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Building Energy and Water Benchmarking Performance Standards

Solution Overview

Building Efficiency 305 (BE305) represents Miami-Dade County's comprehensive strategy to increase energy and water efficiency in large public and private buildings countywide.[1] This innovative approach uses the deployment of building performance data to drive decision making and transform the marketplace.[6] The initiative helps ensure a more resilient city in relation to existing buildings and addresses the mandate from the Miami City Commission to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases.[5]

Technical Components

The program requires commercial and multifamily buildings 20,000 square feet and above to benchmark their electricity, natural gas, and water consumption every year.[2] Building owners must annually measure and report whole-building energy and water use data, building characteristics, and gross floor area using EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager as the reporting mechanism.[3] The Building Performance Standards apply to public and private buildings 20,000 square feet and larger, using ENERGY STAR Score and/or Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) as performance metrics, with standards set by property type to ensure that buildings are compared to their peers and that targets are equitable and achievable.[3] The City of Miami procured Touchstone IQ as the energy and water benchmarking solutions provider, which provides the software platform for the data processing and tracking, along with support for a help desk.[2] One of the components includes the Building Performance Ordinance which mandates benchmarking and retuning, also known as retro commissioning.[4]

Implementation Details

The initiative is managed by the Office of Resilience for large existing buildings in Miami-Dade County and is part of the national City Energy Project initiative.[4][1] The City of Miami adopted the building energy and water consumption benchmarking and retuning ordinance in June 2021.[2] The ordinance went into effect in a phased approach with buildings 100,000 square feet or larger required to comply by June 30, 2022, buildings between 50,000 and 99,999 square feet by June 30, 2023, and buildings between 20,000 and 49,999 square feet by June 30, 2024.[2] Building owner reporting was phased in overtime by square footage, with reporting requirements for 100,000 square feet and above beginning in 2023.[6] Data verification is required for a subset of buildings every three years to ensure data quality.[3] The implementation requires one full staff person to manage this program and one part-time staff person to support.[2] The cost of the software program was an estimated $500,000 which is required for the building tracking and technical support.[2] Miami-Dade County planned to create a Quality Assurance Verifier position to support the guidelines and applicability of the Building Performance Ordinance.[4] Florida Power and Light (FPL) established a pilot program for properties in the City of Miami that must comply with the benchmarking requirement.[2]

The recommendations were developed through an extensive stakeholder engagement process that included one-on-one interviews with more than 40 key stakeholders, including building owners and managers, developers, affordable housing providers, community-based organizations, contractors, and utility representatives.[3] A series of four public workshops with over 100 participants gathered input on the design of the proposed policies and programs.[3] The recommendations were scheduled to be presented to the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners in early 2022.[3] IMT served in a leadership role in the City Energy Project, a $20 million, multi-year initiative that provided human and financial resources to major U.S. cities to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.[7]

Benefits and Impacts

Once fully implemented, the program is projected to achieve annual countywide outcomes of $37 million to $112 million in energy and water bill savings.[1] The initiative is projected to achieve an annual countywide reduction of 234,000 to 1.1 million metric tons in climate pollution emissions.[1] Additionally, the program is projected to achieve an annual countywide reduction of 300 billion gallons in water usage.[1] Miami-Dade County established a target to benchmark 1.3 billion building square footage communitywide by 2026.[4] The county also set a target to retune 1.1 billion building square footage communitywide buildings by 2030.[4] The program seeks to promote improvements in building performance through a suite of strategies that increase energy and water efficiency in large, existing private and public buildings.[4]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

Buildings account for nearly 60% of community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Miami-Dade County.[3] Out of the 1.03 million housing units in Miami-Dade County, 82% were built before 2000, which is before the Florida Building Code was enacted in 2002.[4] The program addresses this legacy building stock challenge by ensuring that 80% of the building stock that was built before the Florida Building Code came into place in 2002 meets modern efficiency standards.[4]

Business Analysis

The program includes comprehensive support mechanisms through a BE305 Resource Center that provides a one-stop-shop for information, technical assistance, and guidance through a website, help desk, trainings, and direct support to building owners and managers.[3] Financial resources connect building owners with existing rebates and incentives from utilities and other sources, as well as exploring new financing options such as a green bank or commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) program.[3] The initiative includes workforce development through training and certification programs to build the local workforce of qualified contractors, building operators, and other professionals needed to deliver high-quality energy and water efficiency projects.[3] Equity strategies include workforce development programs focused on creating pathways to high-quality jobs for residents of disadvantaged communities.[3] In addition to policy development, the program includes a voluntary performance challenge (the BE305 Challenge) that provides resources, training, and technical assistance to help building owners and managers improve their performance and prepare for future requirements.[3]

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