Large commercial and multifamily buildings are required to report their energy and water usage annually under the Building Energy Benchmarking regulation utilizing the free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. Owners can monitor performance, evaluate it against comparable structures, and spot means to save costs and increase efficiency through this benchmarking approach. To promote better resource management, the program also helps in compliance and connects participants with utility refunds, rewards, and efficiency enhancement possibilities.
What is the Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance?
Increasing openness in the commercial real estate sector, encouraging energy-efficient construction techniques, and reducing energy costs for owners and renters comprise the main objectives of this policy. To reach this goal, the City Council approved the Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance in June 2012, therefore amending the Energy Conservation Code. Owners of non-residential structures under this law must evaluate and report their yearly energy and water consumption utilizing the free U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool by June 30 every year. Shared in the public, beginning in 2014, the submitted data promotes accountability, inspires better energy use, and advances citywide sustainability initiatives.
As everyone including cities and municipalities are looking to implement solutions that will reduce carbon emissions, there are many organizations that are positioned to help meet the voluntary or mandatory requirements proposed.
Representatives from such organizations participate in the Advisory Group for the Philadelphia Building Energy Performance Policy to provide guidance, ask and answer questions, and shares concerns as the City develops the regulations/ordinances and is made up of representatives with a connection to the policy including building owners, managers, service providers, and legislative reps.
Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance requires energy and water usage reports annually from any multifamily building or commercial which is larger than 50,000 square feet.
In a nutshell, Benchmarking energy in buildings allows property or building owners to compare the efficiency of their facility with others of similar age and size (buildings). This information helps create awareness and encourages property owners of inefficient buildings to take action to make their buildings more efficient.
PHILADELPHIA’S CARBON FOOTPRINT
More than half of Philadelphia’s benchmarked buildings noted continuous annual energy savings, which contributed to a 5% fall in total energy usage between 2013 and 2018. To assist its ambitious objective of becoming “the greenest city in America” by 2015, the city started a thorough benchmarking and disclosure campaign. Reduced energy and water usage, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and the generation of green jobs were among the several advantages of this project. It also caused good spill-over effects that affected better performance in structures not immediately covered by the program, therefore increasing the city’s advancement toward sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Multifamily housing, Office buildings, along with colleges and universities make up about 72% of Philadelphia’s carbon footprint. The Building Energy Performance Policy passed in 2019, forms the City’s 2012 energy benchmarking policy and program, and the benchmarking law needs property or building owners with space larger than 50,000 SF (Square Feet) to evaluate and report their yearly energy usage.
Since the goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, the new bill mandates that those same buildings perform regular building inspections and enhance to improve their energy efficiency.
Philadelphia visualizes that the policy, the City’s first which requires building energy performance improvements, will be able to cut 200,000 metric tons of carbon pollution which are released from these buildings.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE
Below mentioned are the major purposes for Benchmarking Ordinance.
1. To boost the energy efficiency of the built environment and to save money on energy costs.
2. Buildings, the ones which are large, create more pollution as they make up the majority of energy consumption and carbon emissions in cities.
3. With benchmarking, property or building owners can retrofit and improve the most inefficient buildings, which will directly help in decreasing carbon emissions.
4. Also, Benchmarking results in significant savings as property or building owners begin to discover how much money is being spent unnecessarily on inefficient buildings.
DOES IT IMPACT ME?
In Philadelphia, if you are a multifamily or commercial building owner or manager with a floor space (indoor) more than 50,000 square feet, then it is essential and you are required by this ordinance to submit an energy usage report for your building.
Funding
Philadelphia launched its benchmarking law using outside financing sources rather than a committed municipal budget. Approximately USD 50,000 in grant funds assisted advertising and public outreach campaigns in 2014–2015; an extra USD 75,000 was used for compliance-focused activities such as outreach programs, mailings building owners, and creating an informative website. To successfully create the benchmarking project, the city also used federal funds and worked with academic organizations for technical help. Strategic financing policies helped set the groundwork for a successful project meant to increase energy transparency and efficiency throughout the non-residential building sector of the city.
WHAT ARE THE DEADLINES?
All owners and managers of commercial buildings must evaluate and submit their previous year’s energy and water consumption reports using Portfolio Manager by June 30 of every year.
WHAT ARE THE FINES?
There is always a drawback in the name of penalty for everything when you miss any deadline. Likewise, property managers and building owners who fail to comply by the June 30 (every year) deadline are subject to a fine of $300 for the starting month (if they are late), and then subsequent $100 fines for each day they are late afterward.
HOW DO I COMPLY?
It is important that building owners and managers gather energy and space information using the “Data Collection Worksheet” and then report the data to EPA’s Portfolio Manager, which is a reporting tool that allows property managers or building owners to compare their building’s energy efficiency with similar buildings.
HOW DO I COMPLY?
It is important that building owners and managers gather energy and space information using the “Data Collection Worksheet” and then report the data to EPA’s Portfolio Manager, which is a reporting tool that allows property managers or building owners to compare their building’s energy efficiency with similar buildings.
THE PROCESS
An engineer from Cotocon will visit your location (your facility) and gather all the on-site information in detail such as building type, interior space type, and square feet.
Record and compile all the information, and utility consumption on site.
All updated details and information are required to be saved into Energy Star Portfolio Manager in real time to fulfill Philadelphia reporting requirements and sync up information with your engineer’s agency.
To ensure future compliance, continuous benchmarking comparison against an entire portfolio of buildings is advised.
Required Utilities for Benchmarking Reporting
Building owners must provide a complete set of utility data every year in order to meet the Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance. This includes any district energy used, including steam or chilled water, along with electricity and natural gas. If structures use other bought fuels such as propane or heating oil, these too have to be reported. Reliable performance evaluation results from correct data entry into the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. By reporting these utilities, one can monitor consumption trends, enhance efficiency, and spot possibilities for cost-saving and sustainability changes across properties.
Conclusion
Building Energy Benchmarking Program of Philadelphia is a strong move toward transparency, sustainable living, and better energy use. Tracking and revealing energy and water information helps the city to enable building owners to increase efficiency and lower emissions and expenses. The program is a model for urban energy reform and long-term environmental responsibility with defined criteria, support systems, and documented impact.
