Policies Targeting Existing Buildings
Existing buildings make up a significant amount of city energy use and emissions. Cities can adopt several policies to drive energy efficiency investments in existing buildings. Some policies, like benchmarking ordinances, seek to reduce information barriers to energy efficiency investments, while more stringent policies, like retrofit mandates, require building owners to take actions that directly reduce building energy use. Cities can also seek to encourage energy efficiency improvements by offering incentives for clean energy projects or creating energy reduction competitions and challenges. This section includes city-specific information on the following building policies:
- Building performance standards—these policies set phased energy or emissions reductions for existing buildings.
- Retrofit policies— these policies require building owners to modify existing buildings to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
- Retrocommissioning policies— these policies increase efficiency by improving the operations and maintenance of building systems.
- Cross-cutting policies— these policies require building owners to choose an energy efficiency action from a menu of options.
- Benchmarking and disclosure policies— these policies require building owners to measure, report, and disclose building energy use.
- Rental disclosure policies— these policies require rental properties to disclose energy use information to prospective tenants.
- Audit policies— these policies require a certified professional to inspect the building and identify potential upgrades.
- Financial or nonfinancial incentives— these policies provide incentives that encourage building owners to invest in clean energy upgrades including rebates, financing, tax credits and density bonuses.
- Other innovative policies— these are innovative policies that do not fall into the above categories. For example, New York’s Local Law 33 requires building owners to display an energy efficiency grade at each public entrance of a building.
- Voluntary programs—these programs seek to encourage energy reduction in buildings through competitive or voluntary means.
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: August 2023
Incentives
Through the Green Path Program, projects that exceed energy code minimum requirements receive expedited permit reviews and preliminary plan reviews at no costs.
Bernalillo County also offers commercial building owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and solar energy projects.
The City supports a community-led home energy audit and upgrade model that leverages Public Service New Mexico (PNM) efficiency programs with community knowledge and support through nonprofits Partnership for Community Action (PCA) and Prosperity Works (PW). Through PCA and PW efforts, frontline community members, known as Parent Leaders, are paid and trained to work within their communities to identify, qualify and schedule homes to receive free energy upgrades and audits. These Parent Leaders accompany the PNM technicians as they conduct audits and upgrade installations, often providing translation and acting as a trusted figure to ease interactions between homeowners and utility staff. While audits and upgrades are conducted, Parent Leaders also administer surveys to the homeowners, gathering valuable information on knowledge of energy programs, impacts of energy burdens and financial priorities.
The Municipal Redevelopment Tax Abatement program offers a 7-year pause on property tax increases for projects that obtain at least 100 points on the community benefits matrix. Projects can earn points for energy efficiency measures and on-site solar.
Equitable Program Outcomes
The City is in the process of developing a data collection process for the Redevelopment Tax Abatement program to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Atlanta requires commercial buildings greater than 25,000 square feet to benchmark energy and water use. The policy covers 87% of commercial buildings and 96% of multifamily buildings. The policy holds a compliance rate of around 30%.
Energy audit requirements
The Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance requires building owners that benchmark and report energy and water data to conduct energy and water audits once every ten years unless the property meets certain efficiency requirements.
Incentives
Atlanta offers commercial and residential property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
The city grants buildings that meet green development criteria both a density bonus and expedited permitting.
The City of Atlanta Department of City Planning and Community Development partners with Invest Atlanta to run the Atlanta Heritage Program. The program provides forgivable loans for energy efficiency upgrades such as new heating and cooling systems, as well as other health and safety repairs. Priority is given to income-qualified seniors, military veterans, disabled heads of households, and those who have been in their homes for more than 15 years.
The city partners with the Solar Energy Loan Fund to offer the Sustainable, Energy Efficient Resilient loan program. It provides unsecured capital to landlords of low-income rental properties to make energy efficiency improvements. This program provides a pathway for rental property owners.
Equitable program outcomes:
The city is in the process of developing data collection methods to identify residential homes, commercial, and multifamily properties that are left out of incentive programs.
Last updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking
In June 2021, the State of Colorado passed energy benchmarking requirements for commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet.
Rental Energy Disclosure
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective tenants and leasers. The requirement also requires disclosure at the time of lease renewal.
Building Performance Standards
State bill HB21-1286 sets building performance requirements for multifamily and commercial buildings greater than 50,000 square feet.
Time of Sale Requirement
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective buyers.
Incentives
Aurora offers PACE financing to commercial property owners for renewable and energy efficiency improvements.
Equitable program outcomes
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last updated: August 2023
Commercial benchmarking
Austin's Energy Conservation and Audit Disclosure Ordinance (ECAD) requires all commercial buildings over 10,000 to benchmark energy consumption annually. Buildings of five or more units are required to comply with the ECAD.
Austin’s multifamily ECAD requires multifamily property owners and managers to conduct energy audits every ten years and provide the results to current and prospective residents. A qualified ECAD Energy Professional must perform the audits.
Energy audit requirements
Austin’s Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure Ordinance requires all homes (including residential properties with four or fewer dwellings) and multifamily buildings (five or more units) that are ten years and older to have an energy audit performed. The Commerical Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance requires building owners that benchmark and report energy and water data to conduct energy and water audits once every ten years unless the property meets certain efficiency requirements.
Single-family and multifamily energy disclosure requirements
The ECAD requires home sellers to disclose comprehensive home energy efficiency details to buyers during a real estate transaction. Owners of multifamily buildings are also required to disclose energy audit results to prospective residents.
Other requirements
The city requires multifamily properties to reduce energy use by 20% if the property’s energy use intensity exceeds 150% of the average. These properties must also provide a High Energy Use report to current and prospective residents.
Incentives
The utility offers low- to moderate-income households rebates for home weatherization and efficiency improvements.
The city also offers density bonuses to commercial and residential properties that adhere to green building standards.
Austin Energy also offers rebates for a variety of efficiency improvements for residential, multifamily, and commercial properties, including solar rebates to help with installation costs for homes, businesses, and multifamily buildings.
Austin's SMART Housing program aims to motivate affordable housing that is Safe, Mixed-Income, Accessible, Reasonability Priced, and Transit-Oriented (S.M.A.R.T) by offering incentives like fee waivers, density bonuses, tax incentives, and development agreements. One of the requirements for SMART housing is meeting Austin's Energy Green Building standards.
Equitable program outcomes
Austin has income-targeted incentive programs and is looking into ways to better collect demographic data to analyze participation.
Last updated: August 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Bakersfield complies with the State of California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 802. Per AB 802, owners of commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet must benchmark energy usage.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
Baltimore offers residential, commercial, and multifamily property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for both energy efficiency and solar energy projects.
Through the High-Performance Market-Rate Rental Housing ordinance, the city offers a tax credit for buildings that achieve LEED Silver or higher.
Through the LIGHT program, the city matches households with available services to perform home weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades. One of the available programs is the Baltimore’s Housing Department Energy Conservation Services, which assists low-income households with energy efficiency improvements.
Baltimore partnered with Healthy Neighborhoods, a local nonprofit, to provide low-interest loans and grants for energy-efficient upgrades to low-income nonprofits and small businesses through the Baltimore Energy Initiative Loan Program.
