TECHNOLOGY
LORI HANSON | GREYSTAR REAL ESTATE GROUP
Finding inspiration in the every day:
Appropriating technology from other industries
A
s property owners, operators, and managers, we may often think that every
green / sustainable idea out there that
can be implemented has already been
implemented. (After all, in the late 1800s there was
a common belief that everything that could be invented had already been invented.) Or, perhaps we
get caught up in thinking that new green technologies
are just far too cost-prohibitive for our communities.
If this sounds like your current state of mind,
think again! With some out-of-the-box thinking
and some keen observation skills, we can find inspiration and new ideas in our everyday lives!
Take, for example, your day today. What did
you do? On your way to work, you stopped at a
drive-thru and got breakfast, then parked your car
and headed into your office building. During your
lunch break, you made plans for your upcoming
vacation. And on your way home you stopped by
the grocery store to grab a few items for tonight’s
dinner. Nothing exciting here, right? Wrong!
In each of these interactions, you experienced
opportunities to observe the technologies that
other industries are using to control expenses, conserve energy, and be more sustainable.
Behind the scenes at the restaurant, occupancy
sensors were controlling ovens and cooktops, ensuring the optimum amount of energy use based on
the current customer load. You might not have
noticed, but the manager was receiving a text alert
that a walk-in refrigerator door had been left open,
and a sensor on the drive-through window was
pulling it tightly closed, helping to cut down on
unnecessary energy use.
In your parking garage, you might not have
noticed the solar panel on the roof and the electric
vehicle charging station in the corner, or realized
the garage is utilizing building system commissioning to gauge the amount of energy the mechanical equipment is using and ensure all systems
are running as efficiently as intended.
When you booked your hotel for that longawaited vacation, you probably didn’t realize that
the hotel has a team dedicated to sustainability
efforts, that it’s undergoing a large-scale recycling
upgrade, or that the staff uniforms are laundered
www.aamdhq.org
in a way that maximizes water conservation.
And after work, as you headed in
to the grocery store, you might or
might not have noticed that sensors
in the freezer case trigger the display light only when a shopper
walks by. You might not have
thought about the comprehensive
refrigeration preventive maintenance
program in place, the energy audit being conducted, or the recent multimilliondollar investment in Energy Star-labeled
equipment.
So what is the point of listing all these behindthe-scenes energy conservation efforts that you
unknowingly encountered? It’s to encourage you
to be on the lookout for sustainable ideas being
used in other industries that could potentially be
applied to the apartment industry.
When you interact with other industries (which
we all do constantly if you really stop to think about
it), take time to observe what technologies are in
place and how those might translate to our industry.
In the above example with the freezer lights
at the grocery store, would you believe that one
of our colleagues translated this concept into a
similar system that was applied to a multifamily
parking garage? It happened, and the results have
been amazing. All because someone took inspiration from the grocer’s technology.
As you are interacting with other industries, if
you don’t see any apparent technologies that are
green or sustainable, ask! By simply taking a few
minutes to chat informally with the staff, you could
learn a lot. Most people are excited about their
organization’s conservation efforts and are more
than willing to give you a sneak peek of what they
are working on behind the scenes. It’s a great
conversation starter and you just might make a
new friend! Restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, commercial buildings … any industry could inspire you
or hold the key to a great new idea.
Another terrific source of ideas for new technologies is others in our industry. By speaking
with your peers outside of your organization and
even your geographical area, you are able to ask
what new technologies they are using. Joining
committees designed to focus on conservation and
cost savings is a great way to initiate this type of
dialogue.
A simple Internet search for “ideas for making
apartments more sustainable” yielded several interesting results. There were so many suggestions
out there that I had never heard of ! I ended up on
an Australian site called greenstrata.com.au, where
I found a huge listing of sustainable topics combined with dozens of case studies. Who knew
sustainability efforts were so on point