In this week’s Energy Efficiency Research Note (clients only), I provide brief commentary on the recent partnership between Good Energies and TIAA-CREF on a new vehicle called the Green Building Technology Partnership.

Energy efficiency in commercial buildings is ripe for investment.  Lawrence Berkeley National Labs most recently conducted its survey in June 2010 and found that the ESCO market was projected to be $7.1 to $7.2 billion in 2011.  The research note touches briefly on the market size for 2020 and the financing vehicles that may drive adoption in the commercial and industrial market.

Cleantech Group views a Good Energies and TIAA-CREF partnership as the beginning of more partnerships between venture capital and real estate institutional investors. These partnerships address one of two chasms in energy efficiency—technology, or more specifically, technology risk. The other chasm, financing, is also be covered briefly in this research note.

It remains to be seen if technology or financing will be the chicken or egg that becomes the initial and/or primary driver of wide-scale energy efficiency adoption across commercial, industrial, and residential buildings.