San José
Policy Description:
On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 the San José City Council adopted its Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance. The ordinance requires owners of commercial and multifamily buildings over 20,000 square feet to benchmark their properties' energy and water use. The City will make a subset of that data transparent to the public. The law also requires building owners whose buildings do not meet energy and water performance standards to take action to improve their performance. These owners have the option to conduct an energy and water audit, "retune" the building's operations, or implement improvements from a list of options specified by the City.
Buildings meeting the following conditions meet the ordinance's energy performance standards:
- Buildings that are currently certified as LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance v4 Certification
- Buildings that have had a California licensed engineer or architect or a Qualified Auditor or Retrocommissioning Professional certify that:
- The property has an Energy Star score of 75 or greater;
- The property has improved its ENERGY STAR score by 15 points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year;
- The property has a weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity that is 25 percent below the calculated mean for that property type;
- The property has reduced its weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity by at least 15 percent relative to its performance during the baseline year.
Buildings meeting the following conditions meet the ordinance's water performance standards:
- Buildings that have had a California licensed engineer or architect or a Qualified Auditor or Retrocommissioning Professional certify that:
- The propertyhas received a US EPA Water Score of 75
- The property has improved its Water Score by fifteen points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year
- The property has a water use intensity as calculated by the benchmarking tool that is 25 percent below the locally calculated mean for that property type
- The property has reduced its water use intensity by at least fifteen percent relative to its performance during the baseline year.
Enacted Date:
2018
Relevant Links:
| Building Types Affected | Size | Compliance Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Family, Non-Residential | Greater Than 50,000 Sq. Feet | 2019-05-01 |
| Multi-Family, Non-Residential | Greater Than or Equal To 20,000 Sq. Feet | 2020-05-01 |
| Public/Government | Greater Than or Equal To 15,000 Sq. Feet | 2019-05-01 |
Exemptions:
Owners of residential properties that are smaller than 50,000 square feet are exempt from the performance improvement pathway for water efficiency if the property is not sub-metered for water use.
Transparency:
Required Transparency:
Yes
Transparency Method:
Public Website
Transparency Trigger:
Date Certain
Frequency:
Annually
Reporting:
Required Reporting:
No
Utility Requirements/Support:
Utility Requirements/Support:
No
Verification:
Verification:
Yes
Notes:
Owners may establish satisfactory energy and water efficiency by providing a "performance verification report" to the department in such a form as required by the Director of the implementing department.
Compliance:
Compliance Enforcement:
Yes
Penalties for Non-Compliance:
Yes
Additional Program Information:
Audits:
Yes
Owners of buildings that do not meet the ordinance's performance standard may choose to take one of three performance pathways to comply. For the audit pathway, owners must conduct an ASHRAE level 2 energy audit or an energy audit offered by utilities serving the property. For water audits, the owner must use a water audit based on industry standard practices that at minimum covers the potable water distribution systems; the landscape irrigation systems; the water reuse systems; and the water features.
Retrocommissioning:
Yes
Owners of buildings that do not meet the ordinance's performance standard may choose to take one of three performance pathways to comply. For the retrocommissioning pathway, owners must have a retrocommissioning process performed in accordance with industry standard practices, including ASHRAE Guideline 0.2, Commissioning Process for Existing Systems and Assemblies.
For buildings that do not have a central cooling system and that does meet the performance standards of the ordinance, they may comply with the ordinance by implementing two efficiency improvements from a list of possible measures.
Water Use Tracking:
Yes
Policy Description:
On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 the San José City Council adopted its Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance. The ordinance requires owners of commercial and multifamily buildings over 20,000 square feet to benchmark their properties' energy and water use. The City will make a subset of that data transparent to the public. The law also requires building owners whose buildings do not meet energy and water performance standards to take action to improve their performance. These owners have the option to conduct an energy and water audit, "retune" the building's operations, or implement improvements from a list of options specified by the City.
Buildings meeting the following conditions meet the ordinance's energy performance standards:
- Buildings that are currently certified as LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance v4 Certification
- Buildings that have had a California licensed engineer or architect or a Qualified Auditor or Retrocommissioning Professional certify that:
- The property has an Energy Star score of 75 or greater;
- The property has improved its ENERGY STAR score by 15 points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year;
- The property has a weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity that is 25 percent below the calculated mean for that property type;
- The property has reduced its weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity by at least 15 percent relative to its performance during the baseline year.
Buildings meeting the following conditions meet the ordinance's water performance standards:
- Buildings that have had a California licensed engineer or architect or a Qualified Auditor or Retrocommissioning Professional certify that:
- The propertyhas received a US EPA Water Score of 75
- The property has improved its Water Score by fifteen points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year
- The property has a water use intensity as calculated by the benchmarking tool that is 25 percent below the locally calculated mean for that property type
- The property has reduced its water use intensity by at least fifteen percent relative to its performance during the baseline year.
Enacted Date:
2018
Relevant Links:
| Building Types Affected | Size | Compliance Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Family, Non-Residential | Greater Than 50,000 Sq. Feet | 2019-05-01 |
| Multi-Family, Non-Residential | Greater Than or Equal To 20,000 Sq. Feet | 2020-05-01 |
| Public/Government | Greater Than or Equal To 15,000 Sq. Feet | 2019-05-01 |
Exemptions:
Owners of residential properties that are smaller than 50,000 square feet are exempt from the performance improvement pathway for water efficiency if the property is not sub-metered for water use.
Transparency:
Required Transparency:
Yes
Transparency Method:
Public Website
Transparency Trigger:
Date Certain
Frequency:
Annually
Reporting:
Required Reporting:
No
Utility Requirements/Support:
Utility Requirements/Support:
No
Verification:
Verification:
No
Notes:
Owners may establish satisfactory energy and water efficiency by providing a "performance verification report" to the department in such a form as required by the Director of the implementing department.
Compliance:
Compliance Enforcement:
Yes
Penalties for Non-Compliance:
Yes
Additional Program Information:
Audits:
Yes
Owners of buildings that do not meet the ordinance's performance standard may choose to take one of three performance pathways to comply. For the audit pathway, owners must conduct an ASHRAE level 2 energy audit or an energy audit offered by utilities serving the property. For water audits, the owner must use a water audit based on industry standard practices that at minimum covers the potable water distribution systems; the landscape irrigation systems; the water reuse systems; and the water features.
Retrocommissioning:
Yes
Owners of buildings that do not meet the ordinance's performance standard may choose to take one of three performance pathways to comply. For the retrocommissioning pathway, owners must have a retrocommissioning process performed in accordance with industry standard practices, including ASHRAE Guideline 0.2, Commissioning Process for Existing Systems and Assemblies.
For buildings that do not have a central cooling system and that does meet the performance standards of the ordinance, they may comply with the ordinance by implementing two efficiency improvements from a list of possible measures.
Water Use Tracking:
Yes