In this Article, the following words have the meanings indicated:
Affordable housing means a multi-family building that includes at least 50% of dwelling units whose sale or rental price do not exceed that of a moderately-priced dwelling unit under Chapter 25A.
Benchmark means to track and input a building’s energy consumption data and other relevant building information for 12 consecutive months, as required by the benchmarking tool, to quantify the building’s energy use.
Benchmarking tool means the website-based software, commonly known as ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, or any successor system, approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to track and assess the relative energy use of buildings nationwide.
Building means:
(1) any single structure utilized or intended for supporting or sheltering any occupancy, except if a single structure contains two or more individually metered units operating independently that have stand-alone heating, cooling, hot water, and other mechanical systems, and no shared interior common areas, or;
(2) two or more structures utilized or intended for supporting or sheltering any occupancy, that:
(A) are serviced by a common energy meter;
(B) have a common heating or cooling system;
(C) share interior common areas; or
(D) whose configuration otherwise prevents an accurate determination of the energy consumption attributable to each individual structure.
Building energy performance standard means a policy that sets a minimum required level of energy performance for covered buildings.
Building performance improvement plan means a document in a format approved by the Director submitted by a covered building owner and approved by the Director as described in this Article.
Building type means a category of covered buildings subject to the same final performance standards.
Certificate of use and occupancy means the certificate issued by the Director that allows a building to be occupied and used.
County-owned covered building means a building owned by the County whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 25,000 square feet.
Covered building means a County-owned, Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, or Group 5 covered building.
Data center means a space designed and equipped to meet the needs of high density computing equipment such as server racks, used for data storage and processing, as defined by the benchmarking tool.
Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.
Director means the Director of the Department or the Director’s designee.
Energy performance score or ENERGY STAR score means the numerical score produced by the benchmarking tool, or any successor score, that assesses a building’s energy performance compared to similar buildings, based on source energy use, operating characteristics, and geographic location.
Final performance standard means the numeric value of site EUI that each covered building must ultimately achieve.
Gross floor area means the total building square footage measured between the principal exterior surfaces of the enclosing fixed walls of a building. Gross floor area consists of all areas inside the building, including lobbies, tenant areas, common areas, meeting rooms, break rooms, the base level of atriums, restrooms, elevator shafts, stairwells, mechanical equipment areas, basements, and storage rooms. Gross floor area does not include exterior spaces, balconies, patios, exterior loading docks, driveways, covered walkways, outdoor play courts (e.g., tennis, basketball), parking, the interstitial space between floors (which house pipes and ventilation), and crawl spaces. Gross floor area is not the same as rentable space, but rather includes all areas inside the building(s).
Group 1 covered building means a privately owned nonresidential covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 250,000 square feet.
Group 2 covered building means a privately owned nonresidential covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 50,000 square feet but is less than 250,000 square feet.
Group 3 covered building means:
(1) a privately owned nonresidential covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 25,000 square feet but is less than 50,000 square feet, or
(2) a privately owned nonresidential covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 50,000 square feet and whose use type was previously exempted under this Article.
Group 4 covered building means a privately owned multifamily residential or mixed-use covered building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 250,000 square feet.
Group 5 covered building means a privately owned multifamily residential or mixed-use building whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 25,000 square feet but is less than 250,000 square feet.
Interim performance standard means the numeric value of site EUI which covered buildings must achieve or exceed by a fixed date every four (4) years from a covered building’s performance baseline.
Interior common area means shared space within a building such as hallways, lobbies, stairwells, and other shared amenities (e.g., gyms, laundry rooms, party rooms).
Mixed-use building means a building that contains both residential units and commercial space.
Net site EUI means site energy use minus energy generated from the renewable energy allowance divided by the total gross floor area of the building expressed in thousands of British thermal units per gross square 119 feet (kBtu/GSF).
Newly constructed covered building means a covered building whose owner has completed construction, received a use and occupancy permit, and is able to begin benchmarking the building’s energy use and other characteristics.
Normalized net site energy means the site energy use by the covered building normalized for weather and other characteristics within the limits of the capabilities of the benchmarking tool and normalized for other factors as determined by the Department minus energy generated from the renewable energy allowance.
Normalized net site EUI means the total normalized net site energy use consumed by a covered building in one year divided by the total gross floor area of the building expressed in kBtu/GSF.
Owner means an individual or legal entity in whose name a building is titled, or in the case of a community association, the governing body of either a condominium or a cooperative housing corporation.
Performance baseline means the normalized net site EUI for a covered building averaged over two calendar years.
Performance metric means an objectively verifiable numeric measure of normalized site EUI to determine building performance.
Process load means energy consumed for bona fide purposes other than heating, cooling, ventilation, domestic hot water, lighting, appliances, office equipment, data centers, or other plug loads.
Recognized data verifier means a Professional Engineer or a Registered Architect, or another trained individual whose professional license or building energy training program credential is recognized by the Director.
Reported benchmarking information means the descriptive information about a building, its operating characteristics, and information generated by the benchmarking tool regarding the building’s energy consumption, efficiency, and performance. Reported benchmarking information includes the building identification number, address, gross floor area, energy performance score, site energy use intensity, and annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Site energy use means all energy used onsite by a covered building to meet the energy loads of a building, including electricity delivered to the building through the electric grid and generated onsite with renewable sources; natural gas; district steam; district hot and chilled water; diesel; propane; fuel oil; wood; coal; and other fuels used onsite. Site energy use does not include electricity used to charge vehicles.
Site energy use intensity or site EUI means a numeric value calculated by the benchmarking tool that represents the energy consumed by a covered building relative to its size in terms of energy used per square foot of gross floor area per year.
Tenant means a person or legal entity occupying or holding possession of a building, part of a building, or premises under a rental agreement. (2014 L.M.C., ch. 6
, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 51
, §1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 12
, §1; 2022 L.M.C., ch. 13
, §1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 21
, § 1.)