TABLE OF CONTENTS
COMPLIANCE GUIDE
WHAT IS THE ORLANDO BUILDING ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY STRATEGY?
In 2016, Orlando City Council unanimously passed the Building Energy and Water Efficiency Strategy (BEWES), a policy focused on tracking the energy and water output of Orlando's largest buildings. BEWES is a key strategy identified in the Green Works Orlando Community Action Plan. Since August 1, 2018, any city-owned building above 10,000 gross square feet and any commercial or multifamily building above 50,000 gross square feet must have whole-building energy use tracked and reported annually. This information must be provided to the city each year to be made transparent to the real estate market via an annual report and transparency map.
DOWNLOAD ORLANDO BEWES BROCHURE
BEWES PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Policy
BUILDING ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY STRATEGY
Bill Text
POLICY COMPLIANCE AND IMPACT REPORT
Enforcing Agency
CITY OF ORLANDO, GREEN WORKS
Size of Property
CITY OWNED: > 10,000 SQ. FT.
COMMERCIAL/MULTIFAMILY: > 50,000 SQ. FT.
Property Type
COMMERCIAL, MULTIFAMILY, MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS
Required Information
12 MONTHS ENERGY AND BUILDING USE DATA
Phase II Building Performance
Standards
GREEN WORKS ORLANDO ENERGY AUDIT
Benchmarking Due Date
MAY 1, ANNUALLY
EXEMPTIONS FROM BENCHMARKING
- More than three meters are associated with the property and the electric utility does not provide whole-building data aggregation services. Or if the owner doesn't have access to master meters or any other means.
- It meets any of the exemptions defined for a covered city property.
- The director determines that, due to special circumstances unique to the facility and not based on a condition caused by actions of the applicant, strict compliance with provisions of this ordinance would cause undue hardship.
- The property qualifies as having a financial hardship.
- The property is considered "industry," "manufacturing-intensive services," or is part of a theme park. (Warehouses used for light manufacturing, storage, and/or distribution of goods are not exempt.)
- Substantially all of the non-city property is used for telecommunications infrastructure.
GREEN WORKS ORLANDO ENERGY AUDIT
Phase II of the Orlando Building Energy & Water Efficiency Strategy is energy audits and retro-commissioning. As of December 2020, buildings that have an ENERGY STAR score below 50, the national average (or equivalent energy use intensity), will be required to perform an energy audit or perform retro-commissioning of their base building systems once every 5 years. An energy audit is a detailed assessment of how a specific building can improve its performance through a review of base building systems and equipment that use energy. This includes lighting and hot water systems, HVAC units, devices that contribute to plug load and the building envelope. Free energy audits provided by both Duke and OUC will be eligible for compliance, meaning that there are no out-of-pocket expenses to comply with the BEWES policy.
ASHRAE has created the industry standards for audits. ASHRAE defines three different levels of audits, ASHRAE Levels 1, 2 and 3, which increase in detail and accuracy. An ASHRAE Level 1 is a walk-through, while Level 2 is a “commercial grade” audit, and level 3 is an “investment grade” audit. In Orlando, private buildings require ASHRAE Level 1, while municipal buildings require an ASHRAE Level 2 audit.
As an alternative path to compliance, the owner of any building with performance below the national benchmark average (score of 50 or equivalent energy use intensity) may conduct a retro-commissioning exercise – rather than an audit – once every five years to help improve building performance and identify cost-effective upgrade opportunities to save money and natural resources.
AS BENCHMARKING CONSULTANTS AND ESG REPORTING EXPERTS, WE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO DEVELOP A BUILDING PERFORMANCE BASELINE FOR COMPLIANCE
The first step to the Orlando Building Energy & Water Efficiency Strategy (BEWES) compliance is benchmarking. Green Econome takes an accurate, efficient, and comprehensive approach to ENERGY STAR® benchmarking that ensures you receive meaningful data about the performance of your building for BEWES disclosure. Upon completing your report we submit it to the city and verify your compliance status.
