All Climate Events

Tuesday, July 13, 2021. 3:00 PM. Webinar: How State and Municipal Policymakers Can Ensure Access to Energy Utility Data to Support Performance Improvement in Commercial & Multifamily Buildings. Pete Zadoretzky, Bozzuto; Eric Duchon, Blackstone; Kim Burke, Colorado Energy Office; Jessica Brown, Overlay Consulting. Sponsored by the EPA. Register here.

Understanding whole-building performance through benchmarking is a mainstay of successful energy management. Using tools like EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, building owners leverage benchmarking results to identify underperforming properties and focus improvement efforts that will cut energy waste, save money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

However, for many properties – including multi-tenant office and multifamily residential buildings – the process to obtain the whole-building energy consumption data needed to benchmark can be difficult or even impossible. This lack of information creates barriers to benchmarking, understanding whole building performance metrics, pursuing improved energy performance, applying for ENERGY STAR Certification, and complying with state and local benchmarking and building performance standard requirements, where applicable.

For this reason, building owners and other stakeholders are increasingly looking to their utilities to provide data access solutions to overcome these barriers. And, while more than 50 utilities across the country have answered the call to date, more work is needed to ensure that these solutions are made broadly available across utility service territories, and that they leverage the best practices developed by early adopters.

Through this webinar, individuals and organizations that influence or regulate utilities will learn more about the role of utility data access solutions, including how these solutions have been deployed to date by more across numerous states and municipalities, and what key considerations at the policy level can drive successful implementation by utilities.

During the session, attendees will hear directly from building owners, state-level policy makers, and the ENERGY STAR program team. These speakers will emphasize the value of utility data access solutions; detail the gaps experienced in the many states and areas where solutions are not currently available; offer examples of how states and municipalities are shaping the solutions offered by utilities; and provide key considerations for effective implementation. Ultimately, the content will demonstrate that utility data access is not just “nice to have,” but rather that it should be viewed as a critical precursor to successful implementation of state and municipal initiatives seeking to drive improvement in building energy performance, whether via voluntary or mandatory mechanisms.