Portland Approves Energy Benchmarking Requirements

As part of the citywide goal to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050, the Portland City Council approved new requirements for owners of commercial buildings over 20,000 square feet to track energy use and report it annually. The requirements will affect offices, retail stores, hotels, grocery stores, health care, and higher education facilities while exempting residential properties, nursing homes, industrial facilities, warehouses, K-12 schools, and parking structures from the policy.

While the energy used to power buildings is the largest source of carbon pollution in Portland, the Oregon city expects that the new policy will help to cut energy use and reduce carbon emissions. The new benchmarking policy requires commercial buildings to use the free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool, which is widely used to benchmark performance and could even help more of the city’s facilities become ENERGY STAR certified – currently fewer than 100 of Portland’s more than 5,000 buildings have their energy performance verified under the program.

Are benchmarking requirements on their way to your city? Learn more by taking a look at this guide to the future of Mandatory Benchmarking.