ENERGY STAR Tenant Space Certification
On June 8, 2023, BOMA Georgia became the first nonprofit association in the United States to be awarded ENERGY STAR® Tenant Space™ certification by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To achieve this recognition, BOMA Georgia met EPA’s office energy design criteria; implemented measures to effectively track and reduce energy consumption; and adopted an environmentally sustainable office equipment and materials procurement policy.
BOMA Georgia earned the EPA recognition for its office located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, in Palisades, a LEED Gold, ENERGY STAR certified mixed-use development managed by Atlanta Property Group.
“BOMA Georgia has been an environmental sustainability leader for decades, and we are honored to have our leadership recognized by EPA as the first nonprofit association to achieve ENERGY STAR Tenant Space certification,” said Gabriel Eckert, FASAE, CAE, of BOMA Georgia. “We will leverage this recognition to create new opportunities for BOMA Georgia members and other real estate professionals to learn more about the ENERGY STAR Tenant Space program and provide resources for building owners and managers to collaborate with tenants to reduce energy consumption and strengthen our environment.”
EPA began development of the ENERGY STAR Tenant Space program in 2018 and it was officially launched in 2020. It was created as a new way to assess and recognize environmentally friendly and energy efficient tenant spaces in office buildings by providing energy-efficiency criteria to help organizations overcome barriers to improving the energy performance of leased space.
ENERGY STAR Tenant Space criteria was designed to address efficient lighting and plug loads, which, at the time the program was launched, were the main tenant-controlled drivers of energy use. Office spaces that achieved ENERGY STAR Tenant Space recognition were verified on average to have lighting systems that were about 25 percent more efficient than lighting found in typical office spaces. Tenant Space criteria also required tenants to separately meter their space and share energy data with their landlords upon request, foundational steps for benchmarking and understanding both tenant and whole-building energy performance.
To earn ENERGY STAR Tenant Space certification, BOMA Georgia collaborated with Mayberry Electric and Baker Engineering. Mayberry Electric installed a new electrical panel and submeters to track energy use in BOMA Georgia’s leased office space and Baker Engineering calculated lighting and equipment loads and verified all information submitted in the ENERGY STAR Tenant Space application.
“The ENERGY STAR Tenant Space program is a great way for tenants to get involved with their building’s environmental sustainability programs,” said Scott Baker, PE, president of Baker Engineering. “Efficient technologies and sustainability initiatives are always evolving, and tenants are now able to take a direct role in these programs while continuing to save energy, reduce emissions, and decrease building operating costs.”