Overview:

Summary: Reporting on building energy performance allows governments to understand the current energy efficiency status of the existing building stock. This sets a baseline for measuring progress and reveals opportunities and priorities.

Implementation: Adopt an ordinance to require buildings, based on characteristics such as size and use, to report annual energy and water use. Governments can make this information publicly-available.

Considerations for Use: Building Management Systems (BMS) can automate collection of this data at the building scale and require minimal maintenance once installed.

• Policy Levers: The mechanism municipalities can use to actualize the intervention. These policy levers will likely be used in combination with each other.
  
  
  MandateMandates are government regulations that require stakeholders to meet standards through building codes, ordinances, zoning policies, or other regulatory tools.
• Trigger Points: Opportunities for municipalities to implement risk reduction and preparedness interventions based on the policy lever, building on the United Nations Environment Programme triggers used in the Beating the Heat handbook (2021).
  
  
  No-regrets actions (low cost/low effort but substantial benefit)Interventions that are relatively low-cost and low effort (in terms of requisite dependencies) but have substantial environmental and/or social benefits.
• Intervention Type:
  Buildings and Built Form
• Sectors:
  Buildings, Public Works

Impact:

• Target Beneficiaries:
  Residents
• Phase of Impact:
  Risk reduction and mitigation
• Metrics:
  Energy use by area, building, and use

Case Studies:

• Boston Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (UNEP, Pg 131)

Implementation:

• Intervention Scale:
  City, State/Province
• Authority and Governance:
  City government, State/provincial government
• Implementation Timeline:
  Medium-term (3-9 Years)
• Implementation Stakeholders:
  City government, Property owners and managers
• Funding Sources:
  N/A
• Capacity to Act:
  High

Benefits:

• Cost-Benefit:
  Low
• Public Good:
  N/A
• GHG Reduction:
  Medium
• Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):
  Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Co-benefits (Social):
  N/A