The number, frequency, and intensity of disasters affecting U.S. cities is growing. From floods and fires to sub-zero cold snaps and extreme heat, it seems like every week we are provided with another example of why communities need more tools to ensure they are more resilient, prepared for weather-related disruptions, and can quickly recover. The … Continued
After more than a year of private sector and community engagement, Fort Collins, Colo., became the 25th U.S. city to pass a benchmarking and transparency policy for privately owned buildings on December 4. This is a key step in accomplishing Fort Collins’ ambitious climate goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, and follows the City’s … Continued
Cities are prime venues in which we can tackle climate change by crafting and implementing proven, common-sense building energy efficiency interventions that reduce energy consumption, save money, and cut back harmful emissions associated with energy generation and use. In this post, we take a look at Chicago’s new building energy rating system and how it … Continued
Last week, the City of Seattle released a new summary report highlighting the results of its citywide building benchmarking and transparency program for 2014 to 2016, and the findings are encouraging. For example, consider these two highlights: Compliance is high. In 2016, the last year covered by the new report, 3,352 buildings reported, representing over … Continued
Sharing Data to Motivate Action is intended to help implementers of benchmarking and transparency policies understand the latest techniques for developing energy benchmarking scorecards, also called energy benchmarking profiles, which present energy data to building owners as actionable information to encourage investment in efficiency.
Managing Benchmarking Data Quality was written to help benchmarking policy implementers understand current best practices for managing data gathered from ordinances in states, counties, and cities across the U.S.
Analyzing Benchmarking Data provides useful knowledge on the annual benchmarking reports that many jurisdictions publish to summarize 12 months of reported energy and/or water utility data. It includes discussions of the types of analysis that jurisdictions with benchmarking laws have used to extract valuable information from the benchmarking data and gives examples of how some jurisdictions have calculated and displayed their analytical findings.
Across the U.S., cities are implementing building performance reporting laws regarding building energy and water use in commercial and multifamily buildings. These programs generate large quantities of useful data on the energy consumption of a region’s buildings. However, the data is only valuable if it drives smarter business decisions and savings. Cities are leading the … Continued
NYC Retrofit Accelerator Cities adopting and implementing building performance benchmarking policies that require building owners to track and report their buildings’ energy and/or water use on a regular basis are collecting a trove of data that can be used to accelerate investments in energy upgrades in buildings. For energy efficiency program implementers, this data can … Continued
NYCEEC efficienSEE™ Tool In September 2014, New York City (NYC) committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80 percent by the year 2050 (80×50), with an interim target to reduce emissions 40 percent by 2030. Building energy use reduction will play a significant role in achieving NYC’s 80×50 goals, as buildings account for nearly … Continued