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.
District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility Under its 2012 Sustainable DC plan, the District of Columbia established targets that include reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 percent by 2032 and by at least 80 percent by 2050, including a citywide energy-use reduction target of 50 percent by 2032. In December of 2017, Mayor Muriel … Continued
Efficiency and Beyond: Guidance for Energy Efficiency Program Administrators to Aid Building Owners Each year, U.S. buildings use more energy than most countries, and Americans spend more than $400 billion to heat, cool, and power the places where they live and work. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings not only helps owners, occupants, cities, and … Continued
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