JACKSON, MS
The Pinnacle at Jackson Place
|
Sustainability initiatives at Parkway Properties, an office REIT, are focused on existing building operations. The company became an Energy Star leader in 2004 for its organization-wide energy performance baseline, the first step toward reducing greenhouse gasemissions.
Parkway's portfolio includes 14.1 million square feet of office space in 69 property locations. Currently, 11.5 million square feet, or 81.6 percent of the portfolio, has been Energy Star rated, with 7.0 million square feet scoring above a 75 point rating. The company's goal is to have all its properties EnergyStar rated by the end of 2008 and to start pursuing LEED certification systematically across the portfolio in late 2008.
 Leader in the Light
2007 Silver Award Winner |
Sustainability came into focus at Parkway in 2000. Since that time, the firm has invested $6.5 million in lighting retrofits; $3 million for reflective roofs; $2 million in new energy management systems; $800,000 for variable frequency drives; $700,000 for automatic flushers and faucets to conserve water usage in restrooms; and $400,000 to install sun-reflecting film in windows—a total of $13.4 million in these areas alone.
Parkway has invested more than $13 million in sustainability efforts since 2000.
|
In 2006, Parkway initiated its internal Utility Consumption Conservation program, a conservation action plan for each individual property. Part of this effort is the Energy Impact Analysis, an internal reporting mechanism that monitors energy consumption by trending current-to-prior comparisons of monthly, quarterly and annual cost and consumption figures that also takes into account the effects of rate and occupancy fluctuations. This report is reviewed at the senior management level and by property management teams at each site. It is a critical component in monitoring the progress toward achieving Parkway's annual conservation and budgeting goals.
"We are committed to 'doing the right thing,' which includes energy conservation and good stewardship of all natural resources," says Jack Sullenberger, Parkway's senior vice president of technical services. "As capital expenditure decisions are considered, high priority is given to environmentally conservative projects. This is in keeping with our long-standing commitment to shareholders to maximize our financial returns, to our customers to reduce operating expenses, to our employees and customers to provide a healthy working environment, and to the communities in which we operate to be good neighbors and stewards of local resources."
Parkway Properties is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and was recognized in November of 2007 as the Silver Award Winner in the NAREIT Leader in the Light program—the only office REIT recognized that year.
— Lorna Pappas
