Public Comment Period
Public comment on the proposed Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking and Transparency policy is active until March 5, 2021. Public comment is accepted here.
In November 2019, Ann Arbor's City Council unanimously adopted a Climate Emergency Declaration committing to charting a path for how the entire Ann Arbor community could achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030. In June 2020, City Council unanimously adopted the A2ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan, a document created with input from thousands of Ann Arborites to lay out seven strategies for our community to achieve carbon neutrality. The A2ZERO Plan ensures that buildings in Ann Arbor - which account for 68% of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions - are as energy and water efficient as possible with one of its seven core strategies.
Benchmarking is an easy way for buildings to measure and manage their energy and water use. It creates information that will enable better decision-making around building energy use. The ordinance will help improve the energy efficiency of large buildings across Ann Arbor. By providing reliable data to building owners and tenants and consistent information to the market, benchmarking and transparency leads to average energy savings of 2 - 3 percent each year.
The public comment survey can be used to provide comments, feedback, and suggestions. The full survey will take an estimated 20 - 30 minutes to complete, but many of the questions are optional.
In addition to the video recording of the policy Open House, the following documents are available to inform your review:
Commercial and Multifamily Energy Efficiency Virtual Open House
February 4, 2021 from 6 - 8 PM
The Office of Sustainability and Innovations hosted an Open House to introduce and review policy recommendations, hear from guest speakers, and facitilate feedback. A recording of the Open House is available below.
Why Commercial and Multifamily Energy and Water Benchmarking?
Buildings in Ann Arbor represent 65% of total community-wide greenhouse gas emissions. 30% of energy in buildings is used inefficiently or unnecessarily, and we know more efficient buildings are more comfortable for occupants and save on utility bills. Establishing an effective program to increase energy efficiency improvements in commercial and multifamily buildings is a priority for Fiscal Year 2021.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking and transparency is an easy way to get data and information on how buildings are performing into the hands of their owners and managers. Building owners will be able to look across their portfolio to identify opportunities for energy and financial savings, and understand how their buildings are performing relative to buildings of similar characteristics. The program will provide consistent and relevant information with the market, so that tenants, renters, occupants, and investors can make informed decisions (similar to MPG ratings on cars).
The policy will increase energy efficiency in large buildings across Ann Arbor - on average, buildings that benchmark consistently save 7% of energy consumption, resulting in financial savings as well.
Learn more about Commercial Benchmarking and Transparency in this one-pager:
A2Zero_Commercial Benchmarking_One Pager and Process.pdf
Development Process
The Office of Sustainability and Innovations is working with multiple City unit and community stakeholders to develop policy recommendations through early 2021. Part of this process will include a public comment period. Meeting agendas and slides decks are included below.
Meeting 1: Setting the Context and Framing the Opportunity
November 19, 2020
Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 1 Slide Deck.pdf
Meeting 2: Benchmarking 101 and Policy Direction
December 4, 2020
Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 2 Slide Deck.pdf
Meeting 3: Policy Direction
December 17, 2020
Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 3 Slide Deck.pdf
Meeting 4: Policy Direction
January 8, 2021
Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 4 Slide Deck.pdf
We want to hear from you.
