In a recent NY Times article, it was announced that Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the German bank, is financing the creation of a public database of several hundred retrofitted buildings in New York City and a companion report to determine the savings from such moves.

I love the notion that they are trying to aggregate data on the energy savings that are being retrofitted.

More interesting to me is the discussion further into the article that touches on what might be Deutsche Bank’s ultimate motivation.

Mr. Hattem, who said Deutsche Bank would have no proprietary stake in the data, hopes that lenders will not only finance more retrofits as a result of the project, but also use the information to create a new securitizations market.

“The idea here is that if underwriters can determine a predictable savings from retrofits,” he said, “then they can create a financial instrument backed by these savings to sell on the open market.”

Now this type of thinking will jump start the retrofit business as capital for the improvement projects has always been the biggest impediment.

I also found this quote from a project manager at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and a member of the advisory committee spot on:

“There is an almost universal lack of understanding of building energy usage,” said Luke Falk.

I agree wholeheartedly, Luke. More building owners and managers need to wrap their heads around that usage and controlling the costs surrounding it.