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This Article does not apply to a covered building for which more than 50% of the total gross floor area is used for:
(a) public assembly in a building without walls;
(b) industrial uses where the majority of energy is consumed for manufacturing, the generation of electric power or district thermal energy to be consumed offsite, or for other process loads; or
(c) transportation, communications, or utility infrastructure. (2022 L.M.C., ch. 13, §1.)
(a) County-owned covered buildings.
(1) No later than June 1, 2015, and every June 1 thereafter, the County must benchmark any County-owned covered building whose gross floor area equals 50,000 square feet for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(2) No later than June 1, 2023, and every June 1 thereafter, the County must benchmark any County-owned covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 25,000 square feet but is less than 50,000 square feet for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(b) Group 1 covered buildings. No later than June 1, 2016, and every June 1 thereafter, the owner of any Group 1 covered building must benchmark the building for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(c) Group 2 covered buildings. No later than June 1, 2017, and every June 1 thereafter, the owner of any Group 2 covered building must benchmark the building for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(d) Group 3 and Group 4 covered buildings. No later than June 1, 2023, and every June 1 thereafter, the owner of any Group 3 or Group 4 covered building must benchmark the building for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(e) Group 5 covered buildings. No later than June 1, 2024, and every June 1 thereafter, the owner of any Group 5 covered building must benchmark the building for the previous calendar year and report the benchmarking information to the Department.
(f) Newly constructed covered building. Following the first full calendar year that energy data can be collected and that the building was occupied, on average, by at least one full-time-equivalent employee (40 person-hours per week) exclusive of security guards, janitors, construction workers, landscapers, and other maintenance personnel throughout the calendar year being reported, the owner of any newly constructed covered building must benchmark the building and report to the Department no later than June 1 of that following year, and every June 1 thereafter.
(g) Waiver. For any time period for which the owner of a covered building documents, in a form required by regulation, any of the conditions below, the Director may waive the benchmarking requirements of this Section.
(1) Financial distress, defined as a building that:
(A) is the subject of a tax lien sale or public auction due to property tax arrearages;
(B) is controlled by a court appointed receiver; or
(C) was recently acquired by a deed in lieu of foreclosure;
(2) On average, less than one full-time-equivalent employee occupied the building during the calendar year being reported;
(3) The covered building is newly constructed and has received its certificate of use and occupancy during the calendar year for which benchmarking is required; or
(4) The covered building was demolished or received its demolition permit during the calendar year for which benchmarking is required. (2014 L.M.C., ch. 6, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 51, § 1; 2022 L.M.C., ch. 13, §1.)
(a) Verification required. Before the first benchmarking deadline required by Section 18A-39, and before each third benchmarking deadline thereafter, the owner of each covered building must assure that reported benchmarking information for that year is verified by a recognized data verifier. The verification must be a signed statement by a recognized data verifier attesting to the accuracy of the information. If the Director requests, the owner of a covered building must produce the statement available for the most recent year in which verification was required.
(b) Alternative Verification Path. The Director may waive the verification requirements under this Section if the owner can demonstrate that the building has achieved ENERGY STAR Certification for at least 6 months of the year being benchmarked. (2014 L.M.C., ch. 6, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 51, §1.)
(a) Solicitation of information from tenant. An owner of a covered building must request relevant information from any tenant in a covered building no later than March 1 of each year in which benchmarking is required by Section 18A-39. If the owner receives notice that a tenant intends to vacate a unit which is subject to this Section, the owner must request the information within 10 days after receiving the notice to vacate.
(b) Tenant response. Within 30 days after receiving a request for information from the building owner, each tenant of a unit in a covered building must provide the building owner with all information that the owner cannot otherwise acquire that is necessary to comply with this Article.
(c) Failure of tenant to provide information.
(1) If any tenant does not provide the information required under this Section to the owner of a covered building, that fact does not relieve the owner of the obligation to benchmark the building under Section 18A-39, using all information otherwise available to the owner.
