Frequently Asked Questions
As we implement the Seattle Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting Ordinance, we are collecting frequently asked questions and expanding this resource list.
Topics
- Benchmarking
- Portfolio Manager
- Parking Lots
- Portfolio Manager and Existing Accounts
- Education and Technical Support
- Confidentiality
- Compliance
- Automated Benchmarking Services
- Multifamily Apartments and Condominiums
- Manufacturing Exemptions
- Managing Energy Data
- Energy Efficiency
Why do I have to benchmark my building in Seattle?
Seattle is one of seven cities nationwide with energy benchmarking requirements, and many other cities and states are considering similar measures. The Seattle Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting legislation (Ordinance 123226and 123993) requires commercial and multifamily building owners 20,000 sq. ft. or larger to conduct annual energy performance tracking through the U.S. EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager, a free and secure online benchmarking tool. Learn more on the Deadlines and Enforcement page.
In addition, Under Washington State Law (RCW 19.27A.170), building owners and operators must disclose benchmarking data and ratings to potential buyers, renters or lenders. The state law only applies to state and nonresidential buildings. Disclosure of benchmarking data is being phased in as follows:
- Washington State Law Deadlines:
By July 1, 2010, for all state buildings
By January 1, 2011, for all buildings greater than 50,000 square feet
By January 1, 2012, for all buildings greater than 10,000 square feet
How much does benchmarking cost a commercial or multifamily building owner?
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is a FREE online service available to building owners through the US EPA. Soft costs to building owners will include the time needed to set up a building account, which is dependent on the complexity of the building. For example, the number of spaces, access to building information (e.g., number of tenants and number of computers) and access to building plans, if needed to determine square footage associated with different uses (e.g. retail, office space or parking). According to BetterBricks, which has worked extensively with commercial property owners in the region participating in voluntary benchmarking programs, a relatively simple building will require about three to four hours to gather and input all data.
To make benchmarking easier, Puget Sound Energy, Seattle City Light and Seattle Steam have automated benchmarking services for uploading utility data. After a building owner has set up their building account in Portfolio Manager and submitted authorization and data request forms, the utilities will upload aggregated (summarized) energy use data for the building. This eliminates what has often been one of the most time consuming aspects of benchmarking a building, and also helps to maintain tenant privacy. See Step 3 of the How to Guide for instructions.
Do I need to hire a qualified contractor to calculate benchmarks and ratings?
No, the intent of the program is to provide appropriate educational support so that building owners who choose to do their own benchmarking can using existing staff and resources. Our How to Comply section shows the necessary steps and links to training and support. Independent, third party verification is required ONLY if the building owner chooses to register for ENERGY STAR certification (the ordinance requires benchmarking and rating, but not certification). Certification can be performed by registered professional engineers (PEs)., More than 50 provide this service in the state of Washington. Owners that wish to hire a professional for benchmarking and/or certification. Visit the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) for a list.
Can't my utility automatically benchmark my building for me?
Seattle utilities have developed systems (see Automated Benchmarking) to feed building data automatically into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. This service eliminates the manual data entry of energy use data for each tenant. However, the building owner or manager is still required to set up the initial profile of their property, and input space type and occupancy data according to each building’s characteristics. In addition, any major changes in the number of occupants, space-types, or other variables utilized by the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool should be updated periodically to give an accurate reflection of the operating conditions of the property.
Building owners are ultimately the only party who can confirm the complete listing of meters that serve a building. Utilities track the physical location of their meters, and the mailing address of the party paying bills, but neither of these provide a utility with the information they need to definitively determine which meters are associated with a given building.
> Return to Topics Index
2. Portfolio Manager
What is ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager?
The U.S. EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager is a free, online tool developed and administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for commercial, industrial, multifamily, public and institutional building owners and managers to track and access energy use across their entire portfolio of buildings. Using Portfolio Manager, the energy performance of buildings can be benchmarked and rated through comparisons to similar buildings nationwide.
Does Portfolio Manager account for climate differences between Eastern and Western Washington? Does it account for temperature differences from year to year, such as in an exceptionally hard winter?
Yes, Portfolio Manager mathematically adjusts actual energy data so it represents energy typically used in an average year for the same location. This accounts for weather differences from year to year that may result in abnormally high or low energy consumption. Portfolio Manager requires at least 11 consecutive periods of energy data during a year to calculate weather-normalized data.
I have many buildings served by one gas meter, one water meter, and several electrical meters. How do I enter my buildings, which are not separately metered, into Portfolio Manager?
