City of Austin ECAD Ordinance and ENERGY STAR

ECAD News

Yet another City of Austin ECAD compliance season is upon us. Austin Energy is intending to send out a letter early April to all commercial building owners informing them of the ECAD Ordinance and the June 1st deadline. IF you have already contracted Blue Ocean to ensure compliance, please disregard these letters. If you haven’t yet made arrangements for ECAD compliance, Blue Ocean can help you comply. As our agreement states, we guarantee your ECAD compliance!

ENERGY STAR Rating Changes

As you may or may not know, ENERGY STAR Ratings are based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is only updated periodically. The next update will be implemented in August of this year. As more new buildings are being developed with ENERGY STAR and LEED standards it is not a surprise that the office building stock is becoming more energy efficient. The implication of this is that most buildings will see a decrease in their ENERGY STAR rating of 10-12 points after August of this year.

We recommend completing the ENERGY STAR Certification (if eligible) for 2018 well before this change.

Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions regarding ECAD Compliance and/or ENERGY STAR certification.

Updates to ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager Metrics

energy starThe US EPA ENERGY STAR® Program has announced that an update to ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager Metrics will take place on August 26, 2018. This update will include new 2012 CBECS survey results. These results have a larger sample size to better reflect the building stock which changes over time. As the new sample size is larger and as buildings are becoming more efficient, it is likely that ENERGY STAR scores will go down. Here are a few important tips to prepare for this update:

  • It is important to document your “pre-update” scores and details before July 2018
  • Qualifying buildings should apply for ENERGY STAR certification by July 26, 2018 …especially if your score is close to 75!
  • All 2017 ENERGY STAR certified buildings can apply for 2018 certification using a “Year Ending Date” of April 30, 2018 or earlier.
  • For buildings with data centers, there will be changes/updates coming which we will continue to follow and update our clients.
  • Some property types will have additional space requirements (warehouse, house of worship, K-12 Schools and Supermarkets).

A link to the EPA’s presentation can be found here: August 26 2018 update to PM presentation CBECS.