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Understanding the Green Lease: Tenant and Owner Perspective

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Green leases outline mechanisms for sharing the initial costs and resulting savings of energy-efficient upgrades between landlords and tenants. Shared Investments and Savings: Examples: If tenants pay for utilities directly, landlords have no financial incentive to invest in capital upgrades that reduce energy use, because the resulting savings will go to the tenant. To address this, some green leases will incorporate a "pass-through" clause that allows landlords to pass on the costs of capital improvements to tenants as operating expenses. A green lease may also include specific language around financing, installing, and operating onsite solar, or define a certain percentage of the tenant's purchased electricity that must come from renewable sources. They include commitments to meet specific sustainability benchmarks, such as energy efficiency ratings or the use of renewable energy sources. Sustainability and Efficiency Goals: Examples: A tenant can be required to reduce connected lighting power density to be below the limits set in certain green codes and ensure that all light bulbs and lighting fixtures have an ENERGY STAR certification. A green lease may also require the landlord to make energy- efficient upgrades to the building, such as installing energy-efficient lighting or HVAC systems, or obtain green building certifications such as ENERGY STAR, LEED, or BREEAM, or to maintain any existing certifications. Requiring the tenant to turn off lights and equipment when not in use is also common. They include commitments to meet specific sustainability benchmarks, such as energy efficiency ratings or the use of renewable energy sources. Collaborative Decision-Making & Data Sharing: Local Law Compliance: A tenant must partner with landlords to comply with all local jurisdiction reporting requirements. In jurisdictions with strict building performance standards, one tactic is to include green lease language that allows fees and fines to be shared with tenants in the case of non-compliance. In addition, stipulations on data sharing are common to alleviate the strain of data requests in these laws. Leases will outline that certain data must be shared with the Landlord, as requested, including full-time and part- time occupants, room sq. ft. and supplemental HVAC characteristics, the total quantity of computers, and monthly utility consumption if paid by the tenant directly to the utility. These clauses can be particularly helpful for landlords in triple-net lease scenarios, where tenants generally control utility access. Conversely, landlords should disclose any tracked common area energy or water use, and whole building ENERGY STAR scores with tenants. Data- sharing clauses should include language around the frequency of reporting and the utility types and metrics to be reported. Submetering: Green leases may also include provisions that allow landlords to submeter tenant spaces and/or equipment for accurate energy and emissions monitoring and to facilitate reporting, benchmarking, and compliance. If there is tenant usage that falls outside of the landlord's submeter, the lease will require the tenant to report it. BEST PRACTICES TO ADOPT INTO A GREEN LEASE

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