This idea is on the vaguer end of the spectrum (shocking for a guy like me), the vagueness stems from not having a deep enough concept of how policies are rated, anyway enough of me covering my ass.
One of the challenges I have had while being a renter in the Greater Boston area, is the lack of information when it comes to energy costs. As someone who likes to at least pretend that they care about the environment, I wish that when I looked at an apartment there was a fact sheet that included a rough grading of how energy efficient the apartment was. Ideally, for me, this grade would focus on a few critical factors, how much energy does it take to heat or cool a given square footage, how much energy transferred between the home and the outside world (basically how good is the insulation), and what are the base line electricity demands of the appliances in the home (read how efficient is the apartment's refrigerator/ other appliances that came with the place). Something like these variables would be translated into a letter grade, if the letter grade is too low the property owner would be required to invest in energy efficiency improvements.
Implementation would be challenging to say the least, in cities with a large volume of rental properties, doing the assessments could get rather costly. To help pay for inspections, utility companies could work with the community to promote analysis, in this way all parties can win, the utility can minimize energy used by residencies, land lords would have a way to promote their properties, and renters would be able to factor in energy costs with their decision to rent a particular property. Ideally these assessments would occur on a regular cycle, the length of said cycle is hard to know, my personal starting suggestion would be something like this, no property can have gone for more than 10 years with out an inspection, if said property is found to have been rented to individuals there would be legal consequences for the property owner. Preferably every 5 years there would be an assessment, this should ensure that upkeep doesn't fall too far behind.
One of the challenges I have had while being a renter in the Greater Boston area, is the lack of information when it comes to energy costs. As someone who likes to at least pretend that they care about the environment, I wish that when I looked at an apartment there was a fact sheet that included a rough grading of how energy efficient the apartment was. Ideally, for me, this grade would focus on a few critical factors, how much energy does it take to heat or cool a given square footage, how much energy transferred between the home and the outside world (basically how good is the insulation), and what are the base line electricity demands of the appliances in the home (read how efficient is the apartment's refrigerator/ other appliances that came with the place). Something like these variables would be translated into a letter grade, if the letter grade is too low the property owner would be required to invest in energy efficiency improvements.
Implementation would be challenging to say the least, in cities with a large volume of rental properties, doing the assessments could get rather costly. To help pay for inspections, utility companies could work with the community to promote analysis, in this way all parties can win, the utility can minimize energy used by residencies, land lords would have a way to promote their properties, and renters would be able to factor in energy costs with their decision to rent a particular property. Ideally these assessments would occur on a regular cycle, the length of said cycle is hard to know, my personal starting suggestion would be something like this, no property can have gone for more than 10 years with out an inspection, if said property is found to have been rented to individuals there would be legal consequences for the property owner. Preferably every 5 years there would be an assessment, this should ensure that upkeep doesn't fall too far behind.
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