Building a Greener LA: Examining Energy Efficiency Policies for Existing Buildings

The client for this project is the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. Los Angeles is considering a series of energy efficiency policies. To be modeled after ordinances passed in elsewhere in California and nine other cities – Austin, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco,Seattle and Washington D.C., these policies will center on benchmarking and disclosing of energy use within buildings. Energy use data are the initial pieces of information necessary to 1) understand how energy use affects climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and 2) make wiser and more informed decisions about future energy use. Through benchmarking, building owners cancompare their energy use to similar buildings to better understand their buildings’ energyconsumption and efficiency. Public disclosure of energy data can help increase transparencywithin the market about buildings’ energy performance.