by Rebecca Walker — March 16, 2011—BuildingRating.org, created by the Institute for Market Transformation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, was launched recently. It is an online repository for policy and information about building energy performance regulations and disclosure programs that are currently on the books around the world.
In addition to a document library with material about or from more than 100 cities, states and provinces, the site includes:
An interactive global map than enables users to see summaries of the policy within a region and, if applicable, policy of the states or other jurisdictions within that region. For example, clicking on western Europe will pull up a summary of the European Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and clicking on EU member states will show their activities in response to the directive.
A section focusing on efforts to establish energy performance and disclosure policy in six U.S. cities and states. Last month, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance requiring owners of commercial buildings of at least 10,000 square feet to conduct an energy audit every five years and benchmark the energy performance annually. The city’s work to establish the policy is among the efforts highlighted on the site.
A gallery of the energy labels, certificates and scorecards in use or development in the the United States.
Matrices comparing legislation, energy rating system and disclosure requirements for commercial and residential structures among U.S. cities and states.
BuildingRating.org is intended for building professionals, policy makers, real estate managers, developers and others regardless of their level of knowledge about policy and practices related to building energy performance, said Andrew Burr, director of the Institute for Market Transformation’s Building Energy Rating Program.
For more information, see the Web site.
