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.

ComStock and ResStock are building stock-level diagnostic tools. States, municipalities, utilities and manufacturers can use them to identify high-impact improvements and make better program decisions.

This tool assesses the energy efficiency of a building’s physical systems and produces an Energy Asset Score report.

Building Performance Standards (BPS) are a key policy mechanism to significantly and speedily reduce the energy use and emissions of existing buildings. BPS is primarily being implemented by cities and states, as a means to reach their climate goals. Policymakers in cities planning a BPS are grappling with a host policy design questions

Is your juristiction adopting a Performance Standard? Heres what to do.

This tool is a central database for city BPS data that merges information from Portfolio Manager, Audit Template, and other city datasets in one place.

This is an online portal which cities can use to collect standardized information about a building’s physical systems and recommended upgrades. Auditors use the mobile-friendly interface to submit data.

The U.S. DOE Better Buildings has put together a list of resources to help navigate tools and procedures for tracking, reporting, and compliance with benchmarking and building performance standards.

To support policymakers and interested professionals in this process, ASHRAE convened a BPS Working Group under its Task Force on Building Decarbonization (TFBD) that is working to produce a Technical Resource Guide that guides jurisdictions through the target-setting process and outlines the available methodology options. The guide also provides additional background in metric selection.

The BETTER tool identifies cost-saving energy and emissions reductions in buildings and portfolios without site visits or complex modeling.

This document developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Task Force for Building Decarbonization provides an overview of the BPS development process, including considerations such as performance target-setting, implementation and enforcement timelines, equitable policy application, and compliance support. ASHRAE also compiled a list of BPS Resources and PublicationsPDF that provide an overview of BPS policy elements, performance metrics, relation with new construction, and available compliance tools.

This report examines ways to include demand flexibility in state and local building policies and programs, such as benchmarking and transparency, ratings and labeling, and building performance standards.