Many buildings are on campuses and share meters. Without metering individual buildings, the facility operator cannot closely manage the energy use of the buildings. Consider planning how to meter existing individual buildings. Meanwhile, even if individual buildings are not metered separately, you can enter your facilities into Portfolio Manager using the campus feature. You need to first create a campus, create campus meters, and associate buildings with the meters that serve them. See Portfolio Manager help files for more information about creating campuses. The campus feature within Portfolio Manager provides energy managers with a central view of all campus facilities and a calculated combined energy usage based on combined floor space. Energy usage for the campus can be derived from both campus-level meters (used by multiple facilities) and separate meters for individual facilities. Currently campuses are not able to use automated benchmarking services offered through local utilities. Consequently, until this capability is added by the EPA to Portfolio Manager, campus buildings must be benchmarked using Portfolio Manager or a similar system, but are not required to disclose or report their performance. For more details on campuses and multiple building issues read the Director's Rule.
What is a Statement of Energy Performance?
Portfolio Manager can generate a Statement of Energy Performance (SEP) for any building in your portfolio. This document communicates information about a building’s energy performance in a format that is both understandable and easy-to-use in business transactions. The Statement of Energy Performance can help you formalize performance expectations to support leasing, building sales, appraisals, insurance, staff management, and energy/O&M service contracts.
You can use Portfolio Manager to generate a SEP for each building, summarizing important energy information and building characteristics such as site and source energy intensity, CO2 emissions, and gross floor area. The SEP can help you to:
- Apply for the ENERGY STAR label
- Satisfy LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) requirements
- Support mortgage, sale, and/or lease transactions
- Document performance in energy service contracts
- Communicate energy performance with tenants/owner/customers
What is the ENERGY STAR label?
An ENERGY STAR label signifies that a building has met or exceeded a threshold for energy efficiency, set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The label is awarded in a fashion similar to a pass/fail class, where no distinction is made between degrees of success or failure. To earn an ENERGY STAR label, commercial, industrial, public and institutional buildings must score in the top 25 percent in comparison to similar buildings nationwide. You must submit a Statement of Energy Performance, validated by a Professional Engineer or Registered Architect, as a part of your building's application for the ENERGY STAR label. Learn more on the ENERGY STAR website.
None of my buildings are rated building types, so I can’t get an ENERGY STAR score for them. What good will it do me to enter them into Portfolio Manager?
In Portfolio Manager, the benchmark is the current energy use of the building itself, which can be used to measure improvement. From RCW 19.27A, “’Benchmark’ means the energy used by a facility as recorded monthly for at least one year and the facility characteristics information inputs required for a portfolio manager.” Energy use recorded and tracked over time will be used to measure your success in meeting energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals. Hopefully more rated building types will be added in the future to EPA’s Portfolio Manager, so you can also compare your building to similar existing buildings.
If a "space type" does not match definitions in Portfolio Manager, you should not try to "force" the building into one of the building types in order to receive an ENERGY STAR rating. To see a list of buildings that can receive a score and eligibility requirements, please visit www.energystar.gov/benchmark. Any building that does not fit into one of these building types should be entered as “Other” space type in Portfolio Manager.
The EPA is always working to develop rating criteria for additional segments of the commercial building market. It is also working towards ratings for the multifamily market, and anticipates releasing rating information in late 2013. For those buildings that are not eligible to receive a rating, EPA has created a list of reference energy performance targets. These are based on average energy use calculated across different types of buildings. These energy performance targets are not normalized for climate nor adjusted for activities which may affect energy use. All targets are expressed in energy use intensity (EUI) and are derived from the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS).
What is source energy (shown on Statement of Performance and in my Portfolio Manager Account)?
Source energy represents the total amount of raw fuel that is required to operate the building. It incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses, thereby enabling a complete assessment of energy efficiency in a building.
EPA’s national energy performance ratings evaluate the performance of buildings that use all types of energy. To compare this diverse set of commercial buildings equitably, the ratings must express the consumption of each type of energy in a single common unit. EPA has determined that source energy is the most equitable unit of evaluation. Visit Portfolio Manager for more information.
> Return to Topics Index
Do I add parking lots to Portfolio Manager?
Whether a parking lot(s) is added or not to Portfolio Manager depends on how its energy use (typically lights and ventilation) is metered.
- If the parking lot IS served by energy meter connected to a building associated with it, ADD it to Portfolio Manager as a “space use” of the building.
- If the parking lot IS NOT served by energy meter connected to a building associated with it (i.e. it is on a separate meter), DO NOT ADD it to Portfolio Manager.