(2) If a tenant of a unit in a covered building does not provide information to the owner of the building under this Section, the Director must consider the owner to be in compliance with Section 18A-39 if:
(A) the owner shows that the owner requested the tenant to provide the information under this Section; and
(B) the owner benchmarked the building under Section 18A-39, using all information otherwise available to the owner. (2014 L.M.C., ch. 6, § 1.)
(a) Requirement. The Department must develop and implement building energy performance standards for covered buildings. The standards must:
(1) increase the energy efficiency of existing covered buildings and expedite the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector;
(2) use normalized net site EUI as a performance metric wherever feasible or net site EUI if the Director determines that normalization is not practical as performance metric;
(3) account for the renewable energy allowance in the performance metric;
(4) use the benchmarking tool to report building energy performance to the County; and
(5) utilize available data sources and best practices to establish interim and final performance standards.
(b) Building types.
(1) No later than December 31, 2023, the County Executive must issue Method (2) regulations establishing building types for every covered building.
(2) Covered buildings within each building type must have shared characteristics that facilitate the implementation and enforcement of this Article. The Department may define one or more building types to be identical to ENERGY STAR property type categories.
(3) All covered buildings within the same building type category must be subject to the same final performance standards that facilitate the implementation and enforcement of this Article.
(c) Performance baseline. The performance baseline for each covered building must be calculated as follows:
(1) County-owned covered buildings whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 50,000 square feet, Group 1 covered buildings, and Group 2 covered buildings: Average of the 2 complete years with the highest normalized net site EUI between calendar year 2018 and calendar year 2022.
(2) County-owned covered buildings whose gross floor area is at least 25,000 square feet but not greater than 50,000 square feet, Group 3, and Group 4 covered buildings: Average of the 2 complete years with the highest normalized net site EUI between calendar year 2022 and calendar year 2024.
(3) Group 5 covered buildings: Average of the 2 complete years with the highest normalized net site EUI between calendar year 2023 and calendar year 2025.
(4) Newly constructed covered buildings: Average of the 2 complete years with the highest normalized net site EUI over the first 3 years of benchmarking reporting.
(d) Interim and final performance standards.
(1) No later than December 31, 2023, the County Executive must issue Method (2) regulations establishing final performance standards for each building type using the normalized site EUI performance metric wherever feasible or site EUI if the Director determines that normalization is not practical.
(2) The Department must calculate interim performance standards for each covered building with the starting point set at the covered building’s performance baseline and continuing to the final performance standard.
(3) Each covered building must demonstrate progress towards the final performance standard by complying with interim performance standards every 5 years after the performance baseline year as follows:
(A) County-owned covered buildings whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 50,000 square feet, Group 1, and Group 2 covered buildings:
(i) Interim performance standard: December 31, 2028, and evaluated with June 1, 2029, benchmarking.
(ii) Final performance standard: December 31, 2033, and evaluated with June 1, 2034, benchmarking.
(B) County-owned covered buildings whose gross floor area is at least 25,000 square feet but not greater than 50,000 square feet, Group 3, and Group 4 covered buildings:
(i) Interim performance standard: December 31, 2030, evaluated with June 1, 2031.
(ii) Final performance standard: December 31, 2035, evaluated with June 1, 2036.
(C) Group 5 covered buildings:
(i) Interim performance standard: December 31, 2031, evaluated with June 1, 2032, benchmarking.
(ii) Final performance standard: December 31, 2036, evaluated with June 1, 2037.
(D) Newly constructed buildings will be added to a coverage group (Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, or Group 5) based on gross floor area and building type:
(i) Interim performance standards: Evaluated with the interim standard of the building’s coverage group following creation of the performance baseline.
(ii) Final performance standard: Evaluated with the final performance standard of the building’s coverage group, if the performance baseline is created before the final performance standard.
(4) Covered buildings must maintain the final performance standards established by regulation.
