How To Green Your Landlord
This post answers a question posed by @jonat82 in a Twitter conversation:
How do you convince your property managers that greening the building is a financially sound investment?
Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet argument for this one. Like the majority of small businesses you probably lease your facilities. If you do, you’ll find that some greening strategies require the cooperation of your landlord.
You may also find that your landlord does not yet see the financial benefits to making efficiency-related capital improvements because, in a typical commercial lease the landlord pays for improvements but the tenants, who pay the utility bills, reap the benefits of the savings.
Don’t give up hope.The inclusion of environmental criteria into relevant lease clauses, such as requiring Energy Star appliances or providing recycling services, are becoming more commonplace. So, the best time to talk to your landlord about greening is when you are signing or renegotiating your lease.
