HIW Corporate Resiliency Report 2021 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 19
ENERGY AND CARBON
Highwoods is committed to combatting climate
change and transitioning to a lower carbon future.
This journey began decades ago with the hiring of
engineers who were on the forefront of deploying
microprocessors to closely monitor energy
consumption. As technology advanced, we began
benchmarking our energy performance using ENERGY
STAR Portfolio Manager and created the Highwoods
Energy Command Center to monitor energy usage
in real-time. To deploy innovative energy efficient
technologies, we reinvest the utility savings to
implement high value opportunities across our
portfolio. Over the last 5 years, we have invested
over $25 million in projects that improve energy
efficiency, resulting in annual energy savings of
approximately $6 million.
In support of DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge, we
established 20% portfolio-wide energy and GHG
reduction goals by 2026 from 2016 baselines and are
currently on track to achieve both goals. In 2021, we
reduced portfolio-wide energy usage by an average
of 18% when compared to pre-pandemic usage by
closely aligning building system operations with
decreased occupancy due to COVID-19. Additionally,
we achieved ENERGY STAR certification for all eligible
assets and LEED certification on all new, wholyowned developments to ensure high-performing,
energy-efficient systems are in place. We aim to
transition our portfolio to low-carbon by aligning with
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
best practices for Scope 1 & 2 emissions.
We measure our GHG emissions as Scope 1 or
2 Emissions. GHG sources include the on-site
combustion of natural gas and fuel oil for heating
and back-up power generation (Scope 1) and the
generation of electricity and district heating and
cooling off-site by local utilities (Scope 2). We utilize
the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager online platform
to monitor GHGs from our ongoing operations
and to track progress towards meeting our goals.
Looking forward, we will endeavor to measure and
track emissions from our supply chain, construction
projects and assets for which we do not have direct
operational control (Scope 3).
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