Tools for Tenants (T4T) is a website to help renters factor energy usage into their purchasing decisions.
T4T displays energy consumption statistics for many apartments in Gainesville, and provides comparisons and visualizations to help consumers choose an efficient residence, and easily share it with friends and roommates.
Publicizing energy information puts pressure on apartment owners to make infrastructure investments, who otherwise have little incentive to improve efficiency.
Renters can search for particular apartments to compare.
After selecting a group of apartments, a detailed comparison is calculated presenting estimated electricity costs:
See it live at http://ToolsForTenants.com.
How it Works
T4T blends apartment data, property appraiser data, and consumption data. Apartment data is often hard to come by. Usually, the data is gathered manually (via web searches), and updated once a year. Apartment data can be gathered by EnergyIT, a third-party, or imported from an existing data source. Property appraiser data is obtained and used to get an accurate geographic location. Consumption data is provided by the utility. T4T creates cost estimates based on the utility’s electric rates.
Once the data is blended, averages are precalculated and comparisons are generated. All of the generated information is put on display via the website for renters to see.
If you are interested in establishing a T4T site in your community, please complete our getting started form for a free initial evaluation.
