Part of a Greener Community

We talk about “green building” on a fairly regular basis in this newsletter and in our blogs. But “green building” isn’t just about the homes we live in. We’re just part of a larger community that’s taking environmental responsibility seriously. 

The city of Seattle has launched a new Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting Program requiring Seattle’s building owners to take that first step toward greater energy savings and benchmark their buildings. The program is already underway for commercial and non-residential buildings larger than 50,000 square feet, and is now focusing on buildings larger than 10,000 square feet or having five or more residential units.

In mid-November, owners of over 8,000 buildings were notified of their requirement to benchmark and report by April 1, 2012. The City is working to ensure that all these buildings are benchmarked on an annual basis, and that building energy use information is provided to potential tenants, buyers and lenders during real estate transactions—enabling building owners, businesses and residents alike can make more informed and cost-conscious decisions when upgrading, buying or renting property.

The City has partnered with all local utilities to automatically provide owners with the energy consumption information for their entire building in a convenient and easy to use format. In addition, the City has developed a series of educational materials—including hands-on training workshops, webinars and a step-by-step “How To” guide—to help owners with benchmarking and provide them information on utility energy-saving programs, rebates and other financial incentives to save energy.

For more information, visit www.seattle.gov/dpd/energybenchmarking, e-mail energybenchmarking@seattle.gov, or call (206) 727-8484.