and equally as quantifiable. We'll take a quick dive into explaining what this means:
Scope 1 emissions are avoided emissions from reducing energy used locally on site; typically for reducing the use of combustion fuels such as natural gas, diesel, or propane. The U.S. Energy Information Administration published CO2 emissions based on fuel type:
Scope 2 emissions account for transmission losses between the electric power plant and your building, but beyond that, the fuels used to create the electricity are not all equal. In terms of GHG emissions from the most-to-least polluting: coal, natural gas, solar/wind/hydro/nuclear.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes CO2 emissions based on region, which is ultimately based on fuel type:
In the end whether you're motivated to save a lot of money or motivated to reduce your environmental impact, the process (and results) are the same.
Capital Efficiency can help show you how.