Liberty Property Trust Earns Energy Star Partner of the Year

MALVERN, Pa. — Liberty Property Trust, a Malvern, Pa.-based real estate investment trust, earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 Energy Star Partner of the Year award for improving the energy efficiency of its office and industrial building portfolio in areas like energy performance, cost savings and environmental protection.

The company has certified more than 34 LEED buildings and implemented proprietary technology, such as building-wide area networks that track and display energy use in real time for property managers.

“At Liberty, we look at energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings holistically, and in the last three years alone the approach has saved $4 million,” said Marla Thalheimer, sustainability manager at Liberty Property Trust. “These are savings that pass directly through to our tenants.”

In addition to the energy conservation measures imposed across its portfolio, Liberty Property developed a mixed-use park at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with what it says are the greatest concentration of sustainable buildings in the nation.

“Our goal is to deploy the tools that make the most sense and can have the most impact for the benefit of our tenants and the environment,” Thalheimer said.

The award aims to honor organizations that have taken steps toward creating energy efficiency and protecting the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Winners are selected from about 20,000 partners that participate in the Energy Star program and will be recognized at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on March 15.