Energy Department releases resources to assess building energy benchmarking policies, programs

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.

One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.

A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartments, Grimm + Parker, Building Design+Construction 2021 Exercise area

Multifamily Housing | Jun 30, 2021

A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings

Grimm + Parker’s vision foresees buildings with rentable offices and refrigerated package storage.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.