by Shane Henson — November 25, 2011—The City of Seattle is urging business owners to focus on making their buildings more energy efficient, and is providing them with the knowledge and assistance to do so through its innovative Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting Program.
The program aims to help building owners and managers reduce their energy costs through benchmarking—or measuring and rating a building’s energy performance. By benchmarking, owners get insight into how their building uses—and wastes—energy and can begin identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency and increase savings.
According to city officials, the program is currently underway for nonresidential buildings over 50,000 sq. ft. This next phase will require nonresidential buildings over 10,000 sq. ft. and multifamily buildings with five or more units to benchmark and report their energy performance by April 1, 2012.
The city has developed a series of educational materials, including hands-on training workshops, Webinars and a step-by-step “How To” guide, to help owners with benchmarking and provide them information on utility energy-saving programs, rebates and other financial incentives to save energy.
To make the benchmarking process as seamless as possible, Seattle has partnered with local utilities to provide owners with the building energy consumption data they need in a convenient format. Using the free online tool, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, owners will be able to easily see their building’s energy performance and how it stacks up against similar buildings. Having this information at their fingertips is the first step towards improving building energy performance and reducing energy costs, city officials say.
Further, the city is working to ensure that all buildings are benchmarked on an annual basis, and that building energy use information is available to potential tenants, buyers and lenders during real estate transactions. That way, building owners, businesses and residents alike can make more informed and cost-conscious decisions when upgrading, buying or renting property, say Seattle officials.
