Looking to reduce the energy footprint of the city’s large facilities, the Atlanta City Council has unanimously passed an ordinance requiring energy benchmarking for all privately or city-owned buildings over 25,000 square feet. The Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance is projected to result in a 20% reduction in commercial energy consumption by 2030, create more than 1,000 jobs per year for the first few years of implementation, and cut GHG emissions by 50% compared to 2013 levels by 2030.
The new rules will affect the 2,350 large facilities that make up 80% of Atlanta’s commercial sector – municipal buildings are first required to benchmark energy performance in 2015 while privately-owned facilities will be brought into the program’s requirements by 2016. The ordinance requires building owners to benchmark and report facility energy use on an annual basis and perform an energy audit every ten years. Information collected as part of the program will be made public, a move expected to help drive demand for high-performance buildings.
“We are building on our success with the Better Buildings Challenge to conserve more energy, boost our local economy, and cut pollution. This is the right step for the City of Atlanta, and shows our leadership on the national stage,” says Mayor Kasim Reed.
Interested in benchmarking your facility’s performance but not sure how to begin? Take a look at this training program that can put you on the right path.
