San José

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.
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 |
Utility Requirements/Support:
Verification:
Compliance:

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.
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 |