When adding parking lots as a “space type” to Portfolio Manager, the total parking “gross floor area” or square footage (SF) must be allocated to at least one these categories:
- Enclosed floor area— this area uses energy for lighting and mechanical ventilation
- Non enclosed floor area (with a roof)— this area uses energy for lighting, but NOT for mechanical ventilation
- Open floor area— this area uses energy for lights but only during the night, when it is dark outside. This would typically be an outdoor lot.
Note: If you don’t have 1 or more of these 3 categories, input zero “0” SF.
Weekly Hours of Access: If your lot is open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, the weekly hours of access is 168 hours (24 x 7).
How do I measure my parking lot’s size?
Although it’s most accurate to have the plans, you can use this quick tip to estimate the total square footage (SF) of your parking lot for any of the above categories. You will need a measuring tape and a calculator.
- Measure one parking space in the lot.
- EXAMPLE: One space is 10 ft. wide by 20 ft. long
- Multiply the length of the space by the width to get the SF.
- EXAMPLE: 10 ft. wide x 20 ft. long = 200 SF
- Count all the spaces in the lot. Multiply the number of spaces in the lot by the SF of one space.
- EXAMPLE: 200 SF x 25 (#of spaces in the lot) = 5,000 SF (SF of all spaces)
- Next, multiply the square footage of all the spaces by 1.5. This is an estimated SF of the spaces and the lanes between the spaces, which is the entire lot.
- EXAMPLE: 5,000 SF x 1.5 = 7,500 SF (Use for Portfolio Manager)
NOTE: Do not include any surrounding landscaping that is lit by the parking lot’s lighting.
> Return to Topics Index
What if I have already entered energy usage data and want to switch to automatic benchmarking services?
Setting up automated benchmarking does not overwrite manually entered data. Instead, new meters are created. To ensure accurate reporting, manually entered data should be deleted if you are using the automated benchmarking service. If you wish to maintain historical data, delete the manual meter entries that were duplicated.
What do I do if I have already been benchmarking and intend to continue manually enter all meter data?
In this scenario, you simply have to confirm that you have the data required and then authorize the City of Seattle as a service provider under the Automated Benchmarking Console within Portfolio Manger, which signs you up for the annual reporting process. During this process, you will be prompted to add the City of Seattle Building ID to your building record. Steps 4 and 5 of the How to Comply section explain how to do this.
> Return to Topics Index
What help is available to me?
The City of Seattle has developed a How to Guide to walk you through the steps to benchmark your building, including authorizing your utilities to upload your energy data automatically. Additional support is available through a helpline, drop-in assistance, workshops, and webinars.
> Return to Topics Index
Will the benchmark and rating information that is submitted to the city be shared through a public website?
No, though other jurisdictions have done this, we have no plans to disseminate building performance or rating information through a web site or other generally accessible format. We will be posting the list of buildings subject to the benchmarking requirement. Please visit the Reporting and Disclosure page [link] for more information.
What about the privacy of my tenant’s energy use data?
The automated benchmarking services, provided by local utilities to directly feed energy usage data into an owner’s Portfolio Manager account, eliminate the need to manually input data from bills. These services preserve tenants’ privacy by summarizing the entire building’s energy use—building owners do not need to collect energy bills or gain permission from individual tenants. See the next question for one minor exception for Puget Sound Energy customers.
What is Puget Sound Energy’s Customer Data Release form? Do I need to use it?
PSE's Customer Data Release form is only required if your building has four or less tenants that separately receive service from PSE to the building and have their own accounts with PSE. In this situation, each tenant needs to sign a release form. This is legally required by Puget Sound Energy. The owner— and the City— will ONLY be able to see the total energy use, aggregated across all meters serving a building. Individual tenant meter readings will not be disclosed. Download the Customer Data Release form from the PSE website.
What if one of my four or less tenants will not sign the Puget Sound Energy’s Customer Data Release form? Does this prevent me from complying?
If a tenant is preventing you from complying with the benchmarking ordinance by not signing PSE's release form, you have legal recourse. As detailed in the Seattle Municipal Code 22.920, Sec. 120, a tenant can be fined if they fail to provide information needed to comply. The City of Seattle has created an official tenant request letter to assist in this process. Download a PDF of the letter here. If this does not get a response, please contact the Program Manager, Rebecca Baker at Rebecca.baker@seattle.gov or 206-615-1171.
Does the energy performance report show my tenant’s energy use?
No. A building owner is required to provide an energy performance report, if requested, by a tenant, buyer, lender, or other qualified party. This one-page report is easily generated directly from the Portfolio Manager account, and will show information such as the average energy use per square foot for the entire building—not individual tenant data. This report is shared directly between the owner and current or future tenants, a prospective buyer or lender. Visit the Reporting and Disclosure page for more information.
