The Denver City Council unanimously passed an ordinance in the latter stages of December 2016 designed to reduce energy use in the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by requiring energy benchmarking and transparency in multi-family and commercial buildings.
"The Energize Denver program," was developed as a central key to the city’s efforts to achieve Denver’s 2020 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80% by 2050.
“By passing this ordinance, we’re aiming to make Denver a sustainable city for generations to come,” says Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “Local actions can have global impacts, and Denver will join with cities across the world who are taking positive steps to make their cities more resilient to our changing climate.”
Denver joins 16 other large cities to pass energy benchmarking ordinances to achieve climate goals. Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, Boston, among several others have all adopted similar legislation.
Beginning in 2017, commercial and multi-family buildings over 25,000 square feet in Denver will be required to track and report their ENERGY STAR score. In 2018, buildings over 50,000 square feet will be required to report their score. The ENERGY STAR score measures and tracks their energy use, will be made available to the public on an annual basis.
