On the way to work or school today, you probably passed at least one or two hybrid cars – and many more conventional vehicles whose sales slogans boast high fuel efficiency. Maybe you were driving one.
At the same time, you passed dozens of homes, offices, and municipal buildings whose owners have no idea of how much fuel they are wasting.
Even though buildings consume more than half of the energy used in Massachusetts, and Americans spend 90 percent of their time indoors, most people are much better versed in the energy performance of the vehicles they drive than of the homes and businesses where they live and work.
Gov. Deval Patrick wants to change that as he moves the commonwealth toward a clean energy future. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has two programs in the works to address this glaring gap in our energy knowledge. First, DOER has collaborated with a public-private sector team of energy and building experts to develop a building asset rating and labeling program that documents the energy performance of commercial buildings regardless of occupant behavior. Providing energy performance ratings for commercial buildings will ultimately create financial value in the marketplace for efficiency, thereby motivating building owners and operators to upgrade their properties to be more energy efficient.
In early January, the department shared with the real estate and development communities and other interested stakeholders a white paper entitled “An MPG Rating for Commercial Buildings: Establishing a Building Energy Asset Labeling Program in Massachusetts,” which offers some concepts and preliminary recommendations for developing a commercial building energy asset rating and labeling program. Following a 60-day comment period – including a public hearing and a webinar – DOER will develop a pilot program that will enable building owners, managers, tenants and the financial community to directly compare the energy performance of similar buildings. The ultimate goal of providing building-to-building comparisons is to create more market value and demand for energy efficient buildings – just as auto manufacturers and dealers advertise high MPG ratings to boost sales of fuel efficient cars.
In addition to this commercial labeling initiative, Massachusetts is using a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support a home energy labeling demonstration project in western Massachusetts – a project intended to marshal increased demand for home energy efficiency projects and measures that save people money while making their homes more comfortable. Set to begin in mid-2011, this three-year pilot will target one- and two-family homes in seven communities—Springfield, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Wilbraham, Palmer, and Belchertown. Each participating home will receive a label that reflects its energy performance before and after energy upgrades are performed, and which can be used in real estate sales listings. The program will also feature an online tool that allows homeowners to easily and automatically obtain bids from contractors, matched to nation-leading financing and incentives for efficiency upgrades.
It’s a well-known fact that we can’t manage what we can’t measure. These two DOER initiatives are first steps toward what we hope will be much greater transparency when it comes to the energy performance of Massachusetts buildings. Going forward, Massachusetts residents and businesses will have valuable information about how a home or a commercial building uses energy before they buy or rent space and get stuck with high energy costs. And building owners and operators will have market-driven incentives to improve their properties to match a growing market for greener buildings.
Do you know your building’s MPG?
Phil Giudice is Undersecretary for Energy, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, www.mass.gov/eea