Are there plans to add disclosure requirements for smaller buildings in the future?
We have not done an analysis of the number of commercial buildings of less than 10,000 square feet, nor do we have any plans to add reporting requirements for those in the future.
> Return to Topics Index
What is the City of Seattle Building ID?
The City of Seattle has created building ID’s for properties identified through the King County Assessor's data that will need to comply with the Benchmarking and Reporting ordinance. The City of Seattle building ID must be entered when you authorize reporting to the city through the Portfolio Manager Automated Benchmarking Console., or your building will be out of compliance. This building ID number will allow the city to download your building performance data from your Portfolio Manager account, which is needed for you to meet the annual reporting requirement. Step 5 of the How to Guide explains how to report to the city.
Am I required to achieve a certain score in Portfolio Manager, or make energy efficiency improvements if I fall below this level?
There is no mandatory requirement for making energy efficiency improvements. Although we encourage everyone to invest in all cost effective measures, the intent of this program is to put the information about comparative energy performance results in the hands of appropriate decision makers, so that market awareness and competitiveness will drive improvements in building energy efficiency. Visit the Benchmarking to Save Energy and Reduce Costs page for information.
Is the City considering imposing mandatory energy targets in the future?
During the stakeholder process (see Green Building Task Force) that led to the development of this program, all parties agreed that providing access to information about energy performance should lead to greater awareness and investment in energy efficiency measures. The level of improvement in building performance will be monitored through annual reporting. If progress is not consistent with achieving the City's 20% energy reduction target, additional policy measures may have to be considered. If needed, these would be adopted only after a public engagement process.
After initial reporting, what has to be done annually each April 1st?
Building owners are required to report to the City annually, on April 1. Visit the Annual Updates page for instructions.
What is Disclosure?
Disclosure is the practice of making a building’s energy performance information available to either a prospective buyer, lessee or lender, a government agency or the general public. Disclosure policies around the nation vary as to how public the information is made and in what form, whether it be a rating, a label or raw energy-use data. Mandatory disclosure policies generally fall into two categories:
- Point-of-transaction disclosure: Energy performance information is released to counte-parties prior to the completion of a real estate transaction, such as a sale, lease or financing. The information is not commonly made public.
- Scheduled disclosure: Energy performance information is reported according to a fixed schedule regardless of transaction activity.
Visit the Reporting & Disclosure Requests page to learn about Seattle’s requirements.
> Return to Topics Index
What is Automated Benchmarking?
The automated benchmarking services, provided by local utilities to directly feed energy usage data into an owner’s Portfolio Manager account, eliminates the need to manually input data from bills. These services preserve tenants’ privacy by summarizing the entire building’s energy use—building owners do not need to collect energy bills or gain permission from individual tenants. There is a minor exception for PSE gas customers only: if a building has four or less tenants who separately receive service from PSE and are individually billed, each needs to sign a release form. The owner—and the City—will be able to see the total energy use, aggregated (summarized) across all meters serving a building. Individual tenant meter readings will not be disclosed. Step 3 of the How to Comply section explains how to set up automated benchmarking with Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy and Seattle Steam.
How does the Automated Benchmarking Service work?
Customers choosing to utilize the local utilities' Automated Benchmarking Services must first register for an account in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and create a facility profile for each building they wish to benchmark. Customers will then need to submit the appropriate data request forms before their utility can authorize automated energy data uploads to Portfolio Manager. Step 3 of the How to Comply section explains how to set up automated benchmarking with Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy and Seattle Steam.
Why is my data shown as summarized?
To preserve tenant privacy utilities are uploading data in a summarized or aggregated format A building owner is required to provide an energy performance report, if requested, by a tenant, buyer, lender, or other qualified party. This one-page report is easily generated directly from the Portfolio Manager account, and will show information such as the average energy use per square foot for the entire building—not individual tenant data. Visit the Reporting & Disclosure Requests page for more details.
> Return to Topics Index
Why are multifamily properties included in the program?
The city has worked with a group of stakeholders, including the WA Multi-Family Housing Association and the Washington State Community Associations Institute (WSCAI), to develop this program. One of the goals is to make information about energy performance much more readily available to current and potential residents in a condominium. Current residents (and owners associations) will be able to evaluate how well the building is performing compared to other similar properties, so they will know if they should consider investing in energy efficiency improvements. Potential new buyers will also be able to access this information, so they can evaluate future utility costs as additional criteria when determining where to buy.
When initially setting up a Portfolio Manager record for a condominium, what option should be selected in response to the question, "What kind of property do you want to add?"
