Better Buildings Benchmarking

What Is Benchmarking and Ordinance 22-17?

Building benchmarking is the process of measuring a building’s consumption of energy and water over time. Regularly benchmarking allows building owners and managers to track one of their largest ongoing expenses (i.e., utility bills), understand their building’s performance relative to similar buildings, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and eliminate waste. Benchmarking is the first step to managing and optimizing building performance and lowering costs.

The City’s Climate Action Plan identified the establishment of a community-wide benchmarking program as an important step in reaching net negative emissions by 2045. Currently, the building sector accounts for roughly one-third of Oʻahu’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This benchmarking program is expected to reduce the electricity consumption of large buildings by nearly 7% by 2030 and help curb greenhouse emissions on the island.

Ordinance 22-17, previously Bill 22, was signed into law by Mayor Blangiardi on July 20, 2022 to establish a Better Buildings Benchmarking Program. The program will require all large commercial and multi-family buildings to benchmark and report their whole-building electricity, gas, and water usage annually. Buildings 100,000 square feet or larger were the first covered properties to report by June 30, 2023. Buildings 50,000 square feet or larger must begin reporting by June 30, 2024, and buildings 25,000 square feet or larger by June 30, 2025.

Complying with Ordinance 22-17

Who is exempt from Ordinance 22-17?

• Single-family, duplex, triplex, and fourplex residential homes

• Buildings less than 25,000 square feet in gross floor area

• Properties classified as industrial under SIC codes 20 through 39

• Government bodies not subject to the authority of this article

• Not sure if your building has to comply? Check the Covered Buildings List for your building and unique Oʻahu Building ID, and view your building in the interactive Building ID Map below. If you do not see your building on the list, please contact us for your assigned Building ID.

What do I need to do to comply?

1. Identify a lead contact to create and setup a free EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM) account with building details and your assigned Oʻahu Building ID.

2. Add your building’s detailed property information and a year’s worth of the previous year’s calendar data for electric, gas, and water usage.

3. Go to the Data Request Link for 2024 Benchmarking Compliance to submit your response through your ESPM account (for January 1 - December 31, 2023). If your building is 100,000 sq ft or larger and you are late submitting your 2023 data request (for January 1 - December 31, 2022), click here to submit your data through your ESPM account.

Get Started Today!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR website carries a collection of training webinars and how-to guides to assist building owners and managers in benchmarking their buildings. Portfolio Manager is a free online tool to track and manage your energy and water data. The Resilience Office created the below How-To Guides and FAQs to help you set up your Portfolio Manager account, add utility data, and comply with Ordinance 22-17. Don’t wait until the ordinance deadline to get started on tracking ongoing utility costs.