I. Solving Climate Change and Creating Green Spaces: Energize Denver - Engery Benchmarking

BASIC CITY DATA

• Population size: 704,621

• Population growth rate (%): 1.70

• Surface area (sq.km): 396.00

• Population density (people/sq.km): 1779.00

• GDP per capita (USD): 63246.00

• GINI index: 0.493

• Main source of prosperity: aerospace; aviation; bioscience; broadcasting and tele-communications; energy; financial services; health care; and information technology-software.

ABSTRACT

Energize Denver aims to reduce the energy consumption of large buildings by 10 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030.  The Energize Denver benchmarking ordinance requires owners of buildings over 25,000 square feet to annually benchmark and report their energy performance. Benchmarking the energy performance of buildings is the first step to understanding and reducing energy consumption, because you can’t manage what you don’t measure. It is similar to the fuel economy ratings for cars or nutrition labels on food. 

While benchmarking has been required by about 25 US cities, Denver is best in class in terms of how the requirement has been implemented.  Denver achieved over 90% compliance in the first two years despite running over 40 data quality checks on all 3000 benchmarking reports before passing them into compliance. Denver also sends scorecards to building owners and publishes the data on a map at www.energizedenver.org.

The urban innovation towards greater energy efficeincy that will be driven by benchmarking will have many cobenefits as our buildings also become more daylit and more comfortable for occupants - increasing worker productivity and our economy.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Buildings are responsible for 57% of Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions.  Investing an estimated $340 million in improving building energy efficiency could result in 4,000 local jobs and $1.3 billion in energy savings over 10 years. Building energy efficiency is a key component of the City's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and to meet our 2020 Sustainability Goals.

ORIGINS

Improving building energy efficiency will help protect Denver’s quality of life and strengthen the economy. Investing an estimated $340 million in improving building energy efficiency could result in 4,000 local jobs and $1.3 billion in energy savings over 10 years. Denver also needed to begin to take significant steps to get on track to reduce greenhouse gas emission 80% by 2050. Other cities with benchmarking and transparency requirements have seen 2-3 percent energy savings each year by covered buildings – with the cost savings and emission reductions that go with that.

The goal of Energize Denver is to help building owners find opportunities to save energy by requiring them to measure and report their building’s energy performance.  Building owners report their ENERGY STAR score each year where 1 is the worst score, 100 is the best score, and 50 is the national average.  The goals are to achieve 90% compliance.  The goal is also to have accurate data that people use that results in 2% energy savings each year – with a goal of saving 30% by 2030. 

Many partners were involved in developing the Energize Denver benchmarking ordinance.  The Energize Denver Task Force was made up of representatives from real estate, the local utility, the environmental community, affordable housing advocates and others.  The task force recommended Denver work towards it’s climate goal for buildings by passing a benchmarking requirement.  The large real estate associations that typically might oppose such a policy, such as NAIOP, BOMA and the Apartment Association, were neutral or in support of benchmarking after their extensive involvement in the process. In addition, the energy benchmarking ordinance is being implemented with the assistance of Overlay Consulting running our benchmarking help center, giving building owners easy access to benchmarking support.

The development and passage of the Energize Denver Benchmarking Ordinance was completed by staff that were grant funded through the City Energy Project – a project funded by three foundations supporting

20 cities in meeting their climate goals in buildings.  The requirement is implemented with a portion of a City staff person’s time as well grant funding from the Department of Energy for help center support by Overlay Consulting

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS

Denver’s energy benchmarking is evolutionary. Energy benchmarking and transparency has been implemented in other U. S. cities, but Denver’s implementation strategy is cutting edge, new and innovative. Denver automated the import, data quality checks, and compliance tracking for over 200 data points on each of 3000 buildings in the City. Every benchmarking report must pass over 40 data quality checks, which is critical for self reported data to be reliable. Over half of the report submitters received a follow-up call checking on possible data errors within 48 hours of submitting their report. Buildings were not passed into compliance until they passed all data quality checks.  In addition, Denver sends building owners scorecards, publishes all the data in real time on an interactive map as buildings pass into compliance, tells great stories about buildings saving energy to build competition with their peers, gives awards to those who save the most energy, and runs programs to help educate building tenants and brokers about the energy performance scores.

