Building benchmarking and performance standards: a guide for cities, counties and states.
Benchmarking rules ask owners, often including the city or county itself, to report energy and sometimes water every year. Performance standards go further and set targets. Both rest on measured use per building, normalized for weather.
Rule families, with dates.
| Rule or standard | Date | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|
| NYC Local Law 97 | Caps from 2024, tighter in 2030 | Emissions limits above 25,000 sq ft; first reports due 1 May 2025 |
| Washington DC BEPS | Six year cycles | Private buildings over 50,000 sq ft and city buildings over 10,000 sq ft |
| EU EPBD recast | Transposed by 29 May 2026 | Minimum performance for the worst non-residential buildings |
| UK MEES | EPC B from 2031 | Rented commercial buildings over 1,000 square meters |
What a missed target costs.
per metric ton of CO2e over the cap in New York City.
Source: NYC Buildings, LL97 penaltiesof US commercial floor space benchmarks in Portfolio Manager.
Source: ENERGY STAR Portfolio Managerof the worst EU non-residential buildings to be renovated by 2030 and 2033.
Source: European CommissionWhy compliance gets hard for public owners.
Data gathered at the deadline
Bills collected once a year, gaps filled by estimate
No view during the year
Progress against a target unknown until filing
Weather hides the trend
A mild winter looks like a saving
Sources6 references cited on this page
Related
Common questions
No. Aqueduct keeps measured, weather-normalized data current for every building and exports it for ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Your team or consultant files with the program, and the record shows where each number came from if an auditor asks.
Because a mild winter can look like a saving and a hot summer like a failure. Aqueduct fits each building's use on cooling and heating degree days, so progress against a target reflects what the team changed, not the weather. See weather normalization.
Benchmarking is disclosure: the building reports its use and the result is published. A performance standard adds consequences, so a building that misses its target pays a penalty or follows a compliance pathway. Aqueduct supplies one metered dataset for both. See building performance standards.
Yes. Aqueduct compares each building's weather-normalized monthly use with the path to its target, so a facilities team sees by spring whether a building is heading over. That leaves time to fix schedules, faults and simultaneous heating and cooling before the year closes.
See Aqueduct on your own facility.
Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.