The clock is ticking for energy benchmarking your building

As part of New York City's Greener, Greater Buildings Program, the City Council passed Local Law 84 on December 9, 2009. This law requires all residential and commercial buildings over 50,000 SFG and city buildings over 10,000 SFG to benchmark their 2010 energy and water use by May 1 of this year and every May 1 thereafter. There are only about 2 ½ months to gather, analyze, and publish the data for what is estimated to be 20,000 qualifying buildings. Should the deadline be missed, the penalty is $500 per quarter. What is the process? N.Y.C. requires the benchmarking process to use the EPA's Internet-based Portfolio Manager. The process requires data collection for the 2010 calendar year regarding energy and water usage along with building size parameters, hours of operation, number of computers, and pertinent information. Con Edison will provide breakdowns of 2010's consumption for a nominal fee of $102.50. For most residential properties, this will be the most expeditious method to collect such data. Water usage data is only required if the building was equipped with meter reading equipment for the full previous year. Other energy use data includes: oil, steam, propane, and natural gas. Once the data is uploaded, Portfolio Manager will produce a Statement of Energy Performance, which will be filed with N.Y.C. What type of data will be disclosed by N.Y.C.? The Department of Finance is to publish such information on their website in the years to follow. Findings will continue to be published on a recurring yearly basis for each building type. Information disclosed by N.Y.C. will include the energy utilization index (BTU/SFG/year), water use per SFG, a comparison of data gathered from each year of benchmarking, and a Statement of Energy Performance complete with a score from 1 to 100 generated by the Portfolio Manager. The energy utilization index information will be relative to buildings of similar use. What is the purpose? Primarily, benchmarking will make owners and occupants conscious of their energy usage and will set a standard of measurement for the reduction of energy use in the following years. The adage of "it must be measurable to be managed" would apply. The data garnered from benchmarking will be reported to the mayor and speaker of the N.Y.C. council and will be instrumental in measuring future energy use reduction efforts. What Needs to be done? Don't wait! Given the estimated 20,000 buildings and the May 1 deadline, time is of the essence. Collating and uploading the data could be somewhat time consuming, and it will take some time to learn Portfolio Manager to process the data. There are many energy use consultancies available to provide this service. Such companies will handle the process of benchmarking on behalf of the client. Services vary by consultancy and in some cases include walk-through surveys, quarterly database updates, etc. Fees for such services will range from $1,000 to $4,000 depending upon data availability, number of tenants, building size, and usage. A professional engineer, registered architect, or certified energy manager is not required to complete the job, but having such expertise on staff may prove helpful for future energy reduction efforts. If your building, including cellar levels, is greater than 50,000 SFG, you must comply with N.Y.C.'s Energy and Water Use Benchmarking law by May 1 and every year thereafter. Start the data solicitation and organization now. Josh Simon, MBA, CRM, is VP of business development at Energy Reduction Solutions, New York, N.Y.