FirstService Residential, North America’s leading residential property manager, has been recognized with the Jetsetter Award for its outstanding participation in the 2016 Daylight Hour, an annual global campaign to save energy by turning off all electrical lighting in day-lit office spaces for one hour. FirstService Residential was the highest participating company, doubling its involvement from last year to 70 offices powering down across 53 cities in North America.
 
The #DaylightHour Campaign, launched in 2014 by the New York City nonprofit, Building Energy Exchange, challenges companies to turn off their lights for one hour to reduce energy consumption, offset the use of electrical lighting and raise awareness about the availability of daylight in commercial office spaces. More than 650 offices across 20 countries participated in this year’s event. All combined, these offices helped conserve enough energy for the day to power 7,600 homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to getting 8,000 cars off the road.
 
“This campaign is a crucial reminder that commercial and residential buildings are major culprits of high energy consumption, and we must encourage and implement practices that lower their carbon footprints over time,” said Chuck Fallon, CEO of FirstService Residential. “We are proud to have our offices answer the call nationwide to do their part for this effort, and we are delighted to win this honor for the second year in a row.”
 
Beyond continued participation in Daylight Hour, FirstService Residential is also working to help multifamily buildings within its management portfolio increase efficiency while reducing energy consumption, costs and emissions through its FirstService Energy division. Launched in 2010, this energy management and advisory subsidiary is currently operating in New York, Florida and Illinois, where multifamily properties are prevalent, with plans to expand into additional North American markets. To date, FirstService Energy has helped FirstService Residential clients save more than $25 million in energy costs while reducing the carbon footprint of its New York City portfolio by more than 15 percent.
 
For more information about Daylight Hour 2016, visit daylighthour.org. 
Friday July 08, 2016