Seattle Building Energy Program Under Way

SEATTLE — The first phase of Seattle’s new building energy efficiency program is under way for nonresidential buildings measuring more than 50,000 square feet.

With the goal of helping building owners and managers reduce their energy costs through benchmarking, the city’s Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting Program will also stimulate the retrofit market to create good local jobs, according to Diane Sugimura, director of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development.

“Buildings consume more than 40 percent of the energy produced in the U.S. but there is a huge opportunity to lower energy costs through better building efficiency,” Sugimura said. “The City successfully launched the first phase of the Building Energy Benchmarking program earlier this year and we’re excited to begin reaching an even larger pool of buildings. Helping building owners track their energy use is an important step towards improving building energy efficiency, reducing energy costs, and invigorating the retrofit market to create good local jobs.”

To make the benchmarking process as seamless as possible, the City has partnered with local utilities to provide owners with the building energy consumption data they need in a convenient format. Using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, owners will be able to easily see their building’s energy performance and how it stacks up against similar buildings.

“Having this information at their fingertips is the first step towards improving building energy performance and reducing energy costs,” a statement from the City said.

The next phase will require nonresidential buildings greater than10,000 square feet and multifamily buildings with five or more units to benchmark and report their energy performance by April 1, 2012.

The second group of buildings represents a diverse group of building owners and types including offices, schools, restaurants, retail outlets and more that make up a significant portion of Seattle’s building stock, according to city officials.

The City is working to ensure that all buildings are benchmarked on an annual basis, and that building energy use information is available to potential tenants, buyers and lenders during real estate transactions.

“Part of managing properties properly is providing as much cash flow to investors as possible. And a big part of that is managing utility costs,” said John Speirs, senior vice president at KG Investments, a Seattle-based real estate investment and property management company that regularly benchmarks its properties. “Energy is one of our largest expenses. The lower we can keep our energy costs, the more we can bring to the bottom line, and the better our return on investment. We support the efforts the City is making to expand the use of benchmarking and think it’s a great idea.”