Rob Larson, CIO of CRMLS, Takes Part In the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Building Challenge

SAN DIMAS, Calif. (May 28, 2015) – The U.S. Department of Energy held the Better Buildings Summit in Washington D.C. this week. In attendance representing California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) was Rob Larson, Chief Information Officer. Rob has been involved with the Home Energy Information Accelerator initiative to expand the availability and use of home energy information at relevant points in residential real estate transactions.

Rob’s involvement began as one of the authors of the Green The MLS Tool Kit, an initiative from NAR’s Green Resource Council to bring home performance data into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) allowing appraisers to perform comparative analysis to support emerging high-performance housing. His role was to design data structures to support certification programs and to design a way to market technical features and their value to the average home buyer.

As the founder and chair of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) Data Dictionary, Rob introduced the data structures into the RESO standard which are part of CRMLS’ structure today. The success on his development won him an award from the Green Resource Council.

Rob’s latest efforts for continual improvement on this initiative include work with the Department of Energy and Berkeley Labs in creating a standard, Building Energy Data Exchange Specification (BEDES), to measure all aspects of home energy performance.

Rob notes “I am excited about the Accelerator initiative because it is timeline driven and aims to make reliable home performance data available to our industry. This will greatly help achieve our goal to show the real value, in terms of sale price and days on market, of a high performing home”.

About California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS)

California Regional MLS is the nation’s largest Multiple Listing Service, providing premiere products and services to over 73,000 real estate professionals from 38 REALTOR® Associations. California Regional MLS, located in San Dimas, California, provides access to listing data throughout the State of California and is dedicated to making a real difference in the day-to-day business of real estate professionals. For more information on CRMLS visit www.crmls.org.

About Better Buildings Challenge – U.S. Department of Energy

The Better Buildings Challenge supports commercial and industrial building owners by providing technical assistance and proven solutions to energy efficiency. The program also provides a forum for matching Partners and Allies to enhance collaboration and problem solving in energy efficiency. Both Partners and Allies are publically recognized for their leadership and innovation in energy efficiency. The Home Energy Information Accelerator initiative is part of the residential division of the U.S. Department of Energy.

For a detailed progress report on the Better Buildings Initiative, and for more information on how to join these partners and advance your own energy efficiency work, visit:
http://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov