Stamford-based Ashforth Co. reportedly has become the first real-estate company based in Connecticut to adopt an energy-reduction program promulgated by BOMA International, an association of building owners and managers.
Since Washington, D.C.-based BOMA International launched an energy challenge to members last summer, Ashforth and 25 other companies have promised to reduce energy use in commercial buildings they run by 30 percent within a four-year period.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has expressed a statewide goal of a 20-percent reduction by 2020. In a sign of the times, the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council last week announced it would triple its headquarters space in Washington, D.C.
The formal BOMA International energy reduction plan includes:
Ӣ performing an energy audit.
Ӣ comparing energy and water use against federal Energy Star benchmarks.
Ӣ providing options for tenants exploring their environmental alternatives.
Ӣ training operations personnel on equipment use and maintenance.
Ӣ positively impacting the community on environmental issues.
Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis, the two largest commercial real-estate brokers in Fairfield County, also have pledged to abide by the BOMA International standards.
Ashforth owns or manages 3.2 million square feet of commercial office space in Fairfield County and neighboring Westchester County, N.Y., and 10 million square feet nationwide. The company owns its headquarters buildings at 707 Summer St. in Stamford, as well as Stamford Square. It also manages the 385,000-square-foot Nyala Farms Corporate Center in Westport.
Last year Ashforth began buying renewable energy sufficient to furnish 20 percent of the energy needs of Greenwich Plaza, a 315,000-square-foot office complex it owns. By installing a new chiller at Greenwich Plaza, Ashforth said it is saving $40,000 annually.
The company has hit a similar milestone at properties it owns in San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, Ore.
Ashforth is also a member of the New England Renewable Energy Purchase Program, which allows energy buyers to aggregate their purchasing power to obtain the best terms and services from renewable energy vendors. In March, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association held a building energy conference in Boston.
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