The city's Office of Rehabilitation Services also offers the Energy Savings Loan Program, which provides deferred loans to assist homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient.
Equitable program outcomes
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last updated: November 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
Boise provides non-financial incentives to commercial buildings that comply with the city's Green Building Code, including a dedicated Project Manager from the Department of Planning and Development Services to coordinate and oversee the project, and expedited plan review and permitting.
Equitable program outcomes:
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last updated: August 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The City of Boston passed the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) in 2021, this replaced a previous version of BERDO: the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance. BERDO now applies to all nonresidential buildings over 20,000 SF and all residential buildings with at least 15 units. Covered buildings must benchmark and report their energy use annually. The City discloses the annual reporting data from BERDO publicly.
Building performance standards
The City of Boston passed the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) in 2021. BERDO applies to all nonresidential buildings over 20,000 SF and all residential buildings with at least 15 units. Covered buildings must report their energy use annually and meet declining emissions standards and reach 'net-zero' emissions by 2050. BERDO establishes an Equitable Emissions Investment Fund that will support emissions reduction projects that benefit Environment Justice populations.
Energy audit requirements
The City of Boston does not have any energy audit requirements, but all properties that pay utilities are eligible for a no-cost energy audit and resulting incentives through Mass Save.
Incentives
The Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority’s Tax-Exempt Lease Program provides non-profit institutions a vehicle to pursue performance-based energy efficiency improvements through a lease financing agreement with a vetted Energy Service Company.
Massachusetts passed commercial PACE-enabling legislation for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
The city’s Senior Save Program allows senior citizens earning less than 80% of the area median income to access funds to replace antiquated heating systems.
The City of Boston through the new Large Building Green Energy Retrofits Program will provide up to $50,000 per unit for deep energy retrofits for income-restricted buildings with 15 or more units in Boston and in coordination with this program, the Mayor's office is also offering up to $10,000 in technical assistance grants to support building owners in learning about their building's energy use.
Equitable program outcomes
Boston is collecting data at the project level for ARPA-funded projects including those receiving incentives through the Mayor's Office of Housing Deep Energy Retrofit programs and Solarize Eastie.
Voluntary programs
The E+ Green Building seeks to advance industry practice and public awareness of energy-efficient green buildings and to construct high performance 1 to 4 unit residential building prototypes that can serve as models for future practice. This program is a pilot initiative of the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), Office of Environment & Energy Services, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority. There are currently three built projects and two active projects.
Last updated: August 2023
Incentives
New construction designed to meet LEED standards receives varying floor area ratio (FAR) bonuses based on their certification level.
Equitable program outcomes
We were not able to verify if the city collects data to ensure equitable program outcomes.
Last updated: August 2023
The city does not implement any policies or programs targeting existing buildings.
Last updated: October 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: August 2023
Voluntary programs
Charlotte recently launched a voluntary building energy benchmarking program called Power Down the Crown. The program challenges partner building owners to contribute towards a program-wide energy use intensity reduction of 10% by 2030 thus leading to greenhouse gas reductions.
Incentives
The city’s Unified Development Ordinance awards development bonuses to projects that receive LEED certification or meet an equivalent standard.
Equitable program outcomes
Incentives will be tracked and managed by the Sustainable Facilities Oversight Team in coordination with the Planning, Design and Development Department and Housing and Neighborhood Services. These mechanisms are currently being finalized.
Last updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: August 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The Chicago Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to benchmark using ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager and publicly disclose the information. Owners must provide reports annually and have a trained professional verify their data every three years. The city discloses buildings-specific data to the public on its website. The city adopted the ordinance in September 2013 and it became effective in June 2014.
Chicago offers training and guidance to building owners through a help center hotline. Chicago also worked with local utilities to simplify the data collection process by ensuring owners have access to whole-building energy use data for buildings. The Ordinance currently covers 73% of commercial buildings and 67% of multifamily buildings within the city.
Single-family energy disclosure
Section 5-16-050 of the Chicago Municipal Code requires residential building owners to disclose a building's natural gas and electricity costs for the previous 12 months at the time of sale.
Rental energy disclosure
Chicago requires building owners to disclose the cost of heating from the previous 12 months to prospective tenants.
Other requirements
The Chicago Benchmarking Energy Ordinance created the Chicago Energy Rating System. The system assigns all buildings over 50,000 square feet an energy performance rating, which will be required to be posted in a prominent location and shared at the time of listing the property for sale or lease. It went into effect in 2019.
Incentives
The Retrofit Chicago Residential Partnership offers rebates for energy-efficient appliances to residential buildings with no more than four units.
The Tax-Increment Financing Neighborhood Improvement Program offers grants to residential buildings of one to four units for efficiency improvements including air sealing, roof insulation, and boiler or furnace upgrades.
The city offers access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing to commercial, institutional, and residential building owners energy efficiency, sustainability, and renewable energy infrastructure.
The Climate Infrastructure Fund provides competitive funding for energy efficiency, electrification, and onsite renewable energy projects.
The Small Business Improvement Fund provides grants for building improvements, including energy efficiency measures such as HVAC upgrades.
The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund provides grants supporting building rehabilitation in commercial corridors in underserved neighborhoods.
Equitable program outcomes
The Department of Planning collects relevant information on the allocation of grants and incentives for related projects.
Last updated: August 2023
Retrofit requirements
The Existing Home Energy Sustainability Ordinance requires homes undergoing structural remodels or additions to incorporate a minimum number of energy-saving actions.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
California has a statewide benchmarking and disclosure policy, outlined in Assembly Bill 802. As of June 2019, building owners of commercial buildings greater than 20,000 square feet or with 17 or more residential utility accounts must report and disclose their energy consumption annually. In Chula Vista, the policy covers 49% of commercial buildings and 76% of multifamily buildings.
Moreover, Chula Vista adopted a benchmarking ordinance that requires multifamily, industrial and commercial properties with a floor area of 20,000 square feet or more to track their energy usage and make improvements if they are not energy efficient.
Rental disclosure
As part of the city's benchmarking ordinance, building owners are required to provide the results of their most recent benchmarking report to prospective tenants.
Incentives
Chula Vista offers free home energy & water checkups for residents to determine opportunities for increased efficiency. The city also expedites permit reviews for projects that are at least 30% more efficient than current California energy efficiency standards. The city offers commercial and residential properties access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last updated: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The City is in the process of exploring the feasibility of benchmarking given current state policy. All City facilities are currently benchmarked.
Building performance standards
The City is in the process of exploring the feasibility of building performance standards given current state policy.
Incentives
Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance offer residents and business a range of incentives and financing options for home energy efficient improvements and renewable energy upgrades.
Cincinnati also offers the Community Reinvestment Area (RCA) Residential Tax Abatement to city residents, which allows building owners to pay taxes on the pre-improvement value of their property after making efficiency improvements.
The city also allows commercial property owners to apply for property assessed clean energy financing for energy efficiency projects.
The city partnered with Duke Energy Ohio and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing (OTRCH) to offer the Whole Building Retrofit Pilot program, which will provides comprehensive energy efficiency upgrades to buildings within the existing OTRCH portfolio in order to yield measurable wins for tenants, the organization, and the environment.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Voluntary programs
The city runs the Cincinnati 2030 District, a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Cleveland partnered with the Northeast Ohio Advanced Energy District to offer commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The city’s municipal utility, Cleveland Public Power, offers rebates for energy efficiency projects through a partnership with Efficiency Smart.
