In a recent news update, the Detroit City Council announced the adoption of an energy and water benchmarking policy for all buildings. The Detroit Energy Benchmarking move was much needed to join hands with leading cities like Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Columbus, and Chicago.
But the policy has generated worries related to compliance among large building owners. That’s where The Cotocon Group will come to your rescue.
What Are the Exact Requirements of the Detroit Benchmarking Policy?
According to the terms of Detroit benchmarking, buildings of more than 100,000 GSF need to report their aggregate water and power usage annually, starting in 2024. This requirement is applicable for municipal, commercial, as well as multifamily properties. The due date for the 2023 report is October 2024. From 2025, these properties need to submit their subsequent annual data by the first day of June. In the case of commercial and multifamily buildings between 25,000 and 100,000 GSF, reports of water and energy usage need to be submitted by the first of June 2025.
The Benefits of Choosing The Cotocon Group for Detroit Benchmarking
At Cotocon Group, we have a set of experienced professionals to help commercial building owners with Detroit benchmarking compliance. If you choose us, you can enjoy the following advantages:
- Cost Savings: Our experienced and professional experts will discover high energy consumption patterns and areas. It will encourage property owners to undertake power efficiency measures. An effort to reduce power waste will automatically translate into power savings. As a result, property owners will be able to optimize building systems and considerably bring down their energy bills.
- Performance Tracking: With this process at the core, property owners will receive a metric for analyzing energy performance over time. Building owners will be able to keep track of their energy usage and establish targets for improvements. As a result, it will become extremely convenient to gauge the success of power efficiency initiatives. Eventually, building owners will be able to make decisions based on real-time data.
- Competitive Advantage: Choosing our experts to comply with the requirements will also help property owners acquire a competitive advantage in the saturated real estate space. By complying to this process, establishments will be able to display their conscious effort toward altering the ill effects of climate change. As compliance with this requirement is an initiative toward achieving power efficiency and sustainability, environmentally-conscious investors and tenants will come knocking at the door. Eventually, the building will acquire a positive reputation in the market alongside an increased value in the long term.
- Access to Financing and Incentives: Our professionals will help you gain any financial aid available for Detroit benchmarking compliance. So, you will easily receive financial support and aid for completing power-saving projects.
How Can the Experts at The Cotocon Group Help with Detroit Benchmarking Compliance?
Complying with the Detroit benchmarking terms and conditions is a multi-step procedure. At The Cotocon Group, you will discover expert consultants to help you complete every stage of this particular process with ease and precision.
– Data Collection
At the beginning of this environment-friendly and sustainability initiative, our experts will start collecting extensive data. The data will be related to power and water consumption patterns along with other data related to the property’s power. Some common forms of data collected for the process include occupancy information, utility bills, building size, submetering data, and operating hours.
– Data Normalization
After we collect the data, we will focus on normalizing it to make up for differences in operating hours, occupancy, and other factors. The purpose of performing data normalization is to enable fair comparison between similar buildings or to compare the present year’s data with building information from the past year. While performing data normalization, our experts also take into account outside characteristics that can have an influence on power usage.
– Picking the Right Benchmarking Tool
A lot of efficient tools are available in the market to perform energy and water benchmarking. While the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager from the EPA is the most common, our experts will ensure that it’s the right tool for you.
– Data Analysis and Comparison
After choosing the most efficient tool, our experts enter the collected and normalized data into it. The tool takes into account various building performance indicators. After that, the tool offers a detailed comparison of a building’s energy performance against another building or known benchmarks. Our experts use this comparative data to figure out the areas where a property is underperforming in terms of power efficiency. This clarity into the performance helps identify improvement opportunities and undertake the right measures.
– Reporting and Disclosure
The primary part of achieving compliance with this new requirement in the city of Detroit is through proper reporting and disclosure. Our experts will come to your rescue when it comes to preparing benchmarking reports and submitting them to regulatory authorities. Therefore, you can trust our professionals to successfully disclose the results of your reports publicly and make various stakeholders aware of it.
– Performance Tracking and Improvement
Our work does not end at preparing benchmarking reports for property owners. We are well aware that power and water benchmarking is a dynamic phenomenon that requires constant attention. Establishments need to continuously obtain data and benchmark data to track power performance properly. As a result, it becomes simpler to assess the influence of power efficiency initiatives, check out trends, and make informed decisions about improving power usage.
Preparing the Detroit Benchmarking Report
Our experts will help you complete the most important step of achieving compliance by helping you prepare the perfect Detroit benchmarking report. This document will incorporate overall details about the power performance of a property and compare or rank it as per the relevant benchmark. The components of this report will include:
- Detailed Consumption Data: The report will offer a detailed breakdown of the power usage of a building. Usually, the power efficiency data will be present on a monthly and annual basis. It will cover specifics related to water, gas, and electricity consumption patterns.
