by Shane Henson — October 8, 2012—Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit research and educational foundation focused on fostering efficient and sustainable use of resources, is working with AT&T to develop a real estate portfolio approach to improve energy efficiency in the company’s facilities as part of RMI’s 2012 Portfolio Energy RetroFit Challenge.
Launched by RMI earlier this year, the Portfolio RetroFit Challenge aims to demonstrate to building owners and operators that deep energy retrofits are both technically feasible and financially prudent, especially when applied at scale. It is also intended to be a model for companies to select efficiency improvements that support important corporate real estate goals, such as improving space utilization or improving occupant satisfaction and demand.
Beginning with a high-level, portfolio-wide analysis, the RMI and AT&T teams will determine how efficiency investments can make the greatest impact. This is important, considering the scope of AT&T’s real estate portfolio is extensive, with more than 65,000 facilities in more than 60 countries. The product of that analysis will be a long-term capital and construction schedule for deploying extensive retrofits and other bundles of efficiency measures across a portfolio at the right time, utilizing the right technologies, business processes and operational strategies, says RMI.
“The impact of this project goes far beyond these buildings, as the Portfolio RetroFit Challenge will ultimately result in a shared framework for other building portfolio owners based on observations and lessons learned,” said Elaine Gallagher Adams, RMI senior buildings consultant. “The content for that framework will include insight from RMI and AT&T as well as the remaining Portfolio RetroFit Challenge partners. This is different from anything else happening in the realm of building portfolio energy strategy.”
