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Chicago Energy Benchmarking Overview / Update

California Energy CommissionIEPR Workshop

May 7, 2015

Amy JewelSenior City AdvisorCity Energy Project

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The City Energy Project (CEP) is a national initiative to create healthier and more prosperous cities by improving energy efficiency in buildings

• CEP supports innovative, practical solutions to:– Cut energy waste;– Boost local

economies;– Reduce harmful

pollution

• CEP is a joint partnership between the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

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The City of Chicago has set ambitious goals to make our community more competitive, livable, & sustainable

• The Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda outlines specific activities to drive concrete impact over 3 years of implementation– 7 themes, 24 goals, and 100 actions– Mutually-reinforcing citywide and cross-sector objectives

• This road map builds on objectives and approaches outlined in the Chicago Climate Action Plan– 25% GHG reduction by 2020, 80% by 2050 (below 1990) – focus on buildings, energy, transportation, waste, &

adaptation

City of Chicago’s Sustainability Strategy

Concrete Actions:i.Enhance local policies to support greater transparency in energy use and building energy performance

Three-Year Goals:A.Improve citywide energy efficiency by 5%

Key Theme: Energy Efficiency& Clean Energy

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• The ordinance focuses on data accuracy and transparency:o Buildings larger than 50,000ft2 required to:

1. Track whole-building energy use2. Verify data accuracy every three years 3. Report to the City annually

• Building energy efficiency represents huge economic and environmental opportunity:o Chicago residents and businesses spend ~$3 billion/year on building energyo Building energy use represents ~71% of Chicago’s total greenhouse gas emissions

Commercial (~60%)

Residential (~25%)

Public (~15%)

Building Types Covered by the Chicago Energy Benchmarking

Ordinance

Energy benchmarking in Chicago drives awareness and transparency on energy use, enabling energy and cost savings

• The Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance drives building energy use awareness and transparency for non-industrial buildings >50,000 square feet:o <1% of total buildings in Chicago, but nearly 20% of all building energy use

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The ordinance builds on a national trend using an established online tool, with phased roll-out through 2017

Phased Chicago Implementation by Building Size & Sector: 2014-2017 (ongoing)

Timeline for Chicago Energy Benchmarking, Verification, Reporting

Building sector

Building size (ft2)

Benchmarking Timeline:

2014 2015 2016 2017

Non-Residenti

al

≥ 250,000    ≥ 50,000    

Residential

≥ 250,000  ≥ 50,000  

= Year verification is required

Public Reporting Authorized after 2nd Year of Data Submitted

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Chicago’s first year of implementation in 2014 provided the foundation for increased energy awareness and efficiency action

Chicago Energy Benchmarking 2014 Findings

• Widespread first-year building participation– 348 buildings spanning over 260 million square

feet and representing ~11% of citywide building energy consumption

– 90%+ compliance rate • Unprecedented, sector-specific data on energy

use in Chicago’s largest buildings– Median ENERGY STAR Score of 76 out of 100– Chicago buildings performed similarly to large

buildings in NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC

– Sector-level data on offices, health care, K-12 schools, universities, and ‘other’ facilities

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Enormous opportunity exists for buildings reporting in 2014 to save money, reduce emissions, and create jobs

Chicago Energy Benchmarking 2014 Savings Potential

• Savings from improving all buildings’ energy intensity to 50th percentile (average) and 75th percentile (above-average), by sector:– Potential 13%–23% total energy reduction– Potential $44M–77M energy cost savings– 460,000–844,000 tons of avoided greenhouse gas

emissions (equivalent to removing 95,000–175,000 cars from the road)

– More than 1,000 jobs from investments to achieve these savings

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Several training and support opportunities exist to enable ease of compliance

Covered Building Support Opportunities

Comprehensive Website & Guidance

Materials (www.CityofChicago.org/

EnergyBenchmarking)

Utility Aggregation of Energy Data

(Electricity & Gas)

Full-Time Help Center (Phone & Email)

Weekly Trainings(In-Person & Web)

Expanded Pool of Recognized Data

Verifiers

Chicago Energy Benchmarking Working group:

AIA Chicago | Illinois ASHRAE | City of Chicago | Elevate Energy | Energy Center of Wisconsin

Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance | City Energy Project | USGBC-Illinois

Pro-Bono Data Verification for

Buildings in Need

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• Web: – www.CityOfChicago.org/EnergyBenchmarking– www.CityOfChicago.org/Sustainability– www.CityEnergyProject.org

• Email: – Sustinability@CityOfChicago.org – Info@ChicagoEnergyBenchmarking.org