My new book Green within Reach,  A Practical Guide to Green Real Estate Management, is now available on Amazon.com.    The book received Five Stars (out of Five) from ForeWord Clarion Review:

For building managers, energy efficiency needn’t be an impossible dream. According to
an ENERGY STAR report, there’s a 400 percent variation in energy consumption in
buildings in the United States not explained by age, technology, hours of operation, size
or climate. The critical variable is operational practices.

“Developing a green operation and maintenance plan is a vital step in ensuring
consistent and optimal performance,” Weaver writes. In this book, he lays out clear,
concise steps to turning a commercial building into a clean, lean, green machine.

In general, American businesses are sold on the efficiencies of green buildings,
which have been shown to lower maintenance costs by about 13 percent and consume 26
percent less energy. But some landlords and building operators are reluctant to do the
retrofits necessary to capture these tenants—largely because of misconceptions about the
upfront costs of greening an existing building.

Weaver is out to prove them wrong. Most of his recommendations require little if
any capital outlay and begin cutting back operational expenses immediately. Some are as
simple as monitoring the use of electricity and water.

“Utility costs alone represent the single largest controllable cost of an apartment
building, typically accounting for 25 percent-35 percent of its total operating expenses,”
he writes. “Reducing energy use by 15 percent in an average 250-unit apartment
community can increase asset value by over $1 million.”

Weaver, whose extensive background in real estate covers most aspects of the
industry, from development and construction to financing and asset management, is a
licensed property manager and broker, having earned just about every green certification
the industry has to offer. He holds the National Association of Realtors’ Green
Designation and is a LEED-Accredited Professional, a designation awarded by the US
Green Building Council, of which he is a member.

His immersion in the field shows. Unlike many green-practice manuals, Green
Within Reach doesn’t just list available products, but provides an evaluation of their
efficacy. For example, while demand-controlled, hot water circulators do eliminate the
water waste that occurs while people wait for running tap water to heat up, the author
warns that they also “turn hot-water pipes into low-temperature radiators, increasing the
cooling demand in warmer months.” He recommends compensating by turning them off
during low-use hours.

Weaver’s practical suggestions for everything from improving energy efficiency
to site sustainability to pest control can benefit not only the building owners, developers,
and property managers for whom he writes, but also homeowners looking for low-cost,
effective conservation methods. But he stresses that real efficiency requires more than a
scatter-shot approach. It takes a plan.