Jan 31, 2024
Introduction
Issues surrounding energy compliance are increasingly demanding the attention of building owners and operators. These complex regulations span three main categories:
- Energy Benchmarking and Transparency
- Audits and Retrocommissioning
- Building Performance Standards
It is essential for building owners and operators to familiarize themselves with the regulations to which their buildings are subject at the city, county and state levels, whose requirements vary.
For a quick overview, check out our video below. Keep reading to learn more.
Building Compliance Categories
Let's examine the three categories of compliance requirements for buildings.
Benchmarking & Transparency is the most common of the categories, entailing annual submission of building data through Energy Star Portfolio Manager. This data set includes property use and energy utility data, with some jurisdictions requiring specific additions such as water utility data or third-party data verification
Audits and Retrocommissioning compliance requirements entail submission of an ASHRAE level 2 energy audit or an operational tune-up report on a set schedule. Although simply providing these submissions is relatively straightforward for building owners and operators to fulfill, this activity is essential for remaining in compliance. Failing to comply can result in fines or penalties from the applicable jurisdiction, however depending on the jurisdiction there are often alternative pathways to comply, or subsidies for performing an energy audit
Building Performance Standards is the third category of energy compliance regulations, and involves tracking and comparing a building's energy and emissions data against an established target threshold set by the jurisdiction. This category generally subjects buildings more severe financial penalties if they fail to meet the specified performance standard.
Property size and property type dictate which compliance regulations must be met, and should be factored in when determining the applicable requirements for any particular building in its given jurisdictions.
Jurisdictions
The regulatory footprint for building energy compliance standards continues to grow. As of today, there are many different jurisdictions spanning the state, county, and municipal levels, but 46 additional state and local jurisdictions are expected to introduce standards by the end of 2024 – and this expansion is only expected to continue in subsequent years.
(Source: Institute for Market Transformation)
Much of the regulatory expansion among these jurisdictions has been concentrated in 2 of the 3 previously cited compliance categories, particularly Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards.
Penalties
Penalties for failing to comply with building energy regulations vary by category. Benchmarking penalties can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. However, failing to comply with Building Performance Standards will result in much more severe fines, which can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The magnitude of the financial impact of these fines is driving building owners to approach energy performance management with an increased rigor, as critical decisions must be made in order to meet standards and sustain compliance over time.
Achieve Compliance and Reduce Financial Risk
Access to verified and accurate building data is crucial for not only required compliance reporting, but also for making well-informed determinations of the optimal measures to navigate the regulatory environment. Data quality is a prerequisite for all decision-making in order to achieve desired impact and measure progress along the way.
Assessing the current energy compliance landscape for buildings is the first step to take once complete and reliable data is available and accessible across a portfolio. Following this initial assessment, building owners can evaluate the anticipated shortfalls relative to increasingly stringent compliance regulations and what investments may be necessary in order to meet standards.. Sizing investments against potential fines is a demanding exercise, but one that owners and operators are imminently faced with nonetheless.
The good news is that Backpack equips our customers with the data and tools they need to make compliance submissions with accurate data and use this comprehensive building data set to drive decisions while navigating the regulatory environment. Stay tuned for an upcoming webinar in which we will walk through an in depth exploration of this exercise. In the meantime, if you would like to have a conversation with us, please get in touch.
FEATURE HIGHLIGHT
Automated, audit-ready Energy Star and compliance reporting
- Visibility of compliance requirements mapped to your portfolio
- All required compliance data stored, managed, and submitted
- Automated Energy Star portfolio account management and compliance submissions