Posts by: Tim Haddon
Walt Disney famously said “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” I feel the same about energy—which dovetails perfectly into the theme of this issue, Energy Transformation.
We’ve seen a lot of energy transformation over the years based on various resources such […]
An old saying has become more meaningful lately: “May you live in interesting times.” I think the last few years certainly qualify.
The pace of change has picked up. Trends have accelerated to change how we work, shop and even eat. The discipline of utility management is no exception. Changes that were building slowly before […]
Data is everywhere. Everything we do with any consistency can be broken down into specific data points, then trended and analyzed. We see it every day. From our phones telling us how long it takes to get to work without our asking, to suggested Amazon purchases in our Facebook feeds, to cold calls and […]
Affordability and benchmarking in affordable housing
As a recent addition to the affordable housing realm, I’ve had to adjust my approach to the areas of opportunity an ancillary revenue and utility management person would generally operate in. Utility management specifically has taken on a new focus. I’m used to categorizing properties by building type, […]
The term “benchmark” was originally used to describe a point related to elevation. We now use it to describe the measurement and comparison of all sorts of data.
In the apartment business, utility benchmarking is a hot topic. But, what does it mean? Is it a code word for something else? Is it just a […]
As U.S. apartment REITs play sweetheart to the investment world, sustainability has officially joined the party with its own benchmarking for apartment portfolios. The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB, now a sister organization with the entity that certifies LEED buildings1) is now used by institutional investors to assess sustainability policies of real estate portfolios. […]
We have a leak. A big one.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that America loses a trillion gallons of water every year to leaks. Malfunctioning sprinkler heads, drippy faucets and especially faulty toilets are just some of the culprits. It’s what some refer to as deferred maintenance and neither lenders nor potential property buyers look […]
I am a sleuth, spending much of my time uncovering water and energy pigs at my properties. As such, the best advice I can give to apartment managers is this: a simple year-over-year review of utility expense is not enough. Compare properties against one another to truly understand performance.
Mine is a tale of three […]
