Building Performance Standards
Resource Libarary

Explore our curated collection of Builiding Performance Standards Resources to help policy makers create meaningful standards and building owners effectively understand and implement them.

Mandatory Building Performance Standards: A Key Policy for Achieving Climate Goals

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Commercial Building Incentives: Programs for new construction and upgrades in the Inflation Reduction Act and other recent federal laws

A report outlining programs and tax incentives funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)

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North American SEM Collaborative

Learn about strategic energy management initiatives across the country

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Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit

This toolkit from the EPA is meant to support jurisdictions seeking to decarbonize their building stock through policy. The toolkit includes four sections, each with their own focus: an overview of benchmarking and transparency, an overview of building performance standards (BPS), coordination of benchmarking and BPS for state and local governments, and data access. EPA staff encourages policymakers and other relevant players to get in touch for support - particularly concerning data access and Portfolio Manager use in BPS.

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Benchmarking Policies and Building Performance Standards: EPA Resources

This landing page includes resources for developing benchmarking policies and building performance standards (BPS), including guidance for getting started and considering complementary policies, as well as technical assistance for benchmarking policies, utility data access, setting goals and evaluating impacts, and developing BPS frameworks, metrics, and targets.

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Recommended Metrics and Normalization Methods for Use in State and Local Building Performance Standards

This document describes EPA's recommendations for building performance standards (BPS) metrics to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it discusses normalization methods for these metrics, and outlines future resources EPA will produce to support BPS policy design and implementation.

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White Paper on Understanding and Choosing Metrics for Building Performance Standards and Zero-Carbon Recognition

This white paper provides a framework and supporting analysis to help policymakers and commercial and multifamily building stakeholders understand the key differences among performance metrics and choose those best suited to building performance standard policies. The paper also proposes a complementary zero-carbon building recognition.

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LEED and Building Performance Standards: Working Together to Support Sustainable and Low-Carbon Buildings

Building performance standards are a promising approach aiming to achieve a highly effective, long-term, technology-neutral method to improve building performance. This brief explores the power and potential of performance mandates to make transformational changes in building performance, and the relationship between green buildings and BPS.

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Commercial and Multifamily Building Energy Benchmarking, Transparency and Labeling in US Cities

This policy brief from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) features policy goals and benefits, steps for design and adoption, and case studies of local initiatives for commercial and multifamily buildings.

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ENERGY STAR Certification

Overview of EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification for buildings and a description of the energy performance standards set by EPA.

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ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Scorecard

Overview of the scorecard that offers a quick snapshot of a building’s energy performance, displaying either the building’s 1-100 ENERGY STAR score or site EUI.

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Tools for State, Local, and Tribal Governments

Additional Tools

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