With continued volatility in energy markets, commercial and multifamily building owners are uncertain on how to save money and need more information to make difficult decisions. Energy benchmarking helps building owners to determine how much energy their building consumes and is an important first-step toward implementing a cost-effective energy management or sustainability plan. Through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA) FlexTech Benchmarking Pilot, more than $7 million in financial incentives are available to commercial and multifamily buildings for energy benchmarking and onsite energy assessments. These services assess energy consumption and deliver recommendations on low-cost building system upgrades. NYSERDA incentives, coupled with its technical expertise, can drive down the cost of building operations in the commercial real estate sector in New York State. Benchmarking is a gateway to energy efficiency and helps building owners, property managers and facility operators better understand and manage energy consumption. Moreover, it can be used to prioritize energy efficiency investments across real estate portfolios and monitor the performance of energy efficiency upgrades. Continuous energy management can cut energy use and yield significant long-term savings while protecting the environment. The FlexTech Benchmarking Pilot will also help applicable New York City facilities comply with Local Law 84, a component of the Greener, Greater Buildings plan that requires building owners to benchmark energy consumption. Commercial buildings equal to or greater than 50,000 s/f that pay into the System Benefits Charge are eligible to participate in this new program, which provides applicants up to $7,000 in benchmarking services per site with no cost-share. For larger projects, the costs above $7,000 will be shared by NYSERDA and the applicant. Multifamily applicants may receive up to $3,000 in benchmarking services per site with no cost-share. NYSERDA also offers cost-shared assistance for energy audits, retro-commissioning studies, and long-term energy management and more. For information about how you can participate in NYSERDA programs for commercial real estate visit http://www.nyserda.org/programs/flextech.asp. Tom Barone is the director of energy efficiency services at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Albany, N.Y.