- Performance Metrics: The benchmarking report will cover all data related to power usage according to factors like building function, occupancy, and size. Energy use intensity, or EUI, is one of the most prominent metrics for tracking performance. This metric is responsible for measuring the power usage of a building per square foot annually.
- Comparative Rankings: Comparative rankings are responsible for putting the performance of a building in context. The power usage data of the property is compared to that of similar buildings. At times, a comparison is made between the data of the same establishment across different years.
- Recommendations for Improvement: Any benchmarking report will talk about the right tool for measuring power and water usage. But only a well-curated report under this process contains recommendations related to improving power usage. So, our experts will try to provide suggestions related to operational changes or upgrades for conserving power and lowering costs.
Power and Water Benchmarking: An Initiative Toward Long Term Sustainability
The purpose of power and water benchmarking is to contribute to more energy-efficient investments. Check out how our experts will facilitate energy efficiency by performing this process:
- A Peek into Energy Performance: The purpose of power and water benchmarking is to provide key insights about energy performance. It’s worthwhile to figure out specific improvement opportunities. With information from this process serving as a catalyst, property owners can execute energy efficiency measures more easily.
- Allocating Adequate Funds: One major benefit of energy benchmarking is the ability to quantify power savings. It also helps in assessing the ROI from data collected during benchmarking. This is highly beneficial for property owners because it helps them allocate sufficient funds to undertake energy efficiency initiatives.
- Measuring the Impact of Energy Efficiency Initiatives: Building owners are also able to gauge the success of their power efficiency investments with constant energy performance benchmarking. Tracking the energy efficiency measures guarantees accountability and encourages property owners to invest in power efficiency for long-term savings.
The Results of Detroit Benchmarking with The Cotocon Group
The experts at The Cotocon Group for Detroit benchmarking will aid building owners in the following ways:
- Offer reliable information related to energy usage along with highlighting improvement recommendations and their benefits
- Expand knowledge about energy efficiency among tenants to motivate them to be more careful about water and energy usage
- Facilitates faster improvements in establishments with poorly performing systems
- Recognizes the best practices to perform throughout one building or a host of establishments
- Creates reference points for assessing and rewarding exceptional performance
- Aids in the creation of a proper energy management action plan to attract capital investments
- Enables savings that can contribute to lower utility bills and even increase profit margins
So, benchmarking is an essential tool that building owners cannot afford to overlook while trying to level up the performance of their energy systems.
Contact the Experts at The Cotocon Group Now
At The Cotocon Group, we have a tool of professionals with years of experience in offering innovative solutions for power efficiency. Investing in our services will lead to compliance and bring down your utility bill expenses by a huge margin. With our goal to help property owners achieve compliance requirements, we will help transform the city of Detroit in a greener and healthier space. So, put your faith in us and seamlessly navigate past the challenges of implementing the right measures for tackling the effects of climate change.
FAQs:
How can I define the benchmarking ordinance in Detroit?
The new benchmarking policy introduced by the Detroit City Council required buildings over 100,000 gross square feet to report their annual water and energy usage. This benchmarking ordinance will come into effect in 2024 and require commercial, multifamily, as well as municipal buildings to comply.
What is the purpose of the Detroit Benchmarking initiative?
The Detroit benchmarking policy is a part of the city’s effort to minimize the effects of climate change. With this benchmarking initiative, the city will get closer to fulfilling its objective of cutting down GHG emissions by 75% within 2034. In fact, the city is also targeting to reduce its GHG emissions by 100% by 2050.
How is benchmarking related to energy costs?
The benchmarking process involves evaluating the water and energy usage of a property and comparing it with the data from the past year. The data is also compared with similar buildings to understand the efficiency of power usage. As a result, the process helps identify areas of unnecessary power wastage and implement effective solutions. With an optimized rate of power consumption, energy costs definitely come down.
Why should benchmarking be an integral part of energy efficiency initiatives?
The amount of power and water usage in your building should concern you. As long as you are measuring your energy consumption level, you will be able to control it. With energy benchmarking becoming a part of your property’s energy efficiency initiative, property owners can acquire data for making sustainable decisions. Energy benchmarking data will help you understand the following:
- You will be able to discover whether the energy performance of your building is becoming better or worse.
- You will be able to determine areas of improvement since you will actively track the energy consumption patterns of your building.
- Benchmarking data will also help you understand what’s working and what’s not after you are done implementing energy efficiency initiatives.
Are you yet to start benchmarking the energy performance of your property? If so, do it now with assistance from The Cotocon Group.
What are the benefits of making power and water benchmarking a routine process?
With regular power and water benchmarking, property owners will be able to enjoy the following advantages:
- Figure out areas where your building is underperforming in terms of power efficiency
- Set a base for assessing energy consumption improvements in all properties
- Acquire a competitive advantage over similar buildings in the real estate market
- Become a member of green building certification programs and other sustainability initiatives
So, it really does not make sense if you still haven’t embraced the power of energy benchmarking.