2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 133

have incentives for commercial owners. For
example, Alabama gives commercial property
owners a discount on insurance rates
for building using the Fortified Commercial
Standard (a voluntary construction standard
focused on preparing buildings for high winds
and rain). In Florida, the Hurricane Loss Mitigation
Retrofit Grant funds updates that are
focused on improving buildings' resilience
to flooding and winds, including commercial
buildings. Mississippi also has programs to
incentivize building for wind preparedness,
including for commercial buildings.
Last year, insurer FM Global announced a
new resilience credit, one offering premium
reductions when clients invest in resilience
measures. On the financing side, the National
Energy Improvement Fund serves as a lender
and insurer, helping to finance energy efficiency
and resilience retrofits for both commercial
and residential buildings. " There is a
huge opportunity for insurers to leverage their
understanding of asset risk to provide innovative
services that incentivize risk reduction,
such as offering premium discounts or even
getting involved in the capital stack. Especially
[with] insurers that focus on long-term relationships
with their clients, there is room for
innovation, " notes Theresa Lederer, lead consultant,
at Moody's RMS.
There is also room for brokers to help
developers better understand which types
of asset-hardening measures are factored in
when insurers calculate premiums. As some
solutions emerge, clearly there is a need for
increased dialogue, negotiation, and innovation
from all market participants, including
insurers, lenders, brokers, risk modelers,
owners, and policy-makers.
ULI will be further researching the topic of
insurance in an upcoming report. If you would
like to weigh in, please email Lindsay Brugger
at lindsay.brugger@uli.org UL
NATALIE AMBROSIO PREUDHOMME is an associate
director at Moody's Analytics.
Get Smart: The
Business Case for
Grid-Interactive,
High-Performance
Buildings
Finding ways to optimize and minimize energy consumption
in buildings is critical to achieving global emissions-reduction
targets. Grid interactivity in combination with energy efficiency
is among the most compelling and challenging measures
for achieving emissions reductions, optimizing building
performance, and improving grid resilience.
Enabling grid interactivity benefits both real estate industry
actors and utility grid operators. This report articulates those
benefits for building owners and developers and outlines
considerations for implementing grid-interactive, energy-efficient
buildings. It also highlights how leaders in the industry are
preemptively building connected structures that increase their
competitive advantage in global markets, boost their bottom
lines, and contribute to the global shift toward net zero emission,
energy-efficient, and resilient structures.
americas.uli.org/getsmart/
FALL 2023
URBAN LAND
133
INDUSTRY VOICES
http://americas.uli.org/getsmart/
2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land

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