Cleveland’s Green Building Standard includes energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions that qualify new residential developments for property tax abatement for up to 15 years.
The City also supports commercial properties in the Cleveland 2030 District with financial assistance for energy efficiency, water conservation, and decarbonized transportation projects.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city runs the Cleveland 2030 District, a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial buildings in the downtown area.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Colorado Springs Utilities offers rebates for energy efficiency and renewable energy technology to residential and commercial customers.
The utility's Builder Incentive Program encourages Colorado Springs homebuilders to construct high-efficiency homes. Qualified homes must are eligible for energy incentives beginning at $400. A bonus $350 incentive is available to those homes that are certified to meet ENERGY STAR, National Green Building Standard (NGBS), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), or Passive House. Homes designed and built to operate efficiently using only electricity but located within the utility's natural gas service territory have access to a pilot rebate of $3,000 if meeting specific requirements.
Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking
In June 2021, the State of Colorado passed energy benchmarking requirements for commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet.
Rental Energy Disclosure
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective tenants and leasers. The requirement also requires disclosure at the time of lease renewal.
Building Performance Standards
State bill HB21-1286 sets building performance requirements for multifamily and commercial buildings greater than 50,000 square feet.
Time of Sale Requirement
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective buyers.
Last updated: August 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The Energy and Water Benchmarking & Transparency Ordinance requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to benchmark and disclose annual energy and water data.
Incentives
Columbus offers commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
They city also offers tax-increment financing through the Clean Energy Financing program for energy efficiency upgrades and solar projects in small businesses and large commercial/industrial buildings.
Additionally, the city offers projects that exceed standard construction and renovation requirements with more favorable incentives.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its Solar Co-op program to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The city offers property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing to commercial, industrial, and multifamily residential properties for water conservation, energy-efficiency, and solar installation.
The city also offers residential properties rebates for a range of home improvement actions that include energy efficiency upgrades.
Dallas’s updated housing policy includes provisions to finance energy efficiency upgrades that bring low-income homes up to current energy codes.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
Dallas runs a 2030 District to encourage voluntary benchmarking.
Last Update: September 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
In November 2021, Denver City Council passed the Energize Denver Ordinance that requires commercial, multifamily, and manufacturing/industrial/agricultural buildings 25,000 square feet and larger to submit annual benchmarking data and meet specific energy efficiency requirements.
Cross-cutting requirements
The city requires developments over 25,000 square feet to choose one energy action from a menu of option in accordance with the Green Buildings Ordinance.
Developments may choose one action to achieve compliance: incorporate a green space into the building, install solar panels or purchase renewable energy covering 100% of the building’s electricity needs, achieve LEED Silver certification or better, enroll in Energize Denver’s Energy Program, or pay a fee. If a development chooses to enroll in the Energy Program, it must achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 85 or better or improve energy use intensity by 10% if the development is under 50,000 square feet and by 15% if the develop is over 50,000 square feet within five years.
Rental energy disclosure
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective tenants and leasers. The requirement also requires disclosure at the time of lease renewal.
Building performance standards
In November 2021, Denver City Council passed the Energize Denver Ordinance that requires commercial, multifamily, and manufacturing/industrial/agricultural buildings 25,000 square feet and larger to meet Site EUI energy performance targets by 2030. Approximately 500 of the 3,000 buildings complying with this requirements are eligible for the Equity Priority building compliance assistance program.
Retrofit requirement
The Energize Denver Ordinance also requires buildings 5,000-24,999 sq. ft. to either install 90% LED lighting or source 20% of their energy use from renewables by 2027.
Time-of-sale requirement
State bill HB21-1286 requires multifamily and commercial building owners to disclose energy-use information to prospective buyers.
Incentives
The Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Program provides funding to nonprofit organizations that pursue energy efficiency improvements.
Property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing is available for commercial buildings for energy efficiency projects through Colorado’s C-PACE program.
The Denver Green Code and Affordable Housing Pilot Program offers expedited permit and fee reduction program for new construction.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
In 2019, Des Moines adopted the Energy and Water Benchmarking Ordinance, which requires all commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 25,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Grants and loans are available to commercial and multifamily buildings through Detroit's SmartBuildings Program. The program covers both energy-efficient upgrades and renewable energy installation.
There is a local PACE program but the city does not administer the program.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
El Paso County offers commercial and multifamily property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects.
Last updated: July 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Tarrant County offers commercial and multifamily property owners access to property assessed clean energy financing for both energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Voluntary programs
The city’s Better Buildings program is a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial buildings. The program ended in 2020.
Last updated: August 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Fresno complies with the State of California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 802. Per AB 802, owners of commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet must benchmark energy usage.
Incentives
Fresno EOC Weatherization Program installs energy conservation measures and provides energy education for limited-income families.
Last Updated: September 2023
Energy audit requirements
While not receiving points under this metric, Grand Rapids requires cannabis businesses to enroll in the GR2030 District to share energy usage data, and requires cannabis growers & microbusinesses to have an ASHRAE Level II energy audit done 16 months after operations commence.
Incentives
Grand Rapids offers commercial and multifamily property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects.
The City of Grand Rapids' Community Development Department offers the Housing Rehabilitation Program.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city established a voluntary 2030 District, with 14 million square feet committed to the initiative.
Last Update: November 2023
Incentives
The city offers Energy efficiency and solar permit rebates through the permitting process.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
The city also offers commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy finance for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Hartford also offers residents no- or low-interest loans for housing improvements through the Housing Preservation Loan Fund.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
Hartford runs the Energy Equity Challenge, a voluntary program that seeks to reduce energy use through discounted or free energy audits and weatherization upgrades.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Henderson offers the Weatherization Assistance Program to homeowners and renters. Low-income families have the opportunity to have their homes weatherized at no cost to them.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Ordinance 22-17 requires that commercial and multifamily buildings over 25,000 square feet in size must track and report their utility data via ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, a free online tool used to manage building performance. The city has taken a phased approach, making reported data available to the public annually, and requiring reporting as follows:
Starting in June 2023: buildings over 100,000 square feet;
June 2024: buildings over 50,000 square feet;
June 2025: all covered buildings will have to report their data.
Single-family energy-use disclosure policies
Hawaii Law 508D-10.5 requires residential property owners to disclose energy-use information at the time of sale.
Other requirements
Hawaii Law 508D-10.5 requires multifamily property owners to disclose energy-use information at the time of sale.
Incentives
The Honolulu Home Repair Loan Program offers income-eligible homeowners access to low-interest loans for home repairs including the installation or replacement of Energy Star certified appliances.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Other requirements
The City adopted the Municipal Building Decarbonization and Benchmarking Policy in 2022, which sets requirements around major retrofits, energy audits, energy, water and waste benchmarking, energy performance targets, and training of building staff. The policy applies to municipal and city-operated buildings.
Incentives
Energy efficiency financing is available to commercial and multifamily building owners through PACE Houston.
The City offers a LEED incentive program, which allows buildings registered for LEED certification to take part in the Quick Start program. The Quick Start program provides a means for expediting the plan review of certain large commercial design projects.