(5) Covered buildings must demonstrate compliance with the interim and final performance standards by reporting building energy benchmarking data to the Department using the benchmarking tool. The Department must determine compliance by comparing the performance metric against the interim or final performance standards for the applicable building type. (2022 L.M.C., ch. 13, §1.)
(a) Established. The County Executive must appoint, subject to confirmation by the Council, a Building Performance Improvement Board comprised of 15 voting members. Designees of the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of General Services, Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Department of Housing and Community Development, and Department of Permitting Services are ex officio nonvoting members of the Board.
(b) Membership. Each voting member of the Board must be a resident of the County or a member of the governing body or staff of an entity doing business in the County. The Board should include:
(1) Representatives of local electricity or natural gas utilities;
(2) Providers of energy efficiency, building resilience and/or renewable energy services or consulting;
(3) Owners or managers of affordable housing;
(4) Owners or managers of multi-family residential buildings containing market-rate units;
(5) Nonresidential building owners or managers;
(6) Nonprofit building owners or managers;
(7) Technical building design or operations professionals;
(8) Providers of facilities, mechanical, or similar engineering services;
(9) Commercial or multi-family residential construction finance or investment professionals;
(10) Representatives of nonprofit organizations dedicated to climate action, resiliency, public health, green building, economic development, or building decarbonization; and
(11) Representatives of nonprofit organizations dedicated to racial equity or environmental justice.
(c) Terms. Each voting member serves a 3-year term beginning on January 1. Of the members first appointed, one-third must be appointed for 1-year terms, one-third must be appointed for 2-year terms, and one-third must be appointed for 3-year terms. A member must not serve more than 2 consecutive full terms. A member appointed to fill a vacancy serves the rest of the unexpired term. Members continue in office until their successors are appointed and qualified. The Board must elect one of its members as Chair to be who must serve as such for one calendar year or until a successor is elected.
(d) Procedures. The Board must adopt rules to govern its procedures including meeting frequency, managing Chair elections, establishing committees, and other issues that pertain to Board governance.
(e) Duties and responsibilities. The Board must generally advise the Department on implementation of building energy performance standards. This includes providing recommendations to the Director on:
(1) Building type groupings;
(2) Interim and final performance standards for each building type;
(3) Managing situations where ownership of a building is transferred or a building’s type changes;
(4) Building performance improvement plan technical review and approval processes;
(5) Complementary programs or policies, with particular attention to assistance or accommodations for challenged or under-resourced sectors, such as affordable housing, non-profit organizations, and small businesses; and
(6) Enforcement of benchmarking requirements and performance standards.
(a) If a covered building owner cannot reasonably meet one or more of the applicable interim or final performance standards due to economic infeasibility or other circumstances beyond the owner’s control, based on guidelines established by regulation, the owner may submit a proposed building performance improvement plan to the Department for review and approval by the Director in consultation with the Building Performance Improvement Board.
(b) A building performance improvement plan must include:
(1) documentation of economic infeasibility or other circumstances beyond the owner’s control such that interim or final performance standards are not met;
(2) a list of potential improvement measures, including engineering calculations of energy savings and a cost-benefit analysis of each potential improvement measure;
(3) a plan and timeline for achieving energy improvements to the building’s performance that will provide cost-effective energy savings based on guidelines established by regulation, including the estimated savings to be realized by implementing all of the cost-effective measures identified in the plan; and
(4) procedures for correcting any noncompliance or deviation from the plan.
(c) The owner must submit a building performance improvement plan to the Department at least 90 days before the deadline for submitting documentation of compliance with interim or final performance standards.
(d) If, after consulting with the Building Performance Improvement Board, the Director approves the building performance improvement plan, the owner must record the building performance improvement plan as a covenant in the County land records and deliver a certified copy of the recorded plan to the Department. After the Director receives the certified copy of the recorded plan, the covered building will be deemed to be in compliance with the applicable interim or final performance standards as long as the owner fulfills the terms of the building performance improvement plan within the timeline specified in the plan. (2022 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 1.)
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