Portfolio Manager allows you to define a property as either “A single facility for which my organization owns or manages 90% or more of the floor area” or “A portion of a single facility for which my organization owns or manages less than 90% of the floor area.” Although a Home Owners' Association does not technically own or manage 90% of the area in a condominium, you should select “A single facility for which my organization owns or manages 90% or more of the floor area” because an HOA manages/represents the entire facility. The second option for a "portion of a single facility" is used for building tenants that only want to benchmark the portion of the building they control.
Although a 1-100 ENERGY STAR score for multifamily properties is not yet available, benchmarking a condominium as "A single facility for which my organization owns or manages 90% or more of the floor area" will ensure that the property could be eligible to apply for the ENERGY STAR label should this score become available in the future. A portion of a building can receive a 1-100 ENERGY STAR score but cannot apply for the ENERGY STAR label.
What about the privacy of my tenant’s energy use data?
Please read the Confidentiality Section for these issues.
> Return to Topics Index
Are Manufacturing and Industrial Buildings Exempt?
Yes, under Director's Rule 6-2011, buildings used primarily for manufacturing or industrial purposes are exempt from all benchmarking, disclosure, and reporting requirements of this ordinance. This includes buildings used for assembling, disassembling, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing, packaging, repair or processing operations. The primary means of obtaining an exemption is by submitting the building's Certificate of Occupancy to EnergyBenchmarking@seattle.gov, documenting that at least 50% of the building is classified under the current Seattle Building Code as Factory Industrial Group F. For more details and a self-certification alternative, read the Manufacturing and Industrial Exemptions document.
> Return to Topics Index
What if I want data for a specific time period?
At this time, each of the three local utilities' Automated Benchmarking Services covers the prior 24 months of energy usage data,; they cannot provide data for a specific date range. Note: Manually entered data will not align with automated data, and could produce inaccurate reporting. If you want a specific time period that is older than the history provided through your utility's automatic meter upload, the best way to achieve this is to enter all data manually.
What if I want data on a regular or frequent basis (such as monthly)?
Each utility has developed its own business process to support automated benchmarking. Energy use data from Seattle City Light and Seattle Steam are uploaded monthly. PSE requires you to request a refresh of your data.
I own the building and am also the account holder. Can I get detailed data?
Utilities are exploring this possibility but at this time utilities will only return summarized data from the automated benchmarking services. You may consider manually entering detailed data from your statements if you prefer additional detail.
> Return to Topics Index
12. Energy Efficiency
Where can I find information about rebates for energy efficient products or upgrades to my property?
Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy, Community Power Works, and other organizations offer rebates and other support for many energy efficiency upgrades. A limited-time program from City Light called “Powerful Neighborhoods” offers free energy-saving light bulbs and efficient water fixtures for multifamily property owners. Learn about other local energy efficiency programs.
What is an Energy Audit?
An audit is an assessment of a building’s energy performance, done to determine and prioritize energy-saving improvements. It is a great step to take once you’ve benchmarked your building. In a typical audit, a building is put through a series of tests to measure the insulating capabilities of walls, windows, floors, doors and ceilings, and the efficiency of its lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling systems. Audits may also examine past energy bills and the patterns of energy use by a building’s users to determine efficiencies. Some commercial buildings may qualify for a free audit from Seattle City Light.
PSE gas customers can check out PSE’s Savings and Energy Center for current offerings. For a list of professional energy auditors for hire, visit the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) Member Directory.
What is Commissioning?
Commissioning is a quality-assurance procedure in which a new building is assessed to ensure that its systems and structures perform to their intended design. To be most effective, building commissioning begins in the planning phase and continues throughout a building's life cycle. Visit SCL to learn more about Building Commissioning Assistance. For a list of professional providers, visit the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) Member Directory.
What is retro-commissioning?
Retro-commissioning is a procedure in which an existing building’s energy systems are restored to their optimal performance. Rather than replacing equipment, as in a retrofit, retro-commissioning typically involves fine-tuning of existing systems through testing, calibrating and monitoring. For a list of professional providers, visit the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) Member Directory.
What is retrofitting?
Retrofitting is the practice of making improvements to an existing building to increase its energy efficiency and improve the comfort and working conditions of occupants, such as replacing windows and lighting, upgrading heating and cooling systems, air-sealing leaks in windows, doors and duct work, and adding insulation to attics and walls. Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy, Community Power Works, and other organizations offer rebates and other support for many energy efficiency upgrades. Visit the Benchmarking to Save Energy and Reduce Costs page for information.
> Return to Topics Index
|
