Cities and States Achieving Building Energy Policy Goals

Cities and growing urban populations are responsible for a substantial fraction of global energy consumption. Within cities, buildings represent the largest share of urban energy consumption and emissions. In New York City, buildings are responsible for 70%1 of overall emissions; in Boston, that number is 712%. Accordingly, the cities which are aiming to reduce their energy consumption cannot achieve that goal without engaging with the building stock and its owners. Across the United States, jurisdictions are establishing goals and developing plans to increase energy efficiency and produce more renewable energy, ultimately leading to a cleaner energy system. Advancements in public policy, such as Building Performance Standards BPS and leadingedge technologies are enabling states and local jurisdictions to make strides to achieving these goals. The Building Energy Analysis Manager BEAM project aims to play an important role by assisting jurisdictions with the management and compliance tracking of BPS goals. The Phase II proposal leverages existing DOE SEED™, AssetScore, AuditTemplate and EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® tools into the BEAM platform to simplify the implementation of building performance programs, while allowing cities the flexibility to design the programs’ characteristics to meet their policy and technology requirements. BEAM facilitates reporting and forecasting of the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the covered buildings and manages code compliance. The project will also develop analytic tools to help building portfolios subject to these programs optimize their energy efficiency and renewable energy investment decisions. The objective is to provide a cost effective solution for small and large cities, and facilitate the implementation and management of building energy performance and efficiency programs. A nonprofit project partner will provide a public Building Performance Standard Resource Center to support the jurisdictions’ policy efforts.