Mortenson Properties saves $195,000 per year in energy costs at its 280,000 sq ft headquarters campus
In March 2024, Mortenson Properties — the real estate investment arm of Mortenson — partnered with Enertiv to accelerate sustainability and energy efficiency across its Minneapolis headquarters campus. The initiative builds on Mortenson’s long-standing leadership in renewable energy and reflects the company’s commitment to applying the same rigor within its own portfolio.
As one of the nation’s leading builders and developers of renewable energy, Mortenson has designed its headquarters to be a model of what’s possible. Their Minnesota campus demonstrates how a pragmatic, investment-grade approach to sustainability can generate measurable value for people, the planet, the community, and the business.
The Challenge
Mortenson Properties needed a more advanced utility capture process to satisfy investor reporting requirements and comply with evolving building performance standards. However, the team wanted a solution that did more than collect and report data, they wanted insights that would create real operational and financial impact.
After evaluating several options, Mortenson Properties chose Enertiv. To validate scalability, the team piloted our platform across three corporate office buildings supporting nearly 1,000 team members. Success at the flagship campus would determine whether the solution would be deployed across their broader industrial, office, and life science portfolio.
The Solution
Enertiv integrated directly with Mortenson's existing Building Management System and began streaming more than 500 data points at one-minute intervals, primarily from HVAC and boiler systems.
Using AI-driven analytics, Enertiv surfaced targeted opportunities for improvement, which included:
- HVAC schedule corrections
- Boiler sequence and temperature optimizations
- Cooling setback adjustments
- Other operational refinements with measurable impact
Enertiv's engineering team partnered closely with on-site building staff, hosting bi-weekly or monthly working sessions to prioritize actions, implement changes, validate results, and monitor ongoing performance.
All savings were confirmed using Enertiv's Measurement & Verification tools and cross-checked against utility bills to ensure accuracy and transparency.
| Impact Category |
|---|
| Annual Cost Savings |
| Electricity Savings |
| Gas Savings |
| CO₂ Emissions Avoided |
| Environmental Equivalent |
| Result |
|---|
| $194,573 |
| 868,340 kWh/year |
| 55,904 Therms/year |
| 1,470,315 lbs |
| 659 trees planted |
These results were achieved without any disruption to tenants and without major equipment upgrades, proof that smart operational adjustments alone can drive extraordinary value.
Results & Broader Impact
The pilot demonstrated that Enertiv doesn’t just collect building data—it converts it into action, efficiency, and bottom-line results. For Mortenson Properties, the financial return and sustainability impact validated the business case for smart building technology:
- Increased NOI
- Lower carbon footprint
- Higher asset value
- Stronger compliance posture
Based on the pilot’s success, Mortenson Properties is now preparing to scale Enertiv across its national real estate portfolio. Next, the company will deploy Enertiv’s Energy & ESG platform with shadow metering add-on within its industrial triple-net assets to automate utility capture across electricity, gas, water, and waste, streamlining sustainability reporting while identifying tenant-level efficiency opportunities.
"We've been super impressed with all the different things Enertiv offers, and for us, with a mixed-asset portfolio, we just wanted one solution. We didn't want a software for industrial and a software for office. When interviewing competitors, one just offered the shadow metering, which doesn't really help us on the office side. We then looked at another one that offered a similar BMS integration, but was missing a solution for industrial. Enertiv checks all the boxes for us, and I think we've touched all the modules they offer at this point."
Robyn Duncan
Senior Asset Manager
A Model for What’s Possible
Mortenson set out to prove that sustainability can be financially strategic, operationally practical, and environmentally meaningful. The results speak for themselves: $195,000 in energy savings and a blueprint for scalable, data-driven efficiency across an entire portfolio.
What an insight looks like for the tenant:
Even under triple net leases—where operational costs are outside the landlord’s direct control—this landlord was able to create tangible, strategic impact with Enertiv. By offering a differentiated experience to tenants, they strengthened relationships and increased retention. Additionally, the initiative positioned the landlord to meet portfolio decarbonization goals.
