Managing the power.

Often high on the list of challenges faced by real estate managers is finding ways to cut energy consumption of the properties they manage. A Practical Guide to Energy Management: Enhancing the Bottom Line outlines practical steps that can be taken to address this challenge and make a positive impact on property performance.

The report is the fifth in a series of IREM Key Reports, which provide in-depth analyses of major issues impacting the management industry. Important considerations discussed in this latest publication include:

Creating and implementing an action plan to improve energy performance;

Purchasing energy economically--working with utilities, seeking special rates, aggregating power purchases;

Reviewing utility bills and learning to understand them;

Encouraging changes in occupant behavior.

The report also recommends that real estate managers be fair to their tenants in regard to pass-through charges, discussing the advantages of submetering. Because energy management should be a team effort, it outlines ways to mobilize a team and individual team members.

The report was prepared by John M. Klein, Sharon L. Levin and Deborah Cloutier. Klein is the principal of JDM Associates, LLC, a service-connected disabled veteran-owned company. He also is president of Environmental Consulting Services Corporation, a firm that provides consulting services in real estate, energy management, market research, financing, and construction.

Levin, a senior consultant for Environmental Consulting Services Corporation, has provided consulting services on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the past five years.

Cloutier is the co-founder and principal of Real Estate Technologies Group. For the past 12 years, she has provided consulting services on behalf of the EPA and currently works with owners, managers and advisors of more than four billion s/f of investment-grade real estate.

A Practical Guide to Energy Management: Enhancing the Bottom Line is priced at $39.95 for IREM members and $49.95 for non-members. To order, contact the IREM customer service department at 430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 or call 800-837-0706, ext. 4650.