Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure: Summary of a Workshop on City Experiences, Market Impacts, and Program Evaluation

Energy benchmarking and disclosure laws have been passed in 10 US cities and one county and are under consideration in many more. The laws require owners of commercial and, in some cities, multifamily residential buildings to annually disclose their energy use and benchmark it relative to similar buildings. This discussion paper summarizes the presentations, discussion, and findings from a December 2014 workshop hosted by Resources for the Future on benchmarking and disclosure. Participants included representatives from the cities where laws have been passed and are being considered, electric utilities, the real estate sector, energy service companies, energy data analytics companies, nongovernmental organizations, the federal government, and academia. A major focus of the workshop was on evaluation of the programs and how to go about assessing their ability to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.