Denver’s planning, design and implementation tools and technology and governance and administration are all best in class. Our data quality checks, data management system, scorecards, map, awards, case studies and tenant education programs are all improvements upon the very best ideas previously in place in other cities.

Helping 3000 building owners learn how to use the free Portfolio Manager tool to find out their building’s ENREGY STAR score, and then report it to the City was no small task. Generally people were open to learning and found the tool useful, but teaching an entire sector to learn a new skill required outstanding trainings, call and email support, and data management systems enabling all of that support to be provided in a timely manner.

DESIRED CHANGE OR OUTCOME 

The Energize Denver benchmarking requirement achieved 90% compliance in each of the first two years.  The benchmarking map has an average of 300 users per month with a typical time on the site of nearly 5 minutes.  The scorecards saw over 20% of the respondents clicking through from the email scorecard to see how their building compared to other similar buildings.  The changes will be local and regional in terms of the building owners and managers saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  But, many owners of real estate in Denver also own buildings elsewhere, and so some of the impact may translate to the national and international level.

ENERGY STAR Scores and energy use intensity data provided by building owners will be used to measure city-wide energy efficiency improvements over time. These metrics have already been used to identify individual buildings in each of the largest sectors, office, apartment and hotel, that have made energy efficiency improvements and are eligible for an award. The data will also be used to continue updating the online map and personalized scorecards.  

The innovative implementation strategy of the energy benchmarking ordinance included a Help Center staffed by Overlay Consulting, a $2000 non-compliance fine, providing energy consumption data on an online map, and sending personalized scorecards to building owners.

Denver has the opportunity to be a model for how to achieve deep energy efficiency gains in the built environment through the Energize Denver benchmarking ordinance and our innovative uses of the data to drive significant change.  

LEARNING ASPECTS 

Denver is always eager to share lessons learned with other cities and to learn more best practices from them.  We do that today primarily through participation in the City Energy Project and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.  The lead staff person on Energize Denver was also an author of the World Resources Institute publication on “Accelerating Building Efficiency: Eight Actions for Urban Leaders”  (http://www.wri.org/publication/accelerating-building-efficiency-actions-city-leaders)

RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

• Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable          

• Target 6: Improve air quality and manage municipal and other wastes

• Target 7: Universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, in particular of women, children older persons and persons with disabilities

• Target 9: Improving resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters and implement holistic disaster risk management

• Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  

II. Solving Climate Change and Creating Green Spaces: Green Building Policy

BASIC CITY DATA

• Population size: 704,621

• Population growth rate (%): 1.70

• Surface area (sq.km): 396.00

• Population density (people/sq.km): 1779.00

• GDP per capita (USD): 63246.00

• GINI index: 0.493

• Main source of prosperity: aerospace; aviation; bioscience; broadcasting and tele-communications; energy; financial services; health care; and information technology-software.

ABSTRACT

In November of 2017 Denver voters passed the Denver Green Roofs Initiative. The requirements took effect January 1, 2018.  The initiative required all buildings to install a vegetated roof or solar panels, or a combination of the two. While the initiative will have great benefits for Denver in terms of reduced urban heat island, new green spaces, water and storm water management and greenhouse gas emission reductions, it also had quite a few unintended consequences.  Denver undertook an innovative process to review the ordinance with stakeholders from all sides participating in a task force. The Green Roofs Review Task Force met nine times from January 19, 2018, through June 7, 2018. Members reached consensus in their final meeting on a new Green Building Policy that will replace the original Green Roofs Initiative.  Denver City Council will meet on October 11, 2018 to consider and pass the new Green Building Policy.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Green Building Policy will result in reduced urban heat island, new green spaces, water and storm water management and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

ORIGINS

The Green Roof Ordinance passed by the voters had great benefits for Denver, but was problematic for a number of reasons.  These reasons include that the ordinance was copied by voters from Toronto and conflicted with Denver’s municipal code in many ways.  Also, most existing buildings would be exempt because they can’t support the weight of a vegetated roof.  And, new single story retail and industrial buildings had the heaviest requirements and much needed new grocery stores and warehouses might not be built. 

