On December 20, 2016, Denver Mayor Hancock signed and finalized an Ordinance which establishes a new energy benchmarking requirement for commercial and multi-family buildings greater than 25,000 square feet in size. The energy benchmarking ordinance requires annual building energy usage to be benchmarked using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and reported to the City on June 1, 2017 for buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and by June 1, 2018 for buildings greater than 25,000 but less than 50,000 square feet.
The stated purpose of the new ordinance is to establish an Energy Efficiency Program that requires Covered Building owners to benchmark building energy performance, and make such energy performance information publically available in order to raise awareness and drive action.
The Ordinance states that the energy performance information that must be reported to the Department shall include, at a minimum, a Covered Building’s annual energy use intensity, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score if eligible for a score, greenhouse gas emissions, and any other data fields needed to calculate the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score for auditing and verification purposes.
Regulations have not been written yet to implement this new ordinance. It is expected that they will be forthcoming soon. In the meantime buildings greater than 50,000 square feet in size are advised by ECSE to start the benchmarking process early to avoid delays in meeting the June 1, 2017 deadline.
ECSE is a registered ENERGY STAR Partner and Service provider which has completed hundreds of ENERGY STAR building benchmarking audits.
