City advances climate action and affordability goals with Mayor Blangiardi signing Bill 22 establishing Better Buildings Benchmarking program
News release from Office of the Mayor, July 20, 2022
HONOLULU – In a news conference earlier today, Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Bill 22 into law, establishing a Better Buildings Benchmarking Program, which requires commercial and multi-family buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to track and report annual aggregate utility data to the City and County of Honolulu (City).
Benchmarking means tracking a building’s energy, water, and gas usage to understand performance over time. It empowers property owners and building managers to improve operations, save money, and reduce utility waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The aggregate reported data will be shared publicly, facilitating market innovation toward voluntary savings and consumer awareness and choice. Benchmarking will also help the City make more-informed decisions about where to invest resources to support businesses and residents.
Bill 22 delivers on City Council Resolution 21-229 and actions of the community-driven City Climate Action Plan and Oʻahu Resilience Strategy. “I would like to thank the many stakeholders from various sectors that provided expert guidance to create a bill that advances our shared goals on affordability, economic resilience, and climate action all-in-one,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “This comes at a crucial time, as energy prices continue to escalate and our freshwater resources are being strained.”
Leading by example, the City has benchmarked over 70 of its own facilities and has used the data to inform cost-effective efficiency upgrades through an energy savings performance contract that is estimated to save the City more than $3.5 million annually in utility bills.
“Buildings are responsible for approximately one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions on Oʻahu, so this bill presents an opportunity to conserve island resources and contribute to meaningful local climate mitigation efforts,” said President and CEO of Alexander & Baldwin, Chris Benjamin. “Bill 22 exemplifies successful collaboration between the public and private sector to create a program that achieves our shared goal to promote a more sustainable Honolulu.”
Hawaiian Electric is collaborating with the City to ensure complying with benchmarking requirements is seamless for customers. “Hawaiian Electric will continue partnering with the City to make utility energy data easily accessible to building owners,” said Hawaiian Electric President and CEO, Shelee Kimura. “Benchmarking will help drive efficiency and savings for customers, supporting our corporate climate change action commitment for the benefit of the communities we serve.”
Benchmarking and first-round reporting deadlines are staggered in phases depending on building size, starting with buildings larger than 100,000 square feet in June of 2023, then 50,000 square feet in June 2024, and 25,000 square feet in June 2025. The Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency will offer more information, trainings, and guidance for building owners and property managers later this year. Learn more, set up a building profile, and start saving today with resources at resilientoahu.org/benchmarking.
The signed version of the bill will be posted at https://hnldoc.ehawaii.gov/hnldoc/measure/2121 after it has been processed by the City Clerk.
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