You may wonder why something like energy efficiency would need its own holiday when it should be common sense. However, around 30 percent of the energy consumed in commercial buildings is wasted. Energy efficiency is the single largest way to eliminate this waste, reduce emissions, improve tenant comfort, and save money.
Smarter energy use means we don’t have to generate as much power to meet our needs, which is foundational to meeting our long-term climate goals. With less than a decade left to cut our carbon emissions in half to ensure a livable future, every measure counts. According to the IEA, energy efficiency could achieve over 40% of the abatement required to be in line with the Paris Agreement. On top of that, energy efficiency helps to reduce demand, a necessity as we consider electrification and a clean energy grid.
Building off the Energy Benchmarking Program, BEPP is designed to identify low- or no-cost energy savings in Philadelphia’s commercial buildings, which are a significant source of carbon emissions in the city. The program is projected to cut carbon by nearly 200,000 metric tons, which is the equivalent of taking 40,000 automobiles off the road.
Compliance with the program can be achieved either by proving high performance standards or conducting a Building Tune-Up. A Building Tune-Up is a review of energy systems, controls, and maintenance practices, along with minor
tweaks to bring them up to a good state of performance. On average, these tweaks result in 10–15% annual energy savings for a building.
The Office of Sustainability recently announced a series of virtual events to provide building owners with information, tools, and resources to meet their compliance requirements. Green Building United is excited to support the City with this series to ensure that building owners can benefit from this new program.
