Originally published in Climate Urgency, Climate Action
To start, the acronym is BPS. (It’s the energy industry, we’re going to use an acronym.)
The Why
Think of BPS as rules that buildings need to follow to become more energy-efficient. These standards help reduce the amount of energy buildings use. Energy and greenhouse gas emissions go hand in hand, so cutting down on energy use cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions.
The main goal of BPS is to make buildings greener by lowering their energy use and carbon emissions. The most common statistic you’ll see about how big of an impact this could have is that buildings use almost 40% of all the energy in the U.S. and produce over 30% of the greenhouse gases.
BPS apply to all kinds of buildings, whether they’re offices, apartments, or schools. They set specific targets that buildings must meet by certain deadlines, and these targets usually get tougher over time.
- Implementation: When a city or state adopts BPS, they often provide help to building owners. This can include technical advice, financial incentives, and resources to make the necessary upgrades.
- Benefits: BPS can save money on energy bills, create jobs, improve air quality, and make communities more resilient to climate change.
The What
A BPS is a law, and we’ve seen them get passed at the city level and the state level (so far). They require that buildings decrease their consumption by some amount before a target date. After the law is passed, then the details of the requirements get worked out.
- Setting Targets: BPS set specific goals for how much energy or emissions a building can use. These goals depend on the type and size of the building.
- Compliance Deadlines: Buildings have to meet these goals by certain dates. The deadlines and targets can vary, but they usually get stricter over time.
- Monitoring and Reporting: Building owners need to keep track of their energy use and report it to the authorities. This ensures everyone is on the same page and following the rules.
- Penalties and Incentives: If buildings don’t meet the standards, they might face fines. But if they do a great job, they can get rewards like tax breaks or grants.
The How
As with all good policy, stakeholder engagement is key. There are so many different groups that have a vested interest in buildings, and their voices need to be heard and the implementation of the BPS needs to adapt to their wants and needs. Achievable potential is always different than the ideal.
So, we engage in Stakeholder Engagement with building owners, tenants, utilities, and environmental groups. We conduct Data Collection and Analysis on how buildings currently perform, on how they could perform, and how that data is sliced and diced in the real world. This includes looking at energy use, emissions, and building characteristics. This data leads us to the very fun work of target setting.
Setting Performance Targets uses the data collected by building type to find out where the sweet spot is for the reduction goals. The targets should be challenging but achievable. The Legislation will have penalties, incentives, and timelines in it, and the targets and data need to align with it. Throughout the entire process, it’s vital to ensure that no one is surprised. Public Review and Feedback ensures transparency and allows for adjustments based on input.
Then, the work of Implementation and Support begins. Once the BPS is in place, providing support to building owners is key. This can include technical help, financial incentives, and resources for compliance. The agencies also need support for Monitoring and Enforcement. Continuous monitoring and enforcement are necessary to ensure compliance. We need lots of workforce development to ensure that we’ll know if the building performance standards are leading to the result they were designed to achieve.
The Who
Of course, my knowledge is limited to the data I’ve collected. So far, my experience has been diving into the deep end of these three BPS:
- Washington State: The Clean Buildings Performance Standard aims to reduce costs and pollution from fossil fuels in existing buildings. It includes incentives for early compliance and support for building owners. Check out more on the Washington Department of Commerce.
- Seattle: Seattle’s Building Emissions Performance Standard targets commercial and multifamily buildings larger than 20,000 square feet. It’s expected to cut building emissions by 27% by 2050. Learn more on the City of Seattle.
- Oregon: Oregon’s Energy Performance Standard for commercial buildings focuses on energy use and emissions, with extensive stakeholder outreach. More details can be found on the Oregon Department of Energy.
Feel free to test me! What questions can you come up with that you think will stump me in my new knowledge?
Next time, I’ll go a little deeper into some of the specific work that we’ve been doing to develop the targets in line with the policy objectives.