BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CoStar Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CSGP), the number one provider of information services to the
commercial real estate industry, today announced that it will begin adding
the ENERGY STAR rating -- the most recognized national metric for
evaluating building energy efficiency -- to properties in its massive
online database, which currently contains more than 2 million researched
and verified commercial properties of all classes and types.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060510/COSTARLOGO )
"With the help of ENERGY STAR, we believe commercial property
professionals across every spectrum of our industry are improving the
energy performance and, thereby, the financial value of their properties,"
said Andrew C. Florance, president and CEO of the CoStar Group. "I believe
adding the ENERGY STAR rating to properties throughout our database,
including those that have earned the ENERGY STAR label, will heighten
awareness about the connection between asset values and energy efficiency
within our industry."
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, energy
consumption from the operation of commercial buildings accounts for 18
percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In a typical
office building, energy represents 30 percent of operating costs -- its
single largest and most manageable operating expense. On average, ENERGY
STAR partners experience a 10 to 30 percent reduction in their operating
costs through changes in building management strategies and capital
investments with acceptable rates of return.
"I can't think of a more efficient, unbiased way of bringing easy-to-
interpret data on energy performance, financial value and climate
stewardship to the commercial real estate market," said Stuart Brodsky, EPA
program manager for ENERGY STAR commercial property markets. "CoStar's
integration of the ENERGY STAR rating into its database will give industry
professionals direct access to the nation's leading system for evaluating
the environmental efficiency of commercial properties. Continuous
improvement in energy performance is a key indicator of superior asset
management practices, and tracking a property's rating on an ongoing basis
through CoStar will bring this information to the broadest possible
market."
Last year, CoStar began highlighting commercial properties that are
LEED- certified by the U.S. Green Building Council throughout its database
so that subscribers could pinpoint high-performance green buildings. So
far, more than 200 LEED-certified properties have been added to CoStar's
database.
Together, the LEED certification and ENERGY STAR rating will enable
every CoStar subscriber to know the extent to which properties are truly
green and energy efficient.
As part of its corporate sustainability initiatives, CoStar also
equipped its field researchers last year with more than 100 fuel-efficient
hybrid cars so that, as researchers collect building-level information
throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, they also lower their
carbon emissions. CoStar's professional field researchers drive over 3
million miles a year gathering, inspecting, photographing and transmitting
real-time data on commercial properties to CoStar's office-based research
analysts. CoStar estimates that including Prius hybrids in its field
research fleet will reduce fuel consumption by approximately 160,000
gallons a year.
As the industry's largest commercial real estate research organization,
CoStar gathers and verifies for-sale and for-lease listings across all
commercial property types -- office, industrial, retail, land, mixed-use,
hospitality and multifamily in 66 U.S. markets and parts of the United
Kingdom.
The company provides subscribers with the largest inventory of fully
researched and verified for-lease and for-sale availabilities and
comparable property sales covering over 37 billion square feet and more
than 2 million commercial properties of all classes and types. This massive
online database is continually updated by more than 1,300 highly trained
researchers who personally gather and verify hundreds of commercial
property details by phone and in the field using a fleet of high-tech
mobile units, door-to-door tenant canvassing, sophisticated aerial and
architectural photography and satellite mapping systems.
About EPA's ENERGY STAR Program
Established in 1992, ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program that
helps businesses and consumers protect the environment through superior
energy efficiency. Last year alone, American consumers and businesses, with
the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $12 billion and prevented greenhouse gas
emissions equal to those from 23 million vehicles. For more information,
visit http://www.energystar.gov/
About CoStar Group, Inc.
CoStar Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSGP) is the number one provider of
information services to commercial real estate professionals in the United
States and the United Kingdom. CoStar's suite of services offers customers
access via the Internet to the most comprehensive database of commercial
real estate information on 66 U.S. markets and parts of the United Kingdom.
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, the company has approximately 1,300
employees throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, including
the largest professional research organization in the industry.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including,
without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs,
intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are subject
to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from these statements. More information about potential factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed
in the forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, those
stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including CoStar's Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2005 and CoStar's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
30, 2006, under the heading "Risk Factors." In addition to these
statements, there can be no assurance that the ENERGY STAR rating will
allow commercial property professionals to improve the energy performance
and, thereby, the financial value of their properties or heighten awareness
about the connection between asset values and energy efficiency within the
commercial real estate industry; that ENERGY STAR partners will experience
reductions in their operating costs as stated in this press release through
changes in building management strategies and capital investments with
acceptable rates of return; that CoStar's integration of the ENERGY STAR
rating into its database will give industry professionals direct access to
the nation's leading system for evaluating the environmental efficiency of
commercial properties; that tracking a property's ENERGY STAR rating on an
ongoing basis through CoStar may be indicative of improving energy
performance or superior asset management practices; that the LEED
certification and ENERGY STAR rating will add information transparency
about the extent to which properties in CoStar's database are truly green
and energy efficient; and that CoStar's use of Prius hybrids in its field
research fleet will reduce fuel consumption by approximately 160,000
gallons a year. All forward-looking statements are based on information
available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to
update such statements.
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SOURCE CoStar Group, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.costar.com
http://www.energystar.gov
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060510/COSTARLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk
photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Audra Capas, Vice President, Communications,
of CoStar Group, Inc., +1-301-280-7674, acapas@costar.com; Maura
Beard, Communications Director, ENERGY STAR Buildings, of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, +1-202-343-9991,
beard.maura@epa.gov
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