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ID:
186434
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| Summary/Abstract |
Many U.S. cities are implementing policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their buildings. These range from building energy benchmarking and disclosure to building performance standards (BPS) that require buildings to meet specific targets of energy use or emissions. The City of Seattle adopted a climate action plan in 2013 that set a goal of zero net GHG emissions in the road transportation, buildings, and waste sectors by 2050 (Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, 2013), with a number of near and long term actions. Seattle implemented mandatory building tune-ups in 2016, applying to commercial buildings larger than 50,000 sqft (“Seattle Building Tune-Ups,” n.d.). Building tune-ups1 involve assessment and implementation of operational and maintenance (O + M) improvements to achieve energy and water efficiency, such as changes to thermostat set points or adjusting lighting or irrigation schedules (Sullivan et al., 2020).
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| 2 |
ID:
177396
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| Summary/Abstract |
Commercial mortgage underwriting practices currently do not fully account for energy risks to net operating income (NOI), especially changes in energy costs over the course of a mortgage term. This paper first introduces two metrics that can be used to characterize the increase in default risk due to increases in energy costs during a mortgage term: decrease in debt service coverage ratio (ΔDSCR); and increase in probability of default (ΔDP). Both these metrics were designed to be simple to calculate, utilizing data that are already being collected in loan applications. Next, we present results from a pilot study on the application of these metrics to five loans from three lenders. The results show that energy risks can vary between different properties and across different years within a given property, due to variations in energy usage. All three lenders concurred that these results suggest energy risks can in fact be material, and affirmed the metrics are a viable approach to incorporate energy risk analysis into mortgage underwriting. The policy implications include energy cost disclosure in loan applications; and incentives such as lower interest rates for energy efficient buildings and additional loan proceeds to improve efficiency and lower energy costs.
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