Boston

In 2010, the Boston Climate Action Leadership Committee, a multi-sector task force, recommended policy action on the buildings sector to Mayor Tom Menino. Shortly thereafter, the mayor launched the Boston Climate Action Plan, an ambitious blueprint for aggressively reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As a corollary to this climate plan, the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance was filed with the Boston City Council on February 22, 2013. The ordinance aimed to publicize the energy and water performance of Boston's buildings, and oblige the poor performers to undertake measures that could help lead to increased efficiency of utility usage. In order to lead by example, the city benchmarked its building stock with Energy Star Portfolio Manager, and publicly disclosed the results in the summer of 2013. The ordinance requires that buildings report energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and water use to the city using Portfolio Manager (or an equivalent tool, as approved by the Air Pollution Control Commission). Buildings registering poor energy, emissions, and water performance--and not demonstrating improvement--will be required to undertake energy assessments or audits every five years. However, owners are not required to act on the results of an audit.