The Appraisal Foundation and the Department of Energy (DOE) have announced a partnership that is designed to help expand access to energy efficiency and building performance information for commercial buildings.
Under the new partnership, the foundation and the DOE will work to ensure that appraisers nationwide have the information, guidelines and professional resources to evaluate energy performance when conducting commercial building appraisals. The new partners will also develop information and educational tools relating to valuing green buildings, based on the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. The DOE states that commercial buildings accounted for about 20% of all the energy used in 2010.
‘Providing appraisers with the tools to accurately include energy performance when they place a value on a commercial building will help American businesses and institutions save money by saving energy,’ says DOE Secretary Steven Chu. ‘If better performing buildings have a higher value, it will help enable the up-front investment for energy efficiency upgrades.’
