Title
An Ordinance to Add Chapter 104 (Energy and Water Benchmarking) to Title VIII of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor (ORD-21-30)
Memorandum
In November 2019, Ann Arbor's City Council unanimously adopted a Climate Emergency Declaration committing to charting a path for how the entire Ann Arbor community could achieve carbon neutrality b?y the year 2030. In June 2020, City Council unanimously adopted the A2ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan, a document created with input from thousands of Ann Arborites to lay out seven strategies for our community to achieve carbon neutrality.
The A2ZERO Plan seeks to ensure that buildings in Ann Arbor - which account for 65% of total community-wide greenhouse gas emissions - are as energy and water efficient as possible, and benchmarking is one of the actions identified in the A2ZERO Plan.
Benchmarking is measuring and reporting the energy and water usage of a building which allows for the evaluation of a building's usage over time and for comparison to similar buildings which enables better decision-making around building energy and water use thereby helping occupants and owners save money and energy while improving comfort and health.
Benchmarking allows owners and occupants (whether existing or prospective) to understand the relative energy and water usage and efficiency of benchmarked buildings as well as relative to others similar buildings. This information helps with strategic decisions that will help save money and energy while improving comfort and health. With energy and water costs accounting for an average of 26.8% of office building operating costs nationally, and data showing that 30% of energy consumed in buildings is used inefficiently or unnecessarily, efficiency improvements can help building owners and tenants significantly reduce utility bills. These savings can be put toward other needs such as the purchase of goods and services, which drive local economic activity. Making buildings and properties in Ann...
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