Building benchmarking and performance standards: a guide for cities, counties and states.
Benchmarking rules ask building owners, often including the city or county itself, to report energy and sometimes water use every year; building performance standards go further and set targets buildings must meet. Both rest on measured consumption per building, which Aqueduct keeps current all year and normalizes for weather.
Meet benchmarking and performance standards with measured data, kept current all year.
Building energy and water tracked every month, not at filing
- Measured consumption
Energy and water use per building come from meters or bills, kept current every month.
- Weather-normalized baselines
Baselines adjust for cooling and heating degree days, so a hot summer does not hide real progress.
- Export for filing
Verified monthly metrics export for the filing, while your team keeps control of submission.
Targets tracked early, before a building misses one
- Distance to target
Each building is tracked against its performance target all year, so drift shows up early.
- Worst buildings first
Buildings furthest from target are ranked first, so capital goes where compliance is at risk.
- Bills on day one
Upload 6 to 12 months of bills and baselines are ready without waiting for a season.
From a missed target to a verified fix
- Faults that cost points
Schedule faults, stuck dampers and drifting plant are diagnosed and routed into your CMMS.
- Control with approval
Where control is enabled, with owner approval, schedules and setpoints are adjusted and every command is logged.
- Verified at the meter
The effect of each fix is verified at the meter, so the next filing reflects real change.
Benchmarking public buildings, before and after Aqueduct
- Bills are gathered for every building at the filing deadline.
- A building misses its target and nobody knew it was close.
- Weather swings make year-on-year comparisons meaningless.
- Fixes are made with no record of whether they worked.
- Benchmarking data and maintenance data never meet.
The Aqueduct way- Measured use is current for every building every month.
- Distance to target is tracked all year, building by building.
- Weather-normalized baselines make year-on-year comparisons fair.
- Every fix is verified at the meter.
- The same platform benchmarks buildings and routes their fixes.
Benchmarking and performance standards, in plain terms.
A benchmarking ordinance requires owners of covered buildings to report energy use, and sometimes water use, every year. Many cities and some states have one, and many of them cover public buildings as well as private ones. Reporting is commonly done through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
A building performance standard (BPS) goes a step further. It sets a target for energy use or emissions in existing buildings and expects covered buildings to meet it over time, with consequences for missing it. Early adopters include several large US cities and some states.
Coverage, thresholds, deadlines and penalties differ from place to place and change over time. This page describes the rule families in general terms. Check the current rule for your jurisdiction before you rely on any detail.
Rule families at a glance.
One row per rule family. Who it typically applies to and what it typically asks for vary by jurisdiction, so check the current rule.
| Rule family | Who it typically applies to | What it asks for | What Aqueduct supplies | Glossary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local benchmarking ordinances | Larger buildings in the city, often including city-owned buildings | Annual energy, and sometimes water, use per building | Metered consumption per building, kept current and ready to export | Benchmarking ordinance; NYC Local Law 84; LA EBEWE |
| Local building performance standards | Covered existing buildings above a size threshold set by the city | Energy use or emissions at or below a target, met over time | Weather-normalized performance per building tracked against its target all year, with verified reductions | Building performance standards (BPS); Energize Denver; DC BEPS; Local Law 97; BERDO 2.0 |
| State building performance standards | Covered commercial buildings in the state, under the state's own thresholds | Energy use intensity targets per building type, normalized for weather | Weather-normalized energy use intensity per building, the output of baselining | Washington Clean Buildings Act; Building performance standards (BPS) |
| Audit and retro-commissioning requirements | Covered buildings on a periodic cycle, often alongside benchmarking | Periodic energy audits and retro-commissioning findings | Continuous metered data and fault findings that feed the audit and retro-commissioning steps | LA EBEWE |
| Federal facility evaluations | Federal agencies and their covered facilities | Recurring energy and water evaluations, benchmarking of metered buildings, and cost-effective measures | Continuous energy and water evaluation per facility, acted on and verified | EISA Section 432 and the Energy Act of 2020 |
| Performance contract M&V | Public owners using energy savings or utility energy service contracts | Savings measured and verified against a baseline | A baseline modeled before the claim and savings confirmed at the meter | ESPC and UESC performance contracts; IPMVP; ASHRAE Guideline 14 |
Why compliance gets hard for public owners.
Public owners are often both the regulator and a covered building owner.
Data gathered at the deadline
Bills for dozens of buildings are collected once a year, gaps and all, just before the filing.
No view of progress during the year
By the time the annual number arrives, the year is over and the target has been met or missed.
Weather hides the trend
A mild year looks like progress and a hot one looks like failure, unless the numbers are normalized.
Measures without proof
Upgrades are reported as estimates, which reviewers question.
How Aqueduct supports benchmarking and BPS.
Every use case runs the same loop: Monitor, Measure, Identify, Act, Verify. Every verified result becomes the new baseline.
Monitor
Connect building meters and BMS points, or start from 6 to 12 months of utility bills.
Measure
Build a weather-normalized baseline per building using cooling and heating degree days.
Identify
Show each building's gap to its target, in energy and in money, during the year.
Act
Route fixes to your CMMS. Where control is enabled and approved, adjust schedules and setpoints.
Verify
Confirm each reduction at the meter and keep the measured data the filing needs. Your team files it.
Compliance should be a byproduct of running buildings well, not a deadline scramble.
Talk to our teamThe questions each seat asks.
“Do we meet the benchmarking ordinance?”
Aqueduct supplies the measured energy and water data per building. Your team files the report.
“Which buildings will miss their target?”
Each building's weather-normalized performance is tracked against its target all year, so the gap shows early.
“What does the gap cost?”
Rate configuration from your bills turns the gap into dollars per building.
What Aqueduct does and does not do here.
- Energy management (EMS, BEMS)
- M&V
- Spreadsheet benchmarking from bills
- ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager exports
- CMMS and EAM
- IWMS and CAFM
We supply the metrics. We do not file reports, interpret your obligations or give legal advice. Check the current rule for your jurisdiction.
Rule families in the glossary.
Each links to its glossary entry.
Where teams put it to work
Public buildings ready for filing
Every covered public building tracked all year against weather-normalized baselines, with verified monthly metrics ready for the annual filing.
Learn more
Baselines that stand up
Baselines use regression against cooling and heating degree days, so reported progress reflects real change, not a mild year.
Learn more
Rule families explained in plain terms
Plain definitions of benchmarking ordinances, building performance standards and the terms each rule family uses, for new staff.
Learn moreRelated
Common questions
Benchmarking asks owners to report energy, and sometimes water, use each year. A building performance standard sets a target that covered buildings must meet over time.
Many local and state rules cover public buildings, and federal facilities have their own evaluation requirements. Coverage differs by jurisdiction, so check the current rule.
No. Aqueduct supplies measured energy and water data per building and exports it for ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Your team files the report.
Without it, a mild year looks like progress and a hot year looks like failure. Aqueduct normalizes with cooling and heating degree days so the trend reflects the building.
Yes. Upload 6 to 12 months of utility bills and Aqueduct builds the baseline on day one. Metering adds detail later.
See Aqueduct on your own facility.
Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.