SP-One's Dinenberg on Alternative Energy

PHILADELPHIA-Lee Dinenberg is looking to help real estate developers save money and help the environment while heading up a successful venture of his own. Dinenberg is the president of SP-One, a firm that incorporates money saving alternative-energy uses into commercial real estate properties. SP-One is a division of local developer Grasso Holdings; the two merged late last year. The firm uses solar and waste-to-energy power to cut out the reliance on traditional energy, an effort that Dinenberg says saves buildings money. He points to The Shops at Valley Square , a Grasso retail development in Warrington, PA. SP-One is installing a one megawatt alternative energy system into the center, which is enough to power 700 houses annually, and through government incentives due to the energy it will save, the $4.2-million development price tag of the asset was cut in half. In addition to Grasso-related projects, SP-One has also worked on projects with Whole Foods, Pathmark, and is assisting a national real estate firm Dinenberg could not name for confidentiality reason, with its seven-million square-foot portfolio.

GlobeSt.com: Is it hard to convince property owners of the value of sustainability in the recession when they might perceive high initial costs?

Dinenberg: When we go and meet with a client for the first time, we explain the renewable that we suggest we go forward with. As far as capital costs are concerned, we have a structure that alleviates all of the costs for the end user. In essence, we pay for the system, the installation and equipment and just pass the direct savings on to the owner of the real estate. If they can’t go out and get the financing because of the liquidity crunch that we’re in, and they have their business that they need their core capital for, we can alleviate that whole problem. We’ll pay for the system, and then we basically act as a utility company selling them the electricity at a discounted price.