The U.S. Department of Energy has released two resources to help analyze the energy, non-energy, and market transformation impacts of building energy benchmarking policies and programs.
One handbook provides methodologies for jurisdictions to use to analyze the impact of their benchmarking policies and programs. The second demonstrates the methodologies using real data from New York City’s benchmarking ordinance, Local Law 84 (LL84).
Building energy benchmarking is the process of measuring how efficiently a building uses energy relative to the other similar buildings over time. The DOE Benchmarking & Transparency Policy and Program Impact Evaluation Handbook provides cost-effective, standardized analytic methods for determining gross and net energy reduction, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation, job creation and economic growth impacts.
The second report found that between 2010 and 2013—the first four years of LL84—buildings covered by the ordinance reduced energy use by 5.7% and lowered greenhouse gas emissions by 8.3%. The benchmarking efforts directly created 39 jobs as well another roughly 7,000 jobs through energy-efficiency activities.
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