The City also offers a tax abatement program for buildings that obtain LEED certification.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
Houston started a voluntary commercial benchmarking program in partnerships with Better Buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The city expedites building plan review for developments achieving LEED certification.
JEA, the city’s municipal utility, offers energy efficiency rebates to commercial property owners.
Last updated: August 2021
Building performance standards
Kansas City is part of the Whitehouse Building Performance Standards Coalition and has a goal of having a completed BPS policy by Earth Day of 2024.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Kansas City passed an energy benchmarking/rating and transparency policy for commercial, public, and multifamily residential buildings through the Energy Empowerment Program. The program requires public buildings greater than 10,000 square feet and commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to benchmark energy data. The policy covers 70% of commercial buildings and 83% of multifamily buildings in the city.
Incentives
Homeowners may apply for property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy-efficient and water-saving home through the HERO Program.
Kansas City is currently funding Bridging the Gap to do energy efficiency upgrades through the Energy and Water Savers program. Through this program, they complete energy and water efficiency upgrades in low income homes and small apartments.
Voluntary programs
Kansas City promotes voluntary benchmarking for buildings less than 50,000 square feet. In 2021, 76 properties benchmarked voluntarily with a square footage of 4,329,495 square feet.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Residential and commercial property owners may access tax increment financing for retrofits if they qualify. The city favors projects that achieve an energy-savings certification. The city's Community Development Department offers financial assistance for residential improvements through the Blighted Properties Redevelopment Program. The department requires projects that receive funding from the program to achieve ENERGY STAR standards.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Lakeland Electric provides rebates for energy efficiency improvements to residential and commercial customers.
Last updated: August 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The city is currently in the developing stages of a benchmarking policy.
Incentives
Lansing's public utility, Board of Water and Light, offers solar and energy efficiency rebates and incentives for home and business owners.
Program outcomes
The city's utility collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Las Vegas offers property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for commercial energy efficiency improvements and solar installations.
Last Update: September 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Commercial and multifamily buildings comply with the California Energy Commission’s Energy Benchmarking Program.
Last Updated: September 2023
Retrocommissioning requirements
The Existing Buildings Energy and Water Efficiency Program mandates retrocommissioning requirements for commercial and multifamily buildings.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The State of California adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 802 in October of 2015. AB 802 requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and larger to benchmark energy usage annually. Los Angeles adopted an ordinance that builds upon AB 802 and require all buildings over 20,000 square feet (both commercial and residential) to annually benchmark energy and water usage. The ordinance currently requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to comply with the law. The ordinance takes effect for buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet in June 2019. The ordinance covers 76% of commercial buildings and 50% of multifamily buildings.
Energy audit requirements
In addition to retrocommissioning, the Existing Buildings Energy and Water Efficiency Program mandates energy auditing for commercial and multifamily buildings.
Incentives
LADWP runs a low-income solar and energy efficiency programs. In 2021, LADWP launched its Comprehensive Affordable Multifamily Retrofits program to provide financial incentives for home retrofits for low income housing and communities.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Louisville offers incentives through the Energy Project Assessment District. The city began offering financing for energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings over a twenty year term. The program is similar to PACE financing programs. Commercial building owners can find energy efficiency incentives through the Louisville Energy Alliance.
Voluntary programs
The Louisville Energy Alliance runs the Kilowatt Crackdown, a voluntary annual energy challenge that also serves as a voluntary benchmarking program. In 2020, 17 buildings participated, impacting 2,312,956 sq. ft.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
In 2022, the City of Madison adopted a new building energy savings code (ORD-23-00033), which requires property owners of commercial buildings over 25,000 square feet to benchmark their building’s energy use on an annual basis. Benchmarking will be phased in over three years beginning in 2024. Buildings 100,000 square feet and larger begin benchmarking in 2024, buildings 50,000 to 99,999 square feet begin in 2025, and buildings 25,000 to 49,999 begin in 2026.
Incentives
The city offers PACE financing to commercial buildings for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
The city's Affordable Housing Fund RFP gives preference to projects with energy efficiency, renewable energy, and/or sustainable building designs.
In 2021 and 2022, the City of Madison partnered with non-profit partners Sustain Dane and Elevate energy to complete energy efficiency upgrades and install rooftop solar for small to medium multi-family residential buildings through the Efficiency Navigator Program. The program is available for renter-occupied buildings with rents affordable to residents at or below 80% Area Median Income.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its Efficiency Navigator and MadiSUN programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
Hidalgo County offers commercial and multifamily property owners access to PACE financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
Memphis became the first city in Tennessee to adopt a local C-PACER program in 2022, which enables access to low-interest and long-term financing for commercial energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resiliency improvements.
MLGW, the city’s municipal utility, administers the Share the Pennies program to provide low-income homeowners with grants to make energy efficiency improvements.
MLGW offers businesses and organizations seeking LEED certification additional incentive funds.
The Downtown Memphis Commission program offers the option of longer tax abatement periods for projects that are LEED-certified, attain Net Zero Energy Building certification, or attain MLGW’s EcoBUILD certification. The Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County (EDGE) also offers longer tax abatement periods for LEED, Green Globes, or Energy Star certification.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Mesa is prohibited by state law to require mandatory benchmarking. We could not find information on any voluntary benchmarking programs administered by the city.
Incentives
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The city of Miami is a partner with Miami Dade County on the Building Efficiency 305 (BE305) initiative which is part of the City Energy Project. Under the BE305 program, owners of multifamily and commercial buildings with 20,000 square feet or greater of floor space and 5 or more units are required to report and share publicly their energy usage data via EnergyStar Portfolio Manager.
Incentives
Financing is available through the City of Miami PACE programs to residential and commercial building owners making energy efficiency upgrades.
The city offers expedited permitting and density bonuses for residential and commercial building owners implementing green building measures into their buildings.
The city's Homeownership Preservation Program (HPP) provides rehabilitation assistance to income-eligible homeowners to fund exterior repairs that bring the home to decent, safe and sanitary conditions, improve the home's resilience to weather events, and maximizes the home's energy efficiency.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city launched the Building Efficiency 305 Challenge to encourage building owners to voluntarily benchmark energy and water use.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2) program offers rebates to Milwaukee homeowners for energy efficiency upgrades. Me2 also offers commercial PACE funding and rebates for energy efficiency upgrades for small buildings and manufacturing facilities.
Milwaukee's Targeted Investment Neighborhood and low income weatherization programs grant energy efficiency upgrades and weatherization work to low income homes.
While not earning points under our Scorecard metric, the city aims to develop a new model for efficiently and affordably producing new net-zero energy homes in the City of Milwaukee as a part of the forthcoming Climate and Equity Plan. As part of this effort, the city is building model Net Zero Energy Homes in low income neighborhoods.
Program outcomes
The city collects demographic data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits.
Last Update: September 2023
Retrocommissioning requirements
The city’s 2019 expansion to the Commercial Building Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Ordinance requires an ASHRAE level 1 evaluation or an accepted tune-up/recommissioning within the past 5 years for the lowest-performing buildings. This requirement is only enforced if there is an option available at no cost to the owner.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Minneapolis requires commercial and multifamily buildings 50,000 square feet and greater to benchmarking energy consumption and report the data to the city. The compliance rate was 93% for commercial buildings and 84% for multifamily buildings in 2018.
