Philly catches up with NYC, D.C. on energy efficiency benchmarking

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown ("Blondie" to the Daily News) today introduced a piece of legislation in City Council that most of us (environmentalists and architects excepted) could file under "boring but important." It's a plan to require benchmarking of energy and water use for nonresidential buildings or spaces of 25,000 square feet or more in Philadelphia, and follows the adoption of similar measures in D.C., New York, San Francisco and elsewhere. The bill calls for the implementation of an online tracking program, the EPA's Portfolio Manager, "where property owners, tenants, prospective purchasers, lessees and the public at large can compare energy and water usage among comparable buildings. Property owners will find out how their buildings stack up to comparable buildings providing the tools necessary to formulate best practices and discover savings."It doesn't sound like such a big step, but Brown hopes it will encourage more informed decisions by property owners. Andrew Sharp of Next Great City and PennFuture — which has been lobbying for such a law to be enacted — says that disclosure alone has been reported to save about 6 percent to 7 percent of energy usage, just by making people more aware and encouraging smarter choices."We hope this would make buyers and tenants better informed and encourage smart energy upgrades by commercial landowners," he says. "We see this as the beginning of the process. We're not even asking them to make any changes or upgrades to the building, we're just asking them to understand their usage. If you compare it to a car, it's like knowing your gas mileage. We think that's a good first step."