What the Law Says
Minneapolis Commercial Building Rating and Disclosure Ordinance
Minneapolis Building Energy Benchmarking Disclosure Ordinance, now requires large nonresidential buildings to annually record and disclose energy and water usage data.
- Requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark and disclose energy and water use using Portfolio Manager and submit a compliance report to the city.
- If a building is industrial, new, unoccupied, or in financial distress it will be exempt.
Ordinance 47.190 was adopted by the Minneapolis City Council as part of the Climate Action Plan. Over 44% of the City’s Minneapolis Building Energy Benchmarking use is from large commercial buildings, and benchmarking energy will help identify opportunities for improvement. The City hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2025.
By leveraging EMIS, the city was able to more effectively manage its energy use data, which enabled the city to identify energy efficiency opportunities, optimize staff time, and measure and verify installed energy efficiency measures. The EMIS helped the city to reduce energy consumption in support of its established energy and environmental goals.
Minneapolis was already a national leader in efficiency, which makes the precise impact trickier to pinpoint. Anecdotally, multiple building owners said they had already planned investments in efficiency before the ordinance took effect.
Who is Required to Comply
This ordinance applies to all nonresidential and nonindustrial buildings larger than 50,000 square feet and all city-owned buildings larger than 25,000 square feet.
Deadlines
June 1st of every year.
How to Report
Measuring and reporting can be done through EPA’s Portfolio Manager platform, a reporting tool that allows building owners to compare their building’s energy efficiency with similar buildings.
What are the fines Like?
Noncompliance will result in the mailing of a violation notice, with the potential of daily fines.