City launches pilot program to rate the energy performance of existing commercial buildings

City launches pilot program to rate the energy performance of existing commercial buildings

The City of Boulder is launching a “commercial building energy benchmarking pilot program” to help inform development of a standard procedure for rating the energy performance of existing commercial buildings in the community. The pilot will allow building owners, tenants and the city better understand how existing commercial buildings use energy and identify areas where energy efficiency upgrades could help specific businesses or property owners save money. The pilot program began this month and will run through December.

Participating commercial building owners and businesses will be asked to collect energy use data and rate their energy performance in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager™, a national standard energy rating tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Participants will then share the results with the city. A variety of commercial building types and sizes will be included in the pilot to provide an accurate estimate of the time and resources necessary to participate. This will help the city determine the most useful kind of energy data to collect and how to simplify the data-sharing process.

Depending on the results of the pilot program, the city will consider a benchmarking program next year that would require commercial building owners to rate their building’s energy performance and report it to the city.

“The commercial sector accounts for nearly 60 percent of Boulder’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Business Sustainability Specialist Elizabeth Vasatka, “so involving the business community in energy efficiency initiatives is key to achieving Boulder’s long-term emission reduction goals.”

“Acquiring this energy use data will assist the city in designing programs and outreach efforts that will have the greatest economic impact to the business community,” Vasatka said.  “The city already offers significant incentive-based programs to the business community to encourage energy efficiency.  This pilot will benefit participating building owners in that they will learn how their buildings use energy compared to buildings of similar size and type.  It will also help the city figure out the best way to use the benchmark data so that, eventually, measuring results community-wide will be simpler.”

More than 1,300 businesses or commercial building owners have participated in the city’s energy efficiency programs and services. 

Commercial building owners that are interested in participating in the pilot program will receive free assistance from an independent energy coach to evaluate their energy use data and rate their buildings’ energy performance. Establishing benchmarks will allow commercial building owners and tenants to identify opportunities to save money through energy efficiency improvements.

If you’re interested in more information or participating in the pilot, please contact Business Sustainability Specialist Elizabeth Vasatka at 303-441-1964 or vasatkae@bouldercolorado.gov by Nov. 30.  More information about the program or other commercial energy efficiency strategy efforts can be found at www.bouldercolorado.gov/cap.