DC’s Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) was established by legislation from Council in 2018, but many property managers and owners are just now focusing on the program because April 3rd was the first major deadline: compliance pathway selection. BEPS sets median ENERGY STAR scores for various building types and now all buildings over 50,000 GSF need to determine whether they meet that median – or, if not – how they plan to improve. Using annual energy benchmarking data, if a building is doing better than the median, it complies for BEPS Cycle 1. Buildings below the median may either improve enough to meet the median, follow a prescriptive improvement path, or demonstrate a 20% improvement compared to 2018/2019 energy use. Outliers and mixed-use buildings may also follow alternative compliance paths.
SDC has been working with a local portfolio of 13 buildings, of which the three over 50,000 GSF – and therefore subject to BEPS Cycle 1 – appear to be doing well enough to follow the standard pathway and meet or exceed the median. Even so, with the expectation that future BEPS cycles will have stricter requirements, we’re working with their ownership to identify measures to conserve energy and improve their ENERGY STAR scores. DC’s Department of Energy and Environment has indicated that they may modify BEPS to address site energy use intensity and greenhouse gas emissions metrics. This would align with the District’s decarbonization goals and planned electric building code, providing owners more predictability for equipment upgrades. Saving energy and reducing waste is good business practice – and a focus of SDC’s practice. For more information on SDC’s services for DC BEPS compliance, contact Christopher Davis.