Developing a Building Performance Program for Lakewood's Largest Buildings

Which buildings are part of this program?

A major part of program development will be determining the type and size of applicable buildings, along with exempt buildings. Benchmarking and building performance programs across the country typically include public, commercial, and/or multifamily buildings, with varying minimum square footage.

What about small buildings and single family homes?

Separate programs and resources in support of smaller buildings, including single family homes and small businesses, are being designed and developed outside of this project.

What is the impact on housing and tenant affordability?

Benchmarking has been shown to reduce overall energy use, decreasing utility bills. Staff is researching the impact of a Building Performance program on housing and tenant costs by analyzing similar programs from other communities in the US.

How will the final program requirements be determined?

Staff will work with community stakeholders and technical experts, and gather community-wide input from this page and other engagement platforms, to determine program and policy details to present to City Council for consideration. Key challenges and questions that will be determined include:

• Program applicability (the types/sizes of buildings included)
• Flexible pathways for compliance
• Potential benefits and associated costs
• Impact on housing and tenant affordability
• Training and resources for building owners and managers
• Program impact on the City of Lakewood's GHG reduction goals
• Administrative costs to implement the program

What is the impact to building owners?

According to an EPA study, building owners who annually reported their energy use for 3 years reduced their overall energy use by 7%. Benchmarking data helps building owners and managers increase awareness of their energy use and provides valuable information to help them plan for future building efficiency improvements. Building Performance Programs are intended to provide building owners with a roadmap to achieve efficiency improvements and transition to clean energy sources, in addition to financial and technical resources to support these improvements.

What about the State of Colorado's Building Performance Standard?

The State of Colorado has a Building Performance Program for owners of commercial, multifamily, and public buildings 50,000 square feet or larger. Staff aims to create a program that will align to state standards where appropriate, reduce program complexity, and streamline reporting and compliance for owners of those applicable buildings.

Based on the 2021 GHG Inventory, buildings are the largest contributor of GHG emissions in Lakewood because of the energy needed to operate systems like lighting and HVAC. Buildings represent 42% of the city’s overall emissions. Staff is researching various strategies to decrease GHG emissions from existing buildings, including voluntary incentives, programs, and policies.

Below is a graphic that summarizes the general approach for reducing Lakewood's building emissions.

The roadmap outlines steps to decarbonize Lakewood's buildings, starting by measuring existing emissions, establishing reduction goals, and analyzing the city's existing building stock. After identifying the building systems that use the most energy, emissions reduction strategies can be developed, along with financial and technical support that assist buildings owners to complete building improvements.

A benchmarking and building performance program can help building owners and property managers plan for short term measures and long-term capital improvements and retrofits that will improve efficiency of a building’s performance and reduce utility bills. The program is also a key strategy for reducing building emissions in Lakewood.

Energy benchmarking is the regular monitoring and reporting of an individual building’s energy use to track changes over time. It can be used to monitor changes of a building’s performance and the impact of energy efficiency retrofits and improvements. According to an EPA study, building owners who annually reported their energy use for 3 years reduced their overall energy use by 7%. Staff is evaluating the potential impact of implementing a citywide building benchmarking and performance program for commercial, multifamily, and public buildings less than 50,000 SF in gross floor area, with the minimum square footage to be determined. The State already has benchmarking requirements for buildings greater than 50,000 SF. Other local jurisdictions with benchmarking and/or building performance requirements include Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Aspen.

Creating an equitable benchmarking and building performance program starting at the beginning of project development is important to minimize negative impacts on Lakewood's underserved populations. Key equity considerations include housing affordability, energy burden, and additional resources needed for equity priority buildings. Best practices and research will be incorporated into the engagement and development process, including principles described in the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership's BPS and Equity brief.

The City of Lakewood recently received a $5 million award from the Department of Energy to support the development and implementation of the building performance program. These funds will be use to help develop an equitable and achievable program, support buildings owners with resources to improve their buildings, and invest in a local workforce that is needed to perform building efficiency and electrification retrofits.