Benchmarking means measuring a building’s energy use and then comparing it to the average for similar buildings. It allows owners and occupants to understand their building’s relative energy performance, and helps identify opportunities to cut energy waste. We believe that sharing this data can also drive the market to recognize and reward energy efficiency and create a continuous cycle of improvement and demand for high-performing buildings.

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The Benefits of Benchmarking Building Performance

It is relatively easy to make the connection that tracking and disclosing a building’s energy usage will promote energy savings, but in fact, there are many other benefits that go far beyond simply kilowatt hours. While benchmarking brings building owners’ attention to energy efficiency, resulting in behavioral and operational changes that spur immediate and low-cost … Continued

Benchmarking: Saving Energy and Money

Why benchmark your building? This infographic explains the benefits at a glance. You can also view it online, download it as a PDF to the right, or download it as a jpeg.

IMT 2014 Annual Report

For almost 20 years, IMT has sought out and promoted best practices to advance energy efficiency in buildings. We continue to work toward a future in which all buildings are highly efficient, and our progress toward this goal in 2014 is capture in IMT's 2014 Annual Report. This annual report provides examples of market transformation … Continued

Comparison of U.S. Commercial Building Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Policies

This matrix compares the requirements of commercial building energy benchmarking and transparency policies in cities and states around the U.S. This document is updated regularly as new policies pass or existing policies are updated. It is part of a suite of matrices that provide quick, high-level comparisons of policy types across jurisdictions. Other matrices in this … Continued

Guide to State and Local Energy Performance Regulations: Version 3.0

Worldwide, commercial building energy benchmarking and disclosure mandates are becoming more common as policymakers target the building sector in energy and climate protection policies. As such, policymakers are becoming more attuned to building energy performance mandates. These mandates are primarily aimed at existing buildings, which comprise the vast majority of the building stock and present … Continued

Bringing Building Energy Performance Data to the Market

In addition to allowing building owners to track and compare their buildings' performance over time and against peers, building energy benchmarking and transparency policies allow other market stakeholders and local governments to make smarter decisions and investments, reward efficiency, and drive wide-spread, continuous improvement. This white paper, which summarizes a collaborative project by Rutgers University, … Continued

Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Benefits

What is energy benchmarking and why is it important? The core energy efficiency policy that IMT supports is the benchmarking and transparency of buildings’ energy use. Benchmarking means measuring a building’s energy use and then comparing it to the average for similar buildings. It allows owners and occupants to understand their building’s relative energy performance, … Continued

IMT 2013 Annual Report

Taking a look back at 2013—which was a banner year for IMT with significant developments in each of our program areas—IMT released its first Annual Report. The report highlights key achievements in 2013. We are encouraged that 10 billion square feet of space are now affected by building energy benchmarking policies nationwide—a number that is … Continued

Creating Value from Benchmarking: A Utility Perspective

Across the U.S., a growing number of cities are unlocking a wealth of data on the energy performance of buildings in the form of building energy benchmarking programs and policies. By requiring large building owners to track and report the energy use of their properties on a consistent basis, building energy benchmarking provides a growing … Continued