Massachusetts State House considers building performance standards legislation

Massachusetts may enact the first state-wide legislation requiring that buildings comply with minimum energy performance standards. Find out if your institution's buildings are affected.

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Massachusetts is currently considering legislation that would require all buildings with at least 15,000 gross square feet of floor area to both report on energy use and meet performance standards to the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), based on building type:

    1. Reporting would begin in 2020 and will involve submitting the previous full year of building energy use and unique building characteristics by June 15. Noncompliance would result in a $100 daily fine.
    2. Performance standards are likely to be developed based on median energy performance of buildings of the same type. These standards will likely go into effect in 2022 and updated every five years thereafter. Noncompliance would result in fines estimated at twice the costs of the improvements that would have brought the buildings within the acceptable range.

Various cities around the United States have enacted similar legislation, including Boston, Cambridge, the District of Columbia, and San Francisco.

What this means for schools:

If any buildings on your campus are larger than 15,000 gross square feet of floor area, you may need to investigate whether your building(s) meet minimum energy performance standards. The legislation has identified three general pathways to compliance:

    1. Reducing normalized site energy use intensity
    2. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
    3. Implementing cost-effective energy-efficiency measures
For more information on your options, contact us for a free consultation. Updates to the status of this legislation can be found here.

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