Several multifamily sustainability programs across the U.S. have pre-approved technical assistance providers, including Enterprise Green Communities, NYSERDA, and Fannie Mae. These lists are a good place to start, but there will be some trial and error to learn who you can partner effectively with throughout complicated issues and processes.

Shifting from efficiency to decarbonization is a game changer: now a building owner needs a long-term roadmap that is likely to span multiple phases of construction potentially over several years; need a long-term technical assistance partner that can scope a project and be involved through design and construction; it’s a relationship not an event-based “audit”; softer communication skills are critical.

Asset management and decarbonization planning have to become one thing: Scoping the path to net zero and capital planning needs to be integrated, and good technical assistance providers need to understand and be conversant in both.

Most firms with electrification expertise are not local, and will command a premium. This could be a challenge in these early days of multifamily building decarbonization.

As green buildings have evolved from an energy efficiency focus to decarbonization and electrification, the knowledge requirements for technical assistance providers have changed. “It used to be BPI certification was adequate for a good technical assistance provider, now it’s so much more.” It is less clear today which minimum certifications are appropriate for the complex multiphase world of multifamily building decarbonization.

Building decarbonization is about transforming the entire industry of construction, housing and lending to infuse decarbonization considerations throughout. Many people have a decisional role in the efficiency and operation of building – establishing a common vocabulary is important. This is what BEEX and the Building Performance Partnerships are trying to do in target localities across the US.

Owners want to maximize the funding that goes into the durable physical upgrades in the building; this requires effective management of third-party consulting costs.

Creativity is in tension with scale and speed: You can start with a blank canvas and come up with creative ideas to decarbonize a building but it’s time-consuming. Eventually we will start to have enough data to see the patterns of which decarbonization solutions work well in what applications, and we should then be able to reduce investment in outside third-party bespoke consulting services in every stage of construction or shift those services to more value-added functions.

If you work at scale you can drive down the associated consulting costs, as Fannie Mae has done with their high performance building specialists under Green Rewards. Additionally if you have a standardized decarb scope of work for a narrow subset of building types, as is the case with CPC’s Climate Friendly Homes (i.e., replace fossil HVAC systems with high efficiency heat pumps), you can standardize the scope of Technical Assistance and drive economies of scale to reduce third-party consulting costs.

Need a good screening process/tool; you don’t want to waste money doing a full blown decarbonization assessment on a building that is likely going to be a poor candidate for a major retrofit.

Technology Platforms (like Cadence OneFive‘s Momentum) can be used to reduce consulting level-of-effort by streamlining the process of project management (i.e. capturing audit recommendations, bids, milestones) and sharing with partners.

Sample of Multifamily Sustainability Programs with Pre-Approved Technical Assistance Providers:

• Enterprise Green Communities TA Providers [national database of technical assistance providers]
• NYSERDA Multifamily Building Solutions Network [network of energy professionals experienced in multifamily building projects]
• IPNA NY Approved Providers [IPNA is a property evaluation tool that integrates energy, water, and health assessments into a holistic document.]
• Fannie Mae Green Rewards High Performance Building Consultants [list of approved HPB consultants that conduct High Performance Building Assessment required by Fannie Mae Green Financing loan]
• Building Energy Exchange [network of building decarbonization hubs]
• Building Performance Partnership [local resource hubs for building performance]

Need to put systems in place to support continuous oversight of the performance of real estate. Applications like shadow meters, routine benchmarking, and real-time energy management systems with early fault detection can provide tremendous value.

To support market transformation, as we move from early adopters to mass adopters, we need a cohort of properties doing continuous whole-building monitoring, but we also need a subset that is doing equipment-level monitoring – not for compliance, but so that we can continue to refine our tools and our capacity to support effective projects.

Implementing upstream commissioning/checks on the design before it gets built will be important for complex decarb projects, even if it is just to ensure that equipment will fit the allocated space and maintenance workers can physically access the equipment.

For major decarb retrofits which will likely include replacement of HVAC/mechanical systems, commissioning is critical to position the project and people for success by ensuring that:

• equipment is installed properly and operational
• control sequence of operation of the HVAC system makes sense
• building management systems have been tested
• documentation for equipment and warranties are provided to owners and owner knows how to act on a warranty issues
• operational staff have been trained on the equipment and the training is recorded to help onboard any new maintenance staff

Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and ASHRAE have some good resources on commissioning.

Fannie Mae’s Green Rewards program has an established post-construction verification process that they use before releasing loan payments. This verification process is not a full commissioning requirement and typically entails a visual inspection to make sure the equipment specified in the loan documents has been installed. GGRF projects are likely to be more complicated than historical Green Rewards projects, so some upgrading of the verification process may be needed.

• Have your operator at the table when starting a project. They know the building, the tenants, and day-to-day operations which will be critical to project success. If you are working with a consultant, build into your contract requirements to include documentation and in-person orientation/walkthrough with operational staff. This operator engagement helps with tenant satisfaction, as tenants will go first to the super; if you want the operational staff/building super/property manager to be able to answer resident questions to generate more support for the project, make sure they understand why you are doing the project and what it will mean for them.
• Send your operators to training and attend the training with them. See if you can do group training on site if you have multiple buildings to facilitate discussion and comradery. Communicate what you want to achieve after the training (e.g., develop a plan, increase familiarity with new technology, review proposals, develop solutions to possible challenges). If you have unionized labor, reach out to union for training. If not there are other organizations that can provide training. [see below]
• Ensure that any new hires get training on the building systems and that they understand what the owner and the residents value in terms of these systems.
• Ensure that operational staff know who to call if there is a problem. Operational staff are great problem solvers but they may not land on the most energy-optimized solution and for that they will need support.
• Equipment manufacturers will often provide training – take advantage of this.
• Role of the building operators has changed significantly with new technology and building management systems. Make sure your operators understand the performance goals and metrics that the owner cares about.
• This operator training and engagement supports job retention and can be a source of pride for front-line workers who care about the buildings they serve.
• “If you are doing a project and it is going to make things harder for operations staff, it’s probably not the right project.”

• Basic whole-building benchmarking, e.g., Energy Star Portfolio Manager, is useful for assessing carbon emissions and is expected to be required in some form for the GGRF. This is typically required under most public benchmarking disclosure regulations.
• But to understand the impact of a decarb project on tenant bills, you are going to need to go one step further, separating owner-paid and resident-paid utilities. This is particularly important in the context of electrification. This may require some sampling and will likely require additional support for building owners to ensure good data quality.
• Owners should measure resident satisfaction before a project, through the process, and afterwards and learn from feedback.
• As the program manager or financial intermediary, make sure you know what you are going to do with the data – how feasible it is to collect? what question you are trying to address with the data? – before you establish a collection requirement.
• Optimizing for scale means designing to optimize an entire portfolio, not achieving perfection for one building. Expect that some things will go wrong, learn quickly and adjust. Given the magnitude of the transformation we are seeking in the built environment, we need to share failures as well as successes, that’s how real learning and training happens.

• Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) Commissioning resources
• ASHRAE Commissioning Guidance Document
• Fannie Mae’s Borrower’s Guide to Verification for Green Rewards [addresses verification]
• Resources for operator training: Urban Green Council, CUNY Performance Lab, Con Edison/utilities, NYSERDA Building Operator Training, 32 BJ Training Fund, equipment manufacturers.
• Bright Power Energy Score Card [for information on benchmarking]
• Wegowise tool [for information in benchmarking]
• Energy Star Portfolio Manager [for information on whole building benchmarking]