Retrofit this...

Recently, the U.S. Green Building Council announced that the total square footage of retrofitted LEED-certified buildings surpassed the square footage of new ‘designed’ LEED projects.

This is fantastic and inspiring news in the world of energy efficiency.

Simply put, this quick and simple statistic reveals how the policies and incentives created to encourage building upgrades, retrofits, and energy improvements have been a success.

And the success is two fold.

Not only do retrofits create energy and resource efficient buildings, but they do so without using nearly as many resources as a new building would require.

To elaborate, a new building requires new foundation, landscaping, framing, ground clearing, windows, flooring etc. etc. All of these components take time, energy, and money. Furthermore, most new buildings undergo a bid-build process requiring contractors to bid for a project. It is difficult to willingly include additional costs (for energy efficient upgrades) when you are attempting to propose the lowest bid.

Retrofitted buildings, on the other hand, save resources by using existing structures. Although the act of tearing apart the walls for new insulation may not be cheap or convenient, it is certainly less expensive than constructing a new building entirely.

In fact, the world’s second largest building, Taipei101 is a poster child for this type of retrofitting upgrade.

If a building that is over 1,600 feet tall can undergo those types of retrofits, so can we.

It’s time for the homeowner to get retrofitting. Even though commercial buildings may be bigger and draw more energy per building, there is no reason why they should be the only ones taking full advantage of retrofit upgrades.

After all, they may save a lot of money, but at the end of the day cutting your energy bill in half is cutting you energy bill in half, regardless of how much the starting bill was.

Anyway, for all of your energy incentive or project news, tune into www.energygridiq.com or download our iOS app, WattRebate.