Boston Mandates Energy Use Reporting

BOSTON-New England's largest city will join the ranks of municipalities that require large commercial properties and residential properties to report and disclose their energy and water usage and greenhouse gas emissions. The Boston City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Thomas Menino's Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance, which will be imposed in phases on commercial properties of 35,000 square feet or more and residential buildings of 35 or more units.

(Energy efficiency is not always accomplished through city mandate. See our national lead story.)

“In order for Boston to continue to be a sustainability leader, our buildings must aggressively invest in cost- effective energy efficiency,” Menino says in a release. “Bostonians demand buildings with high performance, and this ordinance will encourage building owners to meet that demand.” He's expected to receive the ordinance formally on Friday.

Covering approximately 1,600 properties in Boston, the ordinance requires that buildings report their annual energy use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions via the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Portfolio Manager to the City of Boston Environment Department. The city will then make energy and water use per square foot, Energy Star ratings, greenhouse gas emissions and other identifying and contextual information for individual buildings available online to the public.

The first properties to be bound by the ordinance will be non-residential buildings of 50,000 square feet or more; their owners must report water and energy use, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, by May 15, 2014. Next up will be residential buildings with 50 units or more in 2015, followed by non-residential buildings of 35,000 square feet or more a year later and finally multifamily buildings of 35 units or greater in 2017.

The council's 9-4 passage of the ordinance makes Boston the eight major US city to enact such legislation. Others to have done so include New York City; Washington, DC; San Francisco; Seattle; Minneapolis; Austin; and Philadelphia. A broad coalition of building industry and energy professionals in Boston, including the Boston Society of Architects and Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, supported passage of the ordinance.