1. Energy Benchmarking and
Disclosure in U.S. Cities
Cliff Majersik
Executive Director, Institute for Market Transformation
cliff@imt.org
@IMTCliff

2. 2

3. Building Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Percentage of Total Carbon Emissions
from Building Sector
75
75
74
70
65
62
51
38
US
Chicago
Dallas
Minneapolis New York City Philadelphia
Salt Lake City Washington, DC
The building sector is the dominant user of energy and generator of CO2 emissions in
the U.S. This is more true in cities due to density.

4. Link between Codes and Energy Performance Policy
Energy Codes
Construction
Operation
Renovation
time
Energy Performance Policy
Operation

5. Rating and disclosure drives demand and competition

6. Rental Premiums for Green Commercial
Buildings in the US
Jackson, 2009
Pivo & Fisher, 2010
Wiley et
al., 2010
Fuerst &
McAllister, 2011
Eicholtz, 2010

7. Added Value of ENERGY STAR-Labeled
Commercial Buildings in the U.S. Market
Wiley et al 2010*
30%
Fuerst & McAllister 2009/11
Jackson 2009
25%
Pivo & Fischer 2010*
AVERAGE
PREMIUM
Eicholtz et al 2010*
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
RENTAL PRICE
SALE PRICE
OCCUPANCY RATE

8. A Virtuous Cycle
When performance is
measured, performance improves.
When performance is measured and
reported back, the rate of
improvement accelerates.
8

9. U.S. Benchmarking Policy Landscape

10. Covered Properties
New York City
Buildings 50k SF+
~16,000 buildings, 2.5 billion SF
San Francisco
Buildings 10k SF+
~2,700 buildings, 205 million SF

11. NUMBER OF PROPERTIES COVERED ANNUALLY
Each
year, existing
policies will
impact more
than
51,000
properties
Boston
1,600
Chicago
3,500
New York City
15,300
Philadelphia
1,400
Seattle
3,600
Washington State
4,600
Austin
2,800
San Francisco
2,700
Minneapolis
625
Washington, DC
2,000
California
13,600
Source: IMT

12. BUILDING AREA (IN SQUARE FEET) COVERED ANNUALLY
Totaling
approximately
5.8 billion SF
of floor space in
major real estate
markets
Chicago
900 million SF
Boston
250 million SF
Philadelphia
244.5 million SF
Seattle
295 million SF
Washington State
247 million SF
Austin
113 million SF
California
347 million SF
Minneapolis
110 million SF
Washington, DC
357 million SF
New York City
2.8 billion SF
San Francisco
205 million SF
Source: IMT

13. Early Energy Intensity Findings in New York City
The poorest performing
buildings use 4 to 8
times the energy of the
highest performing
buildings.
By improving the
poor performers
citywide energy
reductions of 18%
to 31% could be
achieved.

14. Small Businesses and Job Creation
First report documenting job growth
from energy benchmarking policies
 Profiles of small businesses adding staff and
increasing client bases
 KEY TAKEAWAY: Financing not the key barrier.
Primary issue is demand.
14

15. Small Businesses and Job Creation
“As a Silicon Valley venture capitalist … I tell our green startup companies to focus on San
Francisco or New York City. That’s where the action is going to be.”
- Elton Sherwin, venture capitalist, senior managing director, Ridgewood Capital
“The Greener Greater Buildings Plan has spurred the New York Market to interest and activity
around energy efficiency. Over the past year, we have begun working with over 75 million
square feet of real estate in New York and over 400 new clients.”
- Lindsay Napor McLean, COO, Ecological
“When an owner sees a benchmarking score that is lower than expected, they’re a little more
receptive to improvements to bring the score up, which in turn lowers their utility costs.”
- Kevin Dingle, president, Sustaining Structures
15

16. Takeaways
 Boldest action is in cities
- Federal outlook remains uncertain; state and local action to continue
 Leading cities are looking beyond disclosure
- Integrated policy frameworks emerging with focus on poor performers
 Business and professional leadership is key

18. The Data Access and Transparency Alliance (DATA) is a
collaborative effort led by the commercial real estate
industry and green building organizations to provide
building operators with energy consumption data to
advance energy-efficiency and energy cost savings in
buildings.
More information can be found:
http://www.energydataalliance.org/

21. Thank you!
Cliff Majersik
Executive Director, Institute for Market Transformation
Washington, DC
cliff@imt.org
@IMTCliff

22. International Policy Timeline
1997: Denmark requires energy
certification for homes and buildings
2004:
Norway,
part of
the European Economic
Area, formally agrees to
implement the EPBD and
building certification
requirements
2007: Brazil adopts voluntary
building rating regulations that
become mandatory in 2012
2010: EPBD Recast
The EPBD is recast to
strengthen the
energy performance
requirements for all
EU Member States
1999: Australian Capital Territory
requires energy certification for homes
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2002: The European
Parliament adopts the
Energy Performance of
Buildings Directive (EPBD),
requiring all EU Member
States to establish
mandatory energy
certification schemes for
homes and buildings
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2008: China adopts a mandatory
energy rating program for
government buildings.
2008: Turkey
adopts a
mandatory
certification
scheme
2010: Australia
enacts mandatory
energy rating for
commercial
structures.

23. Partners of Green Lease Library
http://www.greenleaselibrary.com/

24. Green Lease Leaders
Recognition Program
Green Lease Leaders is a recognition program
developed by
www.GreenLeaseLibrary.com, with support
from the Institute for Market Transformation
(IMT) and the Department of Energy’s Better
Buildings Alliance.
The Green Lease Leader designation
recognizes companies or broker teams that
have successfully implemented green lease
language into their new or existing leases.
The website and application process will be
launching this January 2014.