Washington, DC and other cities have instituted green building polices that require benchmarking to measure improvements in their buildings. The new green builiding polices has given Washington the most buildings per capita using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM) in the nation. There has been a rapid increase in buildings using Porfolio Manager over the last 5 years as a direct and indirect impact of District legislation including the Green Building Act of 2007, and Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2009. To see the resources the District of Columbia has created for public and private buildings covered by the legislation go to www.green.dc.gov.
“Through benchmarking and data collection, we expect to be able to quantify savings from public sector [energy efficiency measures],” says Brendan Shane of the District Department of the Environment Office of Policy and Sustainability. The policy of benchmarking buildings makes sense, whether it’s justified as a good energy management strategy or good public policy. Benchmarking helps municipalities know where to place priorities by showing which buildings are good performers in relation to buildings nationwide and can help document where implemented building improvements have had the largest impact on energy use.
To get the best data and encourage good energy efficiency practices, the District has mandated the use of Portfolio Manager using a tiered approach to implementation. Municipal buildings are already required to benchmark, with a planned expansion into private and residential buildings this year. It’s important to note that the private building’s Portfolio Manager scores will not be made public until the second annual submission, thus giving the building managers time to analyze their data, form an energy conservation plan, and implement small projects if they choose.
The Portfolio Manager provisions phase in over time:
- In 2010: Public buildings (of 10,000 ft2 or larger) must be ENERGY STAR benchmarking and reporting scores.
- Beginning in 2011 (using the prior calendar year’s data): Phased implementation of ES benchmarking and public reporting in private buildings.
o Buildings 200,000+ sq ft - first report in 2011; public reporting in 2012
o Buildings 150,000+ sq ft - first report in 2012; public reporting in 2013
o Buildings 100,000+ sq ft - first report in 2013; public reporting in 2014
o Buildings 50,000+ sq ft - first report in 2014; public reporting in 2015
- Construction permits issued January 2012 or later are required to use ENERGY STAR Target Finder modeling.
So, what is the District doing with the data?
There were 194 public buildings analyzed for Fiscal Year 2009: 106 schools, 7 office buildings, and 81 non-ratable buildings (such as libraries, parks & recreation, police stations and fire stations). Using Portfolio Manager, the District learned that its schools are, on average, less efficient than 71% of schools across the United States (DC’s school buildings average was in the 29th percentile). Public office buildings are about 80% as efficient as the average comparable building.
Like any new program there are issues with data availability and quality, but with possible developments in Automated Utility Reporting (See TAP Blog Entry for more details) and more outreach to stakeholders, the District’s Green Building policies are sure to save tax payers money on energy use and create a more comfortable and efficient building stock.
Have you started benchmarking and reporting scores already? If so, what were some of the lessons learned as you were planning for implementation? Please share your questions, lessons learned or comments in the section below.
Also, please feel free to contact Brendan Shane and Stella Tarnay, DDOE, Office of Policy and Sustainability at brendan.shane@dc.gov (202-834-6385) and stella.tarnay@dc.gov (202-535-2460) if you’d like hear more about GreenDC! See the presentation (PDF linked) that they gave on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Peer Exchange Call in December 2010.
Content for this blog post courtesy of Leigh Golding De Santis, Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator, ICF International.