Existing buildings make up a significant percentage of building stock in most communities. For instance, according to the 2018 CBECS study, more than half of commercial buildings in the US were built between 1960-1999 with only 25% built since 2000.1 Similar statistics are true of residential building stock; according to the National Association of Home Builders, more than 60% of owner-occupied residences were built before 1990.2 Many jurisdictions at the local, state and federal levels are exploring approaches to tackle energy use and efficiency in existing buildings.
Two of the most promising approaches are building energy benchmarking and building performance standards. What’s the difference, and how can local jurisdictions use these approaches as part of their policy development efforts?
Building Energy Benchmarking at a Glance
Benchmarking is a way to measure the current energy performance of a building against past data or buildings of a similar size and occupancy. In California, the Building Energy Benchmarking Program is the state’s program to publicly disclose the energy use of buildings. Effective in 2018, owners of large commercial buildings (more than 50,000 ft2 of gross floor area) were mandated to report energy use to the California Energy Commission annually. Beginning the following year, owners of multifamily buildings (17 or more residential units and more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area) were also required to comply annually. Some exemptions apply. A handful of local jurisdictions have adopted benchmarking ordinances that extend the requirements to smaller buildings and are exempted from the state requirements.
Building Performance Standards (BPS) Go Beyond
The BPS approach goes one step further from disclosing energy performance data to mandating a specified performance level against an identified target, which can be an energy, carbon or GHG emissions reduction target. BPS measures are typically paired with benchmarking standards as a means of ensuring compliance. Often, the first step toward BPS implementation is a benchmarking mandate to establish the practices of energy data collection in order to determine what types of BPS targets might be necessary. Generally, building owners have a grace period during which they can conduct the upgrades necessary to bring the buildings into compliance. Benchmarking data is typically tracked in EPA’s free online ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and BEAM, Touchstone IQ, SEED, and custom CRM tools are also used by jurisdictions to track performance improvements and compliance to support the BPS.
Table 1 offers a look at some jurisdictions that have adopted mandatory BPS in recent years.
