In the last month, energy benchmarking at the city level has really heated up in the Midwest. Benchmarking policies have proven to be a crucial first step to achieving energy savings for cities. Buildings comprise around 40 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States.

Kansas City, MO

Kansas City is preparing for its first privately-owned buildings to report under the Kansas City Energy Empowerment Ordinance. All non-municipal buildings (institutional, commercial, and multifamily residential) of at least 100,000 square feet must submit their energy and water consumption data by May 1, 2017.

St. Louis, Missouri is aiming to become the fifth city in the Midwest with a mandatory energy benchmarking ordinance. On December 9, 2016, Alderman John Coater introduced a potential benchmarking ordinance which would help reduce building energy use, an objective of the city’s Sustainability Plan.

The MEEA Codes team took their talents to Cleveland, OH where they held the 7^th Annual Midwest Building Energy Codes Conference from November 15 -16, 2016. This event was a success with two productive days of networking and discussion among a diverse group of building efficiency professionals in the Midwest (and some from the coasts). Building professionals were represented from Federal, State and Local Energy Offices, Federal National Laboratories, Consulting Agencies, Non-Profits, and Code Enforcement Agencies. MEEA invited experts from across the Midwest and Nation to discuss timely topics related to building energy code adoption, compliance and enforcement – these are described below.

Buildings comprise around 40 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States, and benchmarking policies have proven to be a crucial first step to achieving energy savings.

The Evanston City Council is currently considering a water and energy benchmarking ordinance to better track and reduce energy waste and costs for its residents. The proposed ordinance has been in development since March 2015, and the council is expected to vote on the ordinance at its Monday, December 12 meeting.

As MEEA continues its efforts to make valuable contributions to the national conversation on intelligent efficiency, it’s important to step back and take a moment to define this somewhat nebulous concept. ACEEE has done a great job of helping energy efficiency stakeholders understand what this term means through several research reports, web outlets and two high-quality conferences on the subject. Their 2013 report, Intelligent Efficiency: Opportunities, Barriers, and Solutions, defines intelligent efficiency as:

Last month, select MEEA staff members participated in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Multi-Family Convening Meeting in Chicago. The event presented multiple aspects for multi-family buildings to save energy and participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge. Stacey Paradis, Executive Director, was also the keynote presenter for the event. Ms. Paradis gave a speech outlining the investments, current standards and challenges within the energy efficiency industry related to multi-family housing.

On June 4, 2015, Kansas City, Missouri became the 14th municipality in the U.S. and third in the Midwest to successfully pass an ordinance which engages building owners to improve their energy management practices. Congratulations to KCMO!

On Wednesday, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 2015 City Scorecard, which ranks the energy efficiency of 51 large American cities in five program and policy areas –local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings, energy and water utilities and transportation.

The USGBC West Michigan Chapter hosted the Earth Day Energy Summit and awards ceremony for participants in the 2014 Battle of the Buildings contest. This EPA-derived challenge is a friendly competition where commercial building owners and operators strive to reduce their carbon footprint through implementing energy reduction measures. The program has completed a successful first year, already launched the second year and is planning a third. Considering this success, the contest has expanded beyond the Western Michigan region to encompass the entire state.

The ACEEE Market Transformation National Symposium brought over 350 energy professionals together in Washington, D.C. in April to cover diverse and emerging topics within the scope of market transformation. With two new cities adopting benchmarking ordinances last week, ACEEE held a timely panel on future uses of benchmarking data and data integrity.