In this series, we’re exploring state and local building efficiency regulations to give you a bird’s-eye view of the policies that may impact your portfolio.
As the old saying goes, “Think Global, Act Local.”
Nowhere is this more evident than in the many states and metropolitan areas around the U.S. that have developed climate action plans to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, even in the absence of more sweeping federal legislation.
Many of these regions are highly urbanized, so it should come as no surprise that commercial building efficiency is often a key focus area within these plans. Building emissions contribute to approximately 40% of carbon emissions in the U.S., and many state and local regulators have focused on incentivizing improvements to building efficiency as a means of lowering emissions and showing leadership on climate change.
One common method is to establish efficiency requirements for building owners. These requirements can involve things like: tracking, reporting, and benchmarking building energy consumption; conducting regular energy audits; introducing efficiency standards that go above and beyond pre-existing building energy codes; and, more recently, targeting net-zero energy for new construction projects.
The Clean Energy Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018 (the CEDC Act) represents one of the country’s most aggressive and impactful initiatives in the fight against climate change. With building energy use accounting for nearly 75 percent of the District’s greenhouse gas emissions, the legislation takes aggressive and innovate action to target this sector, most notably with the first-of-its-kind Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS). BEPS establishes a minimum energy performance for commercial and multifamily buildings. Buildings below the threshold will be required to improve their energy performance by 20% over the 5-year compliance period or take other prescriptive actions in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption by 50% by 2032.
Learn more about how Aquicore makes it easy to collect the energy data needed to comply with local, city, and state benchmarking regulations.
We’ve rounded up the key building energy requirements, policies, and plans for the Washington, D.C. metro area.
| State / City / County |
Name |
Type of Regulation / Policy / Initiative |
Description |
Effective Date |
| District of Columbia |
The Clean and Affordable Energy Act |
Energy Benchmarking |
Commercial buildings and multifamily buildings over 50,000 square feet are required to annually benchmark and publicly disclose energy usage data using ENERGY STAR. |
2009 |
| District of Columbia |
Green Building Act |
Energy Efficiency (New Construction / Major Renovation) |
New construction and major renovation buildings, (10,000 square feet or greater for district-owned and 50,000 square feet or greater for commercial) are required to be designed to achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 75 as determined by the ENERGY STAR Target Finder tool. These buildings must report and track usage in Energy Star Portfolio Manager. |
2006 |
| District of Columbia |
Clean Energy DC Plan |
Net Zero Energy (New Construction) |
All new construction must achieve net-zero energy beginning in 2026. |
2026 |
| Maryland |
Maryland High Performance Buildings Act (S.B. 208) |
Energy Efficiency (State-Owned Construction and Major Renovation Projects) |
State-funded capital construction or major renovation projects must achieve at least a silver rating under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building rating system or a comparable numeric rating on an approved and nationally recognized system.1 |
2008 |
| District of Columbia |
Clean Energy and Omnibus Act |
Energy Efficiency (Existing Buildings) |
All existing buildings over 50,000 square feet must meet an energy efficiency threshold or to improve their performance by 2026. The threshold is based on the local median ENERGY STAR score.2 |
2019 |
| District of Columbia |
The Clean and Affordable Energy Act |
Energy Benchmarking |
Commercial buildings and multifamily buildings over 50,000 square feet are required to benchmark and publicly disclose energy usage data using ENERGY STAR. |
Amendment to begin in January 2021 |
| District of Columbia |
Green Building Act of 2006 |
Energy Efficiency (New Construction and Major Renovation) |
New construction and major renovation buildings (10,000 square feet or greater for district-owned and 50,000 square feet or greater for commercial) must be designed to achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 75 as determined by the ENERGY STAR Target Finder tool. These buildings must report and track usage in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. |
2006 |
| Virginia |
Senate Bill 963 |
Energy Benchmarking (State-owned buildings) |
State-owned buildings greater than 5000 feet must benchmark their annual energy and water use using the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. State agencies are also required to benchmark 5% of the building starting in 2021 and reach 100% by 2025.3 |
2020 |
| Virginia |
Senate Bill 963 |
Energy Audit (State-owned buildings) |
For all state-owned buildings greater than 5000 feet, energy managers must identify priority facilities for energy audits and performance contracting beginning in 2021. |
2021 |
| City of Rockville & Montgomery County, Maryland |
Ordinance 09-16 (Rockville)
Building Energy Benchmarking (Montgomery County) |
Energy Benchmarking |
All county-owned nonresidential buildings and privately-owned nonresidential buildings more than 50,000 square feet must track and report their annual energy in ENERGY STAR. Reported utility data must be verified by a recognized Data Verifier 1X / 3 years. Benchmarking data will be publicly disclosed. |
2016 |
- A major renovation is considered to be any project that has a scope of 7,500 square feet or greater; reuses the building shell for the new construction; and involves the replacement of the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems.
- Alternative pathways will be available for buildings unable to meet the threshold.
- Utility accounts must be connected to the state ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager master account.
Key Sources:
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