Our corporate responsibility program is centered on two things: saving money to benefit investors and doing the right thing for the environment. We invest in sustainability initiatives that give us a good return on investment.
At Extra Space Storage, we are always looking for ways to cut costs while maintaining a top-notch customer experience. A primary area of focus remains making investments to reduce our utility bills, which promises to shrink our carbon footprint and fight climate change for many years to come.
Investing in solar panels
As part of our green and sustainability initiatives, we took an industry-leading role in installing solar panels. In 2011, we converted 53 wholly owned properties to solar power, up from five the year before. Last year we invested nearly $23 million in photovoltaic panels that will help us cut costs, reducing our utility spend by as much as 80% at these specific properties.
As a result of these sustainability efforts, we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 30,610 tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of taking 498 cars permanently off the road. Thanks to state and federal tax credits and other incentives, we expect the capital investments in our solar program to break even in less than two years per property. Please review our Sustainability Infographic for additional information.
Saving energy and money
In addition, we continue systematically going through all of our properties to make sure we drive utility usage to the lowest possible level through automation. To conserve energy, we have implemented strict temperature controls across our portfolio. In 2011 we completed energy retrofits at 109 of our wholly owned properties, installing motion sensors and energy-efficient lighting. In total, we have retrofitted a total of 136 sites over the past two years.
Because of our energy-efficiency leadership, we were recognized by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts®, which named us Newcomer of the Year in the 2011 NAREIT Leader in the Light Awards. We also became a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR partner. Through this partnership, we will continue to demonstrate our environmental stewardship and lower our energy costs by improving the energy efficiency of the properties we own and manage.
