Make Your Rental Property Energy Efficient

Tenants and landlords alike all play a role in being energy efficient.  As a rental property owner, you can take deliberate steps towards energy efficiency in more long term ways.  As a tenant, you can put in effort every single minute of the day to be more energy efficient.  Ultimately, it’s both parties that play a role in being energy efficient, so let’s look at some ways both can help.

• Landlords
  • Opt for energy efficient washers and dryers, ovens, or even a dishwashers so that with each use of an appliance, your tenants are using less and less hydro.  Even go as far as making your tenants aware of the Toronto hydro rates at certain times of the day.  If your tenants are paying their own hydro bills, they’ll thank you for your efforts to help them save on hydro consumption.
  • Have energy efficient windows installed.  Double window panes are great at keeping warm air inside during the winter months and alternatively keeping cool air inside during the warmer months for those properties with AC units.  The end result is your HVAC system is working far less and therefore using less hydro.
  • Install motion sensor lights around the exterior of the property as well as in all common areas inside the rental property so that tenants never have to worry about turning the lights off when they are not required.

• Tenants
  • Turn the lights off when you’re not in a room.  Make sure that every time you’re leaving a room, you’re not leaving the lights on behind you.
  • Turn off any appliances that you’re not currently using.  There’s no need to have the TV on in the living room if you’re listening to music in your bedroom.  Appliances such as microwaves, toasters, blenders and coffee makers should remain unplugged when not in use.  Even if they aren’t on, they are drawing on  electricity, using unnecessary energy.
  • For appliances that aren’t easy to unplug after every time you use them, try using power bars.  Power bars not only protect your electronics from power surges, but they also help to make the property energy efficient.

As a tenant, you’ll benefit from the lower cost of being energy efficient if you are paying your own hydro bills but even if you aren’t paying those utility bills, do your part to be a good tenant by helping your landlord who has gone to the lengths of installing energy efficient appliances, installing motion sensor lights and well insulated windows.  If you’re interested in being an energy efficient tenant, talk to your property manager about those appliances, motion sensor lights and windows today!