In this report, the Institute’s Council on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (CFIRE) issued findings and recommendations on the financing of small commercial retrofit projects for energy efficiency. Although small commercial buildings (less than 50,000 square feet) make up the majority of the nation’s building stock, investments in energy-efficiency retrofit projects for this vast segment of the building stock have lagged behind those for larger buildings. This CFIRE report identifies several barriers to investment in such retrofits.

In this report, the Institute’s Council on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (CFIRE) examines the current and potential roles of three key equity investing structures in capitalizing the sustainable and energy-efficient development and retrofit of investment-grade commercial buildings and renewable-energy production. The report evaluates the effectiveness of these vehicles—Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Yieldcos—in accessing the public capital markets and recommends needed legislative and regulatory changes.

This guidance document, developed by the National Institute of Building Sciences and the New Buildings Institute, gives jurisdictions the means to help them achieve their energy performance goals for buildings. The document provides jurisdictions with the regulatory language to put an outcome-based compliance path into place.