Commercial business owners across Michigan could improve their bottom lines, as well as residents’ health, by embracing energy efficiency and clean-energy investments outlined in the Clean Power Plan. That’s according to a report from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Public Policy. Dr. Marilyn Brown, with the institute, says one big step would be to require all buildings over 100,000 square feet to document and report their energy usage.
“That means that if a tenant wants to consider what the real cost of occupying a space in that building might be, they’d have some good sense of how efficient the office complex is.,” Brown said.
The study found savings and carbon reduction could be achieved by switching to electric heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings, using new technology air-source pumps in place of natural gas heating, and rooftop air conditioning units.
