To meet the goal of cutting GHG emissions by 20% in commercial and industrial facilities by 2025, the City of Minneapolis has continued to verify its benchmarking policy.. With the median ENERGY STAR score for all buildings in the city coming in at 64, the 2013 Energy Benchmarking Report’s authors note that the most common facility type – office buildings – earned a median score of 87.
Under expanded rules, public owned buildings larger than 25,000 square feet and privately-owned facilities larger than 100,000 square feet are required to use the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool, with the results showing that 87% of affected facilities complied with the requirement.
The city’s second report shows both a high level of reporting and engagement by FMs and opportunities for significant improvement, especially in sectors such as hospitals, hotels, and schools, which had the lowest median scores. The performance data also demonstrated that the age of a facility had no relation to the amount of energy it used, with modern retrofits providing increased performance and diminished EUI values.