The Green Roofs Review Task Force's mission was to recommend modifications, clarifications, and improvements to the Green Roof Ordinance through a collaborative, consensus-based process that honored the vote and the benefits that the ordinance would have achieved.  The new Green Building Policy recommended by the task force will be passed by City Council in October or November of 2018.

The Green Roofs Review Task Force included green roof proponents, the real estate sector who were green roof opponents, additional experts, two City Council members, and some city staff. The partnership that formed in the task force between the proponents and opponents in finding a solution that both could agree was a better pathway forward for Denver was the true innovation.  

Existing city staff diverted time from other projects to staff the task force and city council process to review the Green Roofs Ordinance and pass the new Green Building Policy.  The City will bring on 6 new staff in January of 2019 to assist in the implementation of the new Green Building Policy.

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS

Denver’s new Green Building Policy is revolutionary in both its development process and its content.  Stakeholders on the Green Roofs Review Task Force together developed the Green Building Policy that the City will now implement.  It is unusual for a City to give its stakeholders that sort of authority. In terms of content, the Green Building Policy is not something that any other City has ever done. 

The Green Roofs Review Task Force process was modelled on other successful policy processes in Denver, such as the Energize Denver Task Force.  But the Green Roofs Review Task Force achieved an even higher level of agreement among the members – with the lead proponent and lead opponents of the ballot initiative writing a joint op-ed supporting the task force recommendations at the conclusion of their work.  

The Green Building Policy that resulted from the task force’s work draws ideas from best practices in other jurisdictions, but provides more flexibility and options for achieving the desired benefits.

The green building policy innovation is in the governance process and in the policy.  The process enabled a policy that improves upon a past initiative through compromise that considered the concerns of all stakeholders while improving the environmental benefits.

The new Green Building Policy faces resistance from those who say the City should not change a voter passed initiative as well as from those who say the City Council should get rid of the policy entirely.  The task force process gracefully overcomes both of those barriers by bringing critical voices from each of those perspectives together to one consensus recommendation.

DESIRED CHANGE OR OUTCOME

The proposed Green Building Policy will require that new buildings must include a cool roof plus one of eight compliance options:

1. A green roof or green space anywhere on the site.

2. A financial contribution for off‐site green space. 

3. A combination of green space and solar panels. 

4. A combination of green space and energy efficiency measures. 

5. A solar array covering 70 percent of the roof. 

6. Energy efficiency measures so that the building is 12 percent more efficient than current energy code. 

7. LEED Gold or equivalent certification. 

8. Enterprise Green Communities Certification. 

The proposed Green Building Policy recommends that owners of existing buildings will have to install a cool roof plus select one of five compliance options at the time of replacing their roof: 1. A small green roof or green space anywhere on the site. 2. An on‐site solar array. 3. LEED Silver or equivalent certification. 4. A financial contribution for off‐site green space. 5. Enrollment in a flexible Energy Program to achieve emission reductions similar to those achieved by the on‐site solar option. The program will include options to buy community solar or to improve building energy efficiency in any way that makes the most sense for that building.

The scale of changes is local, but the policy may provide a model for other cities.

Consensus of the task force is the most critical metric of success for this process since the task force included diverse stakeholders.  The task force had 1 month of public comment on their work, multiple in person input sessions, and a survey of residents reviewing and informing their work.

Passage of the new Green Building Policy in October or November of 2018 will be the other key metric.

A great facilitator and great stakeholder engagement were critical tools in our task force's success.

Denver’s new Green Building Policy will truly position us as a leader in green spaces and climate change.  The urban innovation and new green spaces created through the policy will make our city an ever more attractive place to live, work, and play.

LEARNING ASPECTS

Denver is always eager to share lessons learned with other cities and to learn more best practices from them. We do that today primarily through participation in the City Energy Project and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.  

RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

• Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable          

• Target 6: Improve air quality and manage municipal and other wastes

• Target 7: Universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, in particular of women, children older persons and persons with disabilities

• Target 9: Improving resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters and implement holistic disaster risk management

• Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts