What the Law Says
Pittsburgh’s Building Benchmarking Ordinance
The Pittsburgh Building Benchmarking Ordinance requires owners of non-residential buildings over 50,000 sq. ft. to annually report their energy and water consumption to the City in a process called benchmarking.
Building owners are required to use ENERGY STAR Portfolio to track their energy and water use and submit their data to the City of Pittsburgh. Building owners can obtain energy and water use from the utility companies servicing their buildings. This data informs building owners about a building’s energy and water consumption compared to similar buildings, and track progress year after year. Owners can use this data to assist in decision making for maintenance and upgrade. In the spirit of Business Transparency, benchmarking and compliance data will be available publicly.
Who is Required to Comply
All non-residential buildings 50,000 sq. ft. or greater are required to report utility data to the City of Pittsburgh using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager in accordance with Pittsburgh Code §626.02.
Deadlines
The ordinance states that the compliance deadline will be June 1 and the exemption request deadline will be 60 days prior on April 2.
How to Report
Building owners must report their energy usage data to EPA’s Portfolio Manager. The Cotocon Group can help you with Pittsburgh Building Energy Benchmarking.