95% of Buildings Report in First Year of Energy Benchmarking Ordinance


5/25/2016 • 7 years ago

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Report Cover for 2015 BEUDO Report

The City of Cambridge Community Development Department has released a summary report and compliance map describing the results from the first year of mandatory energy and water use reporting.

The Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO), adopted in July 2014, requires both residential and non-residential properties in Cambridge that meet certain size thresholds to report their annual energy and water use to the City. The first reporting was required in 2015 and information was collected through the online ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. The 2015 reporting cycle covered consumption data for calendar year 2014 and the ordinance applied to 980 buildings, representing 57 percent of the total floor area in the City.

Key Findings

Key findings from analysis of the first year of data include:

  • Cambridge properties had an average ENERGY STAR score of 61 (out of 100), compared to the average national score of 50, for building types rated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
  • More than half of Cambridge’s total energy use was consumed by 5% of the City ‘s buildings.
  • The largest category of property type required to report was college/university, followed by multifamily housing, offices, and laboratories.
  • The highest ENERGY STAR scores were achieved by residence halls/dormitories, K-12 schools, and multifamily housing.

Reports were received for 95 percent of all buildings subject to the ordinance, giving Cambridge the highest compliance rate for the first year of reporting among US cities with disclosure ordinances. The City’s summary report provides information on energy and water performance as well as general building characteristics of the properties that reported.

“The City of Cambridge has a deep commitment to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions” said Assistant City Manager, Iram Farooq. “The data in these reports will help us better understand energy use in Cambridge buildings and create strategies to improve energy performance.”

View Reports and Data

The report, map and other information on BEUDO can be found at www.cambridgema.gov/beudo. The map posted at this site shows which properties were subject to reporting under the ordinance in 2015 and their compliance status, including parcels that contained non-residential buildings with a total floor area of 50,000 square feet or more, parcels that included residential buildings with a combined 50 or more units, and municipal buildings with 10,000 square feet or more. These thresholds will change with 2016 reporting to incorporate parcels with smaller building sizes. Also in 2016, the City will begin posting building energy use data on the City’s Community Development Department website in accordance with the ordinance, as well as the Open Data Portal.

For More Information

For more information about the 2015 BEUDO report, contact John Bolduc at 617-349-4628 or jbolduc@cambridgema.gov.