The City Council of Cambridge, Mass., approved the Building Energy Usage and Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) that requires benchmarking and disclosure of building energy performance for large commercial, institutional, and multifamily buildings. Nine other U.S. cities—Austin, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.—along with two states and one county have enacted similar laws.
Cambridge’s new ordinance addresses energy and water use in commercial and institutional buildings that are 25,000 sf or larger, along with multifamily buildings that have 50 or more units, and municipal buildings over 10,000 sf. Owners must annually benchmark and report their properties’ energy use, water use, and building information using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Portfolio Manager tool.
The ordinance will be phased in for various building types and sizes, with municipal buildings reporting their data by the end of 2014. Starting in the second year of reporting, data collected will be disclosed annually through a public web site.
(http://www.imt.org/news/the-current/cambridge-mass.-passes-energy-benchmarking-ordinance)
Related Stories
| Jul 5, 2013
USGBC adds several new LEED pilot credits
The U.S. Green Building Council has added several new LEED pilot credits to the LEED Pilot Credit Libraryin the past few months.
| Jul 5, 2013
Spray Foam Coalition supports new professional certification program for applicators
The Spray Foam Coalition (SFC) of the American Chemistry Council announced its support of the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance’s (SPFA) new Professional Certification Program for spray foam applicators.
| Jul 5, 2013
Some industry insiders see design-build as easier path to LEED certification
The design-build construction delivery method may have advantages during a LEED certification process.
| Jun 27, 2013
Lease-accounting legislation could hurt construction industry
Regulatory bodies have proposed changes in how leased equipment is treated on a corporate balance sheet.
| Jun 27, 2013
AGC urges Congress, Obama to reject caps on construction workers in immigration legislation
The unemployment rate in the construction sector in May was the lowest it has been in five years, which could signal a coming worker shortage, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
| Jun 27, 2013
California legislators make push for prevailing wage law
California lawmakers introduced new legislation that would cut off state construction funds from charter cities that don’t mandate the equivalent of union-scale wages on public-works projects. Of the 482 cities in California, 121 are charter cities.
| Jun 27, 2013
Thermal, solar control designs can impact cooling loads by 200%, heating loads by 30%
Underestimating thermal bridging can greatly undermine a building’s performance contributing to heating load variances of up to 30% and cooling load variances of up to 200%, says the MMM Group.
| Jun 27, 2013
U.S. Conference of Mayors passes new sustainability resolutions
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) passed a slate of sustainability resolutions that renew its commitment to local green building and clean energy efforts.
| Jun 19, 2013
NSF Sustainability begins verifying EPDs that can be used for LEED V4
NSF Sustainability has verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for nylon carpet styles and colors manufactured by Mannington Commercial and for J+J Flooring Group’s Kinetex® flooring product and Invision brand modular styles that use eKo® backing.
| Jun 19, 2013
Florida is latest battleground over LEED standards centered on certified wood
A nationwide battle over forest certification standards continues to be played out nationally and in Florida with legislation passed this month.
