As of April 1, 2023, buildings 50,000 square feet and larger in Washington, D.C. must meet building energy standards, as part of the district’s Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS).
The BEPS was set forth in the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 as part of the Sustainable DC Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2032.
Buildings have three paths to compliance: 1) Performance pathway: Buildings show they’ve reduced energy use by 20 percent over 2019 use. 2) Standard target pathway: Building owners can choose energy efficiency measures now they can later prove will later hit the performance target of 20 percent below 2019 use. 3) Prescriptive pathway: This means reporting milestones on one or more design changes that will allow a building to eventually meet the performance pathway. Building owners comply by completing specific actions, and reporting and verifying them, according to Commercial Observer.
By 2026, all buildings over 25,000 square feet must comply with the BEPS, and by 2032, buildings over 10,000 square feet.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