Single-family energy disclosure
The city requires homeowners to disclose their energy consumption at the time of sale. The compliance rate was 95% in 2020.
Rental energy disclosure
Owners of select rental properties are required to disclose energy use information to residential tenants at time of application if applications are provided, or post the information in the property if no applications are provided.
Energy audit requirements
Per the time of sale residential energy disclosure requirement, building owners are required to undergo an energy assessment.
In 2020, the city is requiring a pilot group of low-performing commercial properties to receive energy audits at no cost. The city will use budget money to cover the cost of the audits.
Incentives
Minneapolis offers density bonuses to residential and commercial construction that aim to achieve a 35% above code energy rating.
Minneapolis offers PACE financing to commercial buildings for solar and energy efficiency improvements. The city offers a two percent loan program to small businesses for energy efficiency improvements. Minneapolis also offers a Commercial Energy Efficiency Loan program.
The city’s Green Business Cost Share program provides financial incentives for solar incentives. The program prioritizes commercial and multifamily properties within the bounds of Minneapolis Green Zones or those participating in the 4d Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing Program because they aim to expand energy efficiency and renewable energy installation in low-income areas.
The City pays for free Home Energy Squad visit to homeowners anywhere in the City with incomes below 100% AMI. This program is offered through the city's partner, CEE.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Nashville is considering a commercial benchmarking program and is gathering stakeholder input.
Incentives
In 2023, Nashville also adopted a local C-PACER program, which enables access to low-interest and long-term financing for commercial energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resiliency improvements.
Through the Nashville Energy Works program, city residents may access low-interest loans from $1,000 to $35,000 for energy-efficient upgrades.
Nashville offers a density bonus for developments in the Central Business District if the projects achieve LEED certification. The density bonus scales with the stringency of the certification.
The city's Barnes Affordable Housing Fund offers competitive grants to nonprofit housing developers to preserve and create affordable housing options for Nashvillians. The program requires units to be sustainable and energy efficient, which is reflected through sustainability standards included in its scoring rubric.
The Metro Government, NES, and TVA have launched a home weatherization program called NES Home Energy Uplift for limited-income families who own homes in Davidson County. Energy upgrades may include weatherization, air sealing, high-efficiency heat pumps, high-efficiency air conditioners, duct replacement/repairs, ENERGY STAR windows, building envelope insulation, high-efficiency lighting, crawl space, and attic insulation, heat pump water heaters, ENERGY STAR appliances, and/or whole-house ventilation.
Program outcomes
The city's public utility collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The City has participated in and promotes the State Green Bank's C-PACE program.
The City's Livable Cities Initiative has an Energy Efficiency Rehabilitation Assitance Program that offers financial assistance for energy efficiency retrofits.
Buildings are eligible for Floor Area Ratio (FAR) bonuses in the commercial gateway districts if they meet sustainability criteria, including LEED Certification.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Building performance standards
The City is working towards passing a benchmarking and BPS ordinance locally that complies with the state preemption law by 2024 as a part of the White House's National Building Performance Standards Coalition.
The draft ordinance would focus on commercial and multi-family buildings above 20,000 square feet and city buildings above 10,000 square feet.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The City is working towards passing a benchmarking and BPS ordinance locally that complies with the state preemption law by 2024 as a part of the White House's National Building Performance Standards Coalition.
Energy audit requirements
There is not yet an energy audit requirement, but the City is working towards including one as a part of its BPS ordinance.
Incentives
The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority provides financing for energy efficiency projects in affordable housing units.
In 2019, the Finance Authority of New Orleans shifted its model to only provide loans to properties that install EE, solar or green infrastructure resilience upgrades.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Building performance standards
Local Law 97 (formerly Intro 1253) of 2019 sets emissions caps for buildings larger than 25,000 square feet, beginning in 2024, which will cut carbon emissions at least 40 percent by 2030 and over 80 percent by 2050 from the affected buildings. Buildings that do not comply will face fines set at $268 per ton of emissions that are in excess of the individual building’s cap in a given year. By 2030, this law is projected to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions by 6 million tons.
Retrocommissioning requirements
Local Law 87 of 2009 mandates that buildings 50,000 gross square feet or larger undergo periodic retrocommissioning measures.
Retrofit requirements
NYC Local Law 88 of 2009 requiring lighting retrofits to meet current NYCECC standards, and to install electric sub-meters for each tenant space.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
New York City’s Local Law 84 (LL84) requires commercial buildings larger than 50,000 square feet and groups of buildings on a single tax lot totaling 100,000 square feet or more to benchmark and disclose annual energy data through ENERGY STAR. Local Law 133 expanded LL84 to require buildings 25,000 square feet and greater to benchmark energy usage.
Energy audit requirements
In addition to retrocommissioning, Local Law 87 of 2009 mandates that buildings 50,000 gross square feet or larger undergo periodic energy audits.
Other requirements
Local Law 33 of 2018 requires building owners subject to the city’s benchmarking ordinance to display an “energy efficiency grade” at each public entrance of the building.
Incentives
The city established a property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing program for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The city also offers a J-51 tax abatement and exemption for energy efficient upgrades in affordable housing projects.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city also offers a voluntary program, The Carbon Challenge, that is a public-private partnership between the Mayor's Office of Sustainability and leaders in the private, institutional, and non-profit sectors who have committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% or more over ten years. The Mayor's Office provides support, resources, and recognition as participants pursue different energy efficiency improvements, efficient on-site generation, and sustainability initiatives.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
New Jersey's Clean Energy Act of 2018 requires benchmarking by owners and operators of commercial buildings over 25,000 sq. ft. using the USEPA Portfolio Manager tool.
Last updated: July 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
California adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 802 requiring all buildings 50,000 square feet and more to benchmark. The city does not have a mandatory benchmarking and disclosure program. AB 802 covers 56% of commercial and 44% of multifamily buildings in Oakland.
Incentives
Residential and commercial building owners may access property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy installation, and water conservation actions.
East Bay Community Energy's (EBCE) Health-e Homes Program provides low and moderate-income homeowners with energy efficiency and electrification upgrades through affordable financing options.
In addition, EBCE also provides incentives for homeowners making up to 120% AMI to help offset project costs, as well as rebates for induction cooktops and heat pump water heaters.
The City runs its own programs through its Residential Lending & Housing Rehabilitation Services that provides loans and grants for building energy efficiency improvements.
The Weatherization and Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program offers income-eligible property owners 0% interest loans for home improvement projects. The program is only eligible to owner-occupied residential properties with less than 5 units.
Program outcomes
The city receives annual updates from BayREN on participation in its programs at the city-level. We were unable to determine if this data is used to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The city offers a single incentive for energy efficiency upgrades through the Green Home Loan program, where residents may access a 3% fixed-interest loan within 48 months.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
The city offers Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to commercial property owners for energy efficiency improvements.
Last updated: August 2021
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
In December 2016, Orlando passed the Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy (BEWES), an energy benchmarking and transparency policy. The policy requires existing commercial and multifamily buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to track whole-building energy use. Building owners must report energy use data to the City annually and make their information transparent to the real estate marketplace. The city achieved a compliance rate of 40%.
Cross-cutting requirements
Since May 2020, in accordance with the Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy, owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet that score under the national ENERGY STAR score of 50 must either perform an energy audit or perform a retro-commission one time every five years.
Incentives
Residential and commercial property owners may access property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for both energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy installations.
The City launched a Green Building Incentive Program in Jan 2021 to encourage developers to build LEED Silver or greater, providing a one time property tax rebate.
The city partners with the non-profit Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) and the municipal Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to provide property owners with home energy improvement loans. The program is far-reaching and provides additional support to low-income homeowners.
The municipal utility, OUC, offers the Efficiency Delivered program that provides up to $2,500 of energy and water efficiency upgrades to residents. The program provides a greater cost-share for income-qualified participants.
Voluntary programs
The city participates in the Better Buildings Challenge.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The State of California adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 802 in October of 2015. The policy requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and larger to benchmark energy usage annually. California requires commercial buildings to obtain and disclose ENERGY STAR ratings to transactional counter parties and the California Energy Commission at the time of a sale, lease, or financing for the entire building through AB 1130.
Last Update: September 2023
Retrocommissioning requirements
Philadelphia's Building Energy Performance Program requires nonresidential buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to conduct a building tune-up if the building does not meet high energy performance standards.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Bill No. 120428 requires commercial and multifamily residential buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark and disclose energy usage data. The policy covers 69% of commercial buildings and 82% of multifamily buildings.
Incentives
The city grants commercial property owners access to PACE financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Philadelphia’s EnergyWorks program provides loan opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades in commercial and residential buildings.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
Philadelphia is a partner and participant in Green Building United's 2030 District.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Previously, the city was working on a benchmarking ordinance for larger, commercial facilities, but the Arizona State Legislature passed HB 2130 prohibiting benchmarking in 2015.
Incentives
The city covers the cost to register a home under LEED for Homes if it achieves LEED Platinum. The city also offers to apply a zoning overlay to allow for greater density to developers who voluntarily adopt the City’s Walkable Urban Code which has higher performance standards and a requirement for 75% shade around the new development.
Phoenix’s low income housing rehabilitation program provides a loan covering 75% of home improvements costs, which includes home energy efficiency upgrades, at 0% interest.
The city is working with APS as part of their Community Solar Program to add solar to low-income Phoenix housing and provide a monthly credit to low-income residents.
Additionally, the $100,000 Sustainable Home Design Competition challenged architects to design a home that uses 80% less energy without rooftop solar systems and costs the same as standard construction. The winning design can be downloaded free online.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city supports Kilowatt-hour Krackdown, a program created by the Building Owners and Managers Association. The program allows building owners to voluntarily benchmark their energy performance. The city is prohibited by state law to require mandatory benchmarking or energy action requirements.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Pittsburgh formally adopted a mandatory benchmarking and disclosure ordinance for commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet. The first compliance deadline was in June 2018, and the corresponding data will be released in 2019. The ordinance covers 67% of commercial buildings.
Incentives
The city also offers density bonuses of 20% in height and 20% in floor area to commercial projects that meet LEED efficiency standards.
Allegheny County offers commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Voluntary programs
Pittsburgh runs a 2030 District and participates in the administration of Sustainable Pittsburgh to encourage energy reduction in commercial buildings.
Program outcomes
The City does not have authority to collect demographic data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The city’s Commercial Building Energy Performance Reporting Ordinance requires buildings of 20,000 square feet and greater to benchmark energy performance.
Single-family energy disclosure
Portland adopted the Home Energy Score Policy by unanimous decision in 2016. The Policy requires home sellers to disclose home energy performance scores. The home seller must also disclose associated costs and cost-effective approaches to improving efficiency.
Energy audit requirements
Per the Home Energy Score Policy, home sellers must complete an energy assessment of their homes prior to listing the property for sale.
Incentives
Portland offers a financing option for energy efficiency improvements through its commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing program.
The city also grants development bonuses to buildings meeting energy efficiency standards.
Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) provides funding and support to non-profits pursuing climate related projects and grants. Funding can be used for a wide variety of actions including paying for a contractor to conduct an energy audit of your building or sending staff to a training to learn more about clean energy
Program outcomes
Both Energy Trust of Oregon and PCEF track the demographics of communities served. Data is collected on a project basis, which could be a home, apartment building, or commercial building as examples. Energy Trust's most recent public report is from 2020.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The City does not yet have a benchmarking policy, but it has proposed a Building Energy Reporting Ordinance (BERO). The proposed ordinance would require large building owners (of buildings greater than 10,000 square feet) to benchmark their buildings’ energy use and report this data to the City.
Cross-cutting
The proposed Building Energy Reporting Ordinance (BERO) includes a requirement for energy action, whereby each covered property that us not exempted shall be required to complete an energy action or assessment, as defined by the Director of Sustainability, within five years of the requirement going into effect and each five years thereafter.
Incentives
Providence offers commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Voluntary programs
Providence launched a voluntary buildings energy challenge program called RePowerPVD in April 2018. This program has two tracks:
1) 20 percent reduction by 2025: Using a 2015 baseline, property owners may enter any building over 10,000 square feet by committing to reduce energy consumption 20 percent by 2025.
2) Race to Zero. Property owners may also enter their buildings into the “race” to become the first Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in Providence.
Last Update: September 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
Raleigh offers a single grant incentive for energy efficiency projects through the Building Upfits Grant program.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Reno adopted the Energy and Water Efficiency Program in January 2019. The program requires commercial and multifamily buildings 30,000 square feet and greater to benchmark energy and water performance. The city also created the voluntary ReEnergize Reno program to improve building energy and water efficiency by 20% by 2025. Participating buildings must track energy and water data through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and disclose results to the City of Reno. The city offers technical support to participating properties.
Cross-cutting requirements
Reno's Energy and Water Efficiency Program requires building owners to achieve performance targets twice within seven years of their baseline, or pursue other measures, such as an energy audit, LEED certification, or participation in the utility-sponsored energy efficiency program.
Incentives
Reno allows commercial building owners access to PACE financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Voluntary programs
The ReEnergize Reno program seeks to improve the efficiency of commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings by cutting energy and water waste in large buildings.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The Green and Healthy Homes Initiative provides comprehensive housing assessments and interventions, integrating the areas of lead hazard reduction, Healthy Homes, weatherization, energy efficiency, and related work to raise housing standards and quality of life for all residents. It will also break down barriers to full employment for low-income residents and promote equity through training and employment efforts.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Riverside complies with the State of California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 802. Per AB 802, owners of commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet must benchmark energy usage.
Incentives
Commercial and residential building owners may access rebates for energy efficiency upgrades and/or energy-saving designs during the construction phase. Residential customers are also eligible for energy efficiency rebates.
Commercial and residential property owners may also qualify for property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy installation, and water conservation measures.
The city’s municipal utility operates the Energy Savings Assistance Program that provides income-eligible applicants with no-cost home energy improvements.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives
The city offers home energy improvements through the Sustainable Homes Rochester program. The program received funding from NYSERDA to promote clean heating and cooling technologies.
Proposed developments that use City funds or are on City-owned property are scored by City staff. Extra points are given towards approval when buildings have energy efficient systems or EV charging stations.
The city also offers C-PACE financing.
Last Update: November 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The State of California adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 802 in October of 2015. It requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and larger to benchmark energy usage annually. California requires commercial buildings to obtain and disclose ENERGY STAR ratings to transactional counter parties and the California Energy Commission at the time of a sale, lease, or financing for the entire building through AB 1130.
Sacramento is in the process of outlining its own requirements, potentially lowering that 50,000 square feet threshold to encompass more buildings. This is still at a preliminary phase.
Retrofit requirements
The Existing Building Electrification Ordinance requires all existing buildings to be fully-electric by 2045. The main strategy at the moment is time-of-replacement, where natural gas-based appliances will be converted to electric at the time they are being replaced.
Incentives
The city offers residential and commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency and solar installation projects. It also provides height bonuses for green buildings (incentive for building to CALGreen Tier 1 or Tier 2 standards) adopted in Sept. 2013 and for green roofs and rooftop farms adopted in March 2015.
SMUD, the city’s municipal utility, offers a range of rebates for home energy efficiency improvements. The utility also offers new electric vehicle drivers a free level 2 charger for residential properties. It also offers businesses an incentive for installing an electric vehicle charger.
SMUD also runs the Home Performance Program, which offers owners of existing home $13,750 for a comprehensive, energy efficient gas-to-electric conversion.
Last Update: November 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
St. Paul adopted the Energy Benchmarking Ordinance to require commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage. The policy does not require buildings to disclose data.
Incentives
Saint Paul offers commercial and multifamily property owners access to financing for energy efficiency upgrades in new construction and improvements through the Saint Paul Port Authority’s MinnPACE (C-PACE) and Trillion BTU programs.
Additionally, developments receiving more than $200,000 must meet the Minnesota SB 2030 energy standard.
The city also administers the Energy Smart Home program to offer residents zero-interest loans for energy efficient upgrades. The program is available for all residents, but allows income-eligible participants to borrow 100% of project costs without a match. However, it is currently inactive while the city amends its terms.
Voluntary programs
Beginning in 2018, the city implemented a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial and multifamily buildings called Race to Reduce. In January 2020, the city passed a mandatory benchmarking ordinance, under which about 78.6 million square feet benchmarked in 2020. The City maintains the Race to Reduce to recognize all properties (and their owners) that make a full benchmarking disclosure, or about 79% of 296 properties that benchmarked. The city also recognizes buildings that have an ENERGY STAR score of 95 and above.
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Salt Lake City passed the Energy Benchmarking & Transparency ordinance. The ordinance requires commercial buildings 25,000 square feet to comply.
Energy audit requirements
Salt Lake City requires buildings owners perform one energy-saving action. Per the Energy Benchmarking & Transparency Ordinance, commercial buildings that score 49 or below in ENERGY STAR must undergo energy audits.
Incentives
Through the Economic Development Loan Fund, the city offers loans to commercial property owners for energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits.
The city provides expedited plan reviews for commercial and residential properties meeting green building standards.
Salt Lake City offers commercial property owners access to property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing for energy efficiency and solar installation projects.
Program outcomes
We could not verify if the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: September 2023
Incentives and financing programs
PACE was recently established within the city limits and its managed by the City's Economic Development Department and AACOG.
The city’s STEP program offers residential and commercial property owners incentives for energy efficient upgrades such as weatherization, HVAC replacement, efficient construction etc.
The city's Under One Roof program provides funding for energy efficient roof installations to qualified homeowners.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities
Last Update: September 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
San Diego's Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and greater to benchmark energy usage annually.
Incentives and financing programs
Through Resolution R-298001, the city offers expedited permitting to residential and commercial projects that meet green building standards outlined in Policy Number 900-14.
Commercial and residential property owners may access property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for both energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations.
Last Updated: September 2023
Retrofit requirements
San Francisco’s Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance requires a minimum set of retrofits at time-of-sale. This applies to residential properties built before 1978.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Chapter 20 of the San Francisco Environment Code requires all commercial buildings 10,000 square feet and greater and multifamily buildings 50,000 square feet and greater to benchmark energy data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The policy covers 88% of commercial buildings. The city’s compliance rate is 84%. The program has achieved energy savings of 6.1% among buildings that benchmarked energy data between 2014-2018.
Cross-cutting requirements
Chapter 20 of the San Francisco Environment Code, the city’s benchmarking ordinance, requires commercial building owners to conduct an energy audit or retrocommissioning every five years.
Other requirements
The 100% Renewable Electricity for Commercial Buildings Ordinance (Environment Code Chapter 30) requires large commercial buildings to obtain all electricity from 100% renewable sources. On-site generation is welcomed, but the primary means to comply is subscription to one of 3 utility and CCA-offered programs which provide qualified generation and procurement via the grid.
Incentives
San Francisco provides commercial and residential property owners a range of financing options and incentives for energy efficiency projects through the Energy Watch and BayREN programs.
The city also offers property assessed clean energy financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects in both residential and commercial buildings.
SFPUC Hetch Hetchy Power offers energy efficiency rebates to its customers, including new construction and retrofits.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities.
Voluntary programs
SF Environment developed the Strategic Energy Assessment, a long-term financial planning approach to managing energy efficiency and carbon emissions. Through the Strategic Energy Assessment (SEA), SFE seeks to improve the capital planning process and output to be more carbon aware for building owners. The SEA has been introduced as a voluntary option, and is accepted as a voluntary alternative to a conventional ASHRAE Level 2 audit or retrocommissioning study required by San Francisco’s Existing Buildings Ordinance.
Last Update: August 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
California Assembly Bill (AB) 802 requires the owners of buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage. San José's Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance requires all privately owned buildings over 20,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage.
Cross-cutting requirements
The Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance requires owners of low-performing buildings greater than 20,000 square feet to conduct an energy audit or to perform retrofitting or retrocommissioning of the building.
Incentives
San José Clean Energy, the city's municipal electric utility, offers several incentive programs. The Home Appliance Savings Program offers 50-70% discounts on energy efficient refrigerators, clothes washers, and dryers and free smart thermostats to moderate-income single-family households as well as single-family households located in disadvantaged communities. The Energy Efficient Business Program provides 80-90% incentives on energy-efficient upgrades to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, and hot water distribution systems for small and medium commercial buildings, including schools.
Through the Affordable Housing Investment Plan, the city offers priority financing for developers incorporating green building features into affordable housing units.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities. Data (p. 39) collected as part of work on the Electrify San José: Framework for Existing Building Electrification showed that PV solar systems are less frequent in disadvantaged communities in San José.
Voluntary programs
San José runs the Climate Smart Challenge, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% in 25 large commercial or higher educational buildings totaling at least 5 million square feet. The program ended in 2020.
In 2020, the City successfully implemented the Building Performance Leaders Program, a Better Buildings Challenge – like program. The participants who joined pledged to reduce their aggregate carbon emissions by 10% from December 2019-December 2020 and committed to complete 2 of 3 actions: 1) Participate in one energy/water reduction behavior change campaign; 2) Perform retro-commissioning or capital improvements as per Building Performance Ordinance requirements, or 3) Sign up for San José Clean Energy’s Total Green 100% carbon-free and renewable power option. Staff have calculated a 24% reduction in emissions for 4 of 6 participating organizations – a reduction of over 2,100 MT of CO2e.
Last Update: August 2023
Building performance standards
The City of Seattle lobbied actively for WA state bill HB1257, which mandates that existing commercial buildings 50,000 sq feet or greater meet certain energy use thresholds. The City is drafting legislation to enact a building emissions performance standard (BEPS) for existing commercial and multifamily buildings with a lower threshold of 20,000 square feet or greater.
Retrocommissioning requirements
The Seattle Tune-Up Policy (Seattle Municipal Code 22.930) requires the owners of nonresidential buildings over 50,000 square feet to perform building tune-ups to optimize energy and water system performance once every five years.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Seattle formally adopted Municipal Code 22.920 that required commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 20,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage. The public may access building data on an open data map. The benchmarking policy covers 83% of commercial and multifamily buildings. The policy has achieved a compliance rate of 100%.
Energy audit requirements
In addition to tune-ups, the Seattle Tune-Up Policy (Seattle Municipal Code 22.930) requires the owners of nonresidential buildings over 50,000 square feet to perform energy assessments to optimize energy and water system performance once every five years.
Incentives
Seattle offers expedited permitting to green building projects through its Priority Green program. The city runs an incentive zoning program that requires developers to provide public benefits to achieve greater height/density on their building site. Through Seattle's Director's Rule, land use departures (e.g. floor area increases) are allowed for both residential and commercial construction that achieve green standards. Additional development capacity like floor area and height are offered through the Land Use Code via the Green Building Standard and Living Building Pilot.
The city's Clean Heat Program provides a rebate for residential households to switch from oil to electric heat pumps. Seattle City Light, the city’s municipal utility, also provides rebates for cost-effective, above-code construction and for existing building efficiency improvements.
The city's Home Repair Loan Program provides affordable loans to income-qualified homeowners to address critical health, safety, and structural issues -- including energy efficiency measures.
Seattle has also partnered with two nonprofits to provide energy efficiency financing and utility repayment plans.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities.
Voluntary programs
The city runs the Seattle 2030 District, a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial buildings.
Last Update: August 2023
Benchmarking
While it doesn't earn points for our energy benchmarking metric, the city requires all commercial buildings to display a certificate showing test results for air and filtration, the tests for which were previously required.
Last Updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last Update: August 2023
Building performance standards
Ordinance 71132 requires commercial, multifamily, institutional, and municipal buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to achieve phased energy use reductions.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
St. Louis adopted the Building Energy Awareness bill. It requires certain buildings to record annual whole-building energy and water consumption data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. City-owned buildings began benchmarking in the first year under the ordinance in 2017. The city required privately-owned commercial and multifamily buildings 50,000 square feet to comply starting April 2018. Both city- and privately-owned buildings will be required to report their consumption information each year thereafter.
Incentives
PACE financing is available for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in residential and commercial buildings. The program is targeted to low income housing.
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Updated: August 2023
Incentives
Commercial and residential construction permit applications are eligible for a partial refund of permit fees if the building receives a green building certification. Residential buildings must meet all requirements of the Green Home Designation Standard of the Florida Green Building Coalition to receive a $300.00 refund. Commercial buildings but meet all requirements of USGBC LEED standard to receive a $1,000 refund. The city has also partnered with Duke Energy who offers free home energy checks and rebates for residents.
St. Petersburg supports the Solar and Energy Loan (SELF) Program that offers loans to residents for energy efficiency measures and solar-PV.
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Voluntary programs
The city launched the Building Energy Benchmarking Pilot in 2020.
Last Update: August 2023
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The State of California adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 802 in October of 2015. It requires commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and larger to benchmark energy usage annually.
Incentives
Stockton implements one financing program to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The city allows property owners access to PACE financing for the purchase and installation of infrastructure improvements to their properties with no up-front costs for renewable energy, energy and water efficiency improvements, water conservation upgrades, and/or electric vehicle charging.
Last updated: June 2021
Incentives
Syracuse offers one financing program to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The city allows property owners access to PACE financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments.
Last Update: July 2021
Incentives
Tampa offers expedited plan review for commercial construction that includes provisions for energy efficiency. Rebates are available to residential and commercial construction achieving the LEED standards. Homes built to the Florida Green Building Coalition standards also receive a rebate.
We could not find information on whether the city collects data on incentive and financing programs to ensure equitable outcomes.
Last Update: August 2023
Incentives
Toledo offers PACE financing for commercial and residential energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Last updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes energy-saving actions in existing buildings. Tucson is preempted by the state from adopting above-code energy efficiency requirements.
Last updated: August 2023
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: July 2021
Incentives
Residential and commercial buildings may earn tax breaks for achieving energy savings, as verified by a third-party inspection.
Last Updated: July 2021
Building performance standards
The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 requires the implementation of a building energy performance standard (BEPS) starting with privately-owned buildings 50,000 square feet and larger and District-owned or District instrumentality-owned buildings 10,000 square feet and larger in 2021. Privately-owned buildings 25,000 square feet and larger will be covered in 2023, and buildings 10,000 square feet and larger will be covered in 2026. Buildings will demonstrate that they exceed the local median ENERGY STAR score for their building type, or will be required to follow either a performance or prescriptive pathway to achieve compliance.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
The Clean and Affordable Energy Act requires commercial buildings and multifamily buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark and publicly disclose energy usage data using ENERGY STAR software. This policy was adopted July 2008, and implementation began in 2010. Disclosure must be done annually, and the District publishes data online. Non-compliance results in a fine. The Act currently covers 49% of commercial and multifamily buildings. The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 lowered the building benchmarking requirement size to 25,000 square feet by 2021 and 10,000 square feet by 2026.
Incentives
Commercial property owners may access property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing for energy efficiency improvements and onsite renewable energy generation.
The DC Green Bank has launched its Commercial Loan for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (CLEER) financing, for energy efficiency in non-profit and for-profit buildings. The DC Green Bank also launched a financial product called Navigator that is a pre-development loan that finances analysis and design of energy improvements for multifamily properties. Eligible costs include energy benchmarking, assessments, and audits as well as design, engineering, bidding work, and more.
The DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) offers residential and commercial property owners rebates for energy efficient appliances. DCSEU also offers a Income Qualified Efficiency Fund (IQEF), designed to support projects that improve buildings, neighborhoods, or whole communities through energy efficiency. IQEF is for 80%AMI or below communities. Lastly, DCSEU's Affordable Home Electrification Program provides free electrification to income qualified residents (80% AMI and below).
Washington previously administered a low-income home weatherization program that invested $25 million in energy efficiency measures and renewable energy installation.
The Solar for All program seeks to provide 100,000 low-income households with solar energy through direct rooftop installation and community solar farms.
The DC Department of Energy and Environment offers financial assistance for projects seeking net-zero design.
In addition to these existing programs, the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 carves out 30% of revenues for low-income energy actions.
Program outcomes
We were not able to verify if the city collects data to ensure equitable program outcomes.
Last Updated: November 2023
We were unable to identify any policies targeting energy efficiency and renewable energy in existing buildings.
Last updated: August 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: June 2021
We could not find information on whether the city incentivizes or requires energy-saving actions in existing buildings.
Last updated: June 2021