As an owner or manager of an apartment building or complex, your actions significantly affect the environmental impact of dozens or hundreds of families at once. When you manage your property in sustainable ways, you have a magnified influence in improving Stamford's natural environment. At the same time, you cut your costs, which may allow you to reduce rents and attract more tenants.

The tips on this page suggest ways you can make your property more environmentally friendly. They may spark other ideas relevant to your goals and your building and tenant profiles.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Make recycling easy for tenants by labeling bins, placing bins in convenient areas, and giving each tenant their own recycling bin.
• Sign up with a hauler that uses single-stream recycling.
• Collect rainwater and use it in areas like gardens or flush tanks where potable water isn't necessary.
• Reduce your water usage by installing low-flow fixtures in apartments.

Become Energy Efficient

• Caulk, seal and weatherize all cracks, joints and frames. This is about the quickest and least expensive step you can take to become more energy-efficient, and the payback starts instantly.
• Measure your usage of electricity, oil, gas and water. Benchmark your performance with the help of ENERGY STAR'S Portfolio Manager software.
• Replace regular incandescent lamps in common areas with compact fluorescent, LED, or long-life incandescent bulbs.
• Install high-efficiency appliances in apartments and common areas.
• If you have a large enough number of tenants, consider renting a community van for scheduled trips to places such as supermarkets, the mall and the train station.
• Put up solar panels to cut down on your consumption of grid electricity. The state's new Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) will announce in 2H 2011 and 2012 several new financing and investment opportunities that will provide capital for clean energy projects. Follow the news at www.ctcleanenergy.com.

Implement your plan

• Form a team to develop and implement your complex's sustainability plan. Include tenants in the team. Support from tenants will lead to wider acceptance and better execution of the plan.
• Communicate your goals and progress frequently to all tenants and building management.
• Tell tenants how the plan is being implemented, what success you are having and how things will change.
• Lead by example.