In February of this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance with the intent to increase the energy and resource efficiency of existing buildings to meet the City’s aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The city’s Climate Action Plan calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 20% below 1990 levels and lays out key action areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, solid waste management and transportation. Commercial buildings present a ripe target for energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives – and the biggest opportunity lies with existing structures, which far out-number new buildings.

The current commercial building stock in San Francisco is approximately 196 million square feet. The ordinance will apply to roughly 3,000 commercial buildings encompassing more than 160 million square feet.