Energy Benchmarking allows building owners and operators to assess their energy usage over time, gauge performance relative to others in the marketplace, and better understand how energy efficiency projects can reduce their overall energy consumption.
Green Building United builds on this increased awareness around energy use, supporting energy efficiency in the building sector with trainings on benchmarking, behavior change, improved operations, and strategic capital investments.
Reductions in energy consumption result in decreased carbon emissions and increased cost savings, creating a healthier and more prosperous region.
Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Program
What is Philadelphia’s Building Energy Benchmarking Policy?
Since 2012, the City of Philadelphia requires commercial and residential buildings over 50,000 square feet to annually report energy and water usage data to the City via Energy Star Portfolio Manager.
Visit the City’s Benchmarking Knowledgebase for more information and resources on how to benchmark.
Benchmarking Visualization Tool
The visualization tool provides building-level energy performance data for the last five calendar years the nearly 2,500 buildings required to report utility information as part of Philadelphia’s energy benchmarking law. The chart and map tools are interactive and allow visualizing building energy performance comparisons throughout the city.
Have questions about Philadelphia’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program and Compliance? Visit the Benchmarking Website or email Angela Moriarity–amoriarity@greenbuildingunited.org
2023 Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Results
2023 is the most recent annual benchmarking dataset. Our interactive tool provides downloadable data sets from 2013-2023 to better understand building efficiency trends.
2023 Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Report
In 2025, the Office of Sustainability and Green Building United released a report analyzing the performance of benchmarked properties over the lifetime of the program and provided summary statistics on 2023 energy and water use data. The results show that, since the start of the program in 2012, Philadelphia’s benchmarked buildings have improved their energy performance by about 18%.
Highlights:
- 489+ Million Square Feet Reported
- 1600+ Buildings Reported
- 69.2% Compliance Rate
- 58 Median Energy Star Score
- 303 Fully Electric Buildings
- 40 ENERGY STAR Certified Buildings
The Hub is a searchable database of energy efficiency and sustainability companies that provide services throughout Green Building United’s region.
Whether you’re interested in energy benchmarking assistance for your commercial building or a residential home energy audit, this database connects users to the appropriate green providers to meet their project needs.
Sustainable service providers are encouraged to list their businesses in the database.
The Hub has recently been updated to create a more user-friendly interface to thanks to the generous support of City Energy Project.
Building Operator Trainings
Green Building United provides building operator trainings to operations and maintenance staff, building management, and offsite contractors. The course offerings teach participants how to operate buildings more efficiently to save energy and to reduce operating costs.
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Philadelphia 2030 District
The Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Program aligns with the Philadelphia 2030 District, an initiative led by Green Building United to reduce energy and water use as well as transportation emissions 50% by 2030. The Philadelphia 2030 District seeks to turn the abundance of building performance data into